Nonmetastatic (M0) castration-resistant prostate cancer arises in the subset of men with biochemically recurrent disease (ie, rising prostate-specific antigen [PSA] level after definitive therapy in the absence of metastases) who develop PSA progression after chronic exposure to...
In a phase III ARAMIS trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Karim Fizazi, MD, of the Institut Gustave Roussy, Universite Paris-Sud, Villejuif, France, and colleagues found that the androgen-receptor antagonist darolutamide significantly prolonged metastasis-free survival vs placebo ...
ELI LILLY AND COMPANY recently announced that it has been working to facilitate the withdrawal of olaratumab from the market for the treatment of advanced soft-tissue sarcoma. Lilly’s actions to withdraw olaratumab from the market follow completion of the international phase III ANNOUNCE clinical...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cornell et al found that cardiovascular adverse events are common in patients receiving proteasome inhibitor therapy for relapsed multiple myeloma and are associated with poorer outcome. The prospective observational study involved 95...
A new study published by McDonough et al in the Journal of Oncology Practice found that while primary care physicians are often involved in cancer survivorship care, many do not feel adequately prepared for key components of it. The study shared the results of a survey of 117...
Although many risk factors increase a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer—including genetic and hormonal causes—there is increasing evidence suggesting an environmental link. A study investigating the effects of the cumulative environmental quality on aggressive breast...
In an analysis of the phase III ENGOT-OV16/NOVA trial in recurrent ovarian cancer reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, del Campo et al found that patients had clinical benefit from niraparib maintenance vs placebo irrespective of whether they had a partial response or complete response to...
In a study conducted under the supervision of researchers from the MedUni Vienna, human experts competed against computer algorithms in diagnosing pigmented skin lesions. The algorithms achieved better results when diagnosing, but had decreased performance for out-of-distribution images. These...
The speed at which older individuals with blood cancers are able to walk 4 meters (about 13 feet) holds information about their overall health and may help to predict survival and unplanned hospital visits, according to study published by Liu et al in Blood. The association was...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wang et al identified the rates and outcomes of relapses of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in patients who had achieved 24-month event-free survival (EFS) after immunochemotherapy. Study Details The study involved 1,324...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Liu et al determined the frequency of allergic reactions and consequences of development of antibodies to pegaspargase (PEG-ASP) among pediatric patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). As noted by the...
I RECENTLY returned from Normandy, France, where my wife and I attended events honoring the 75th Anniversary of D-Day and the millions, including close friends and family, who fought and died in the Second World War. My wife and a journalist from Los Angeles laid a wreath on Omaha Beach in honor of ...
The randomized, global, multicenter, open-label phase III ASCEND trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of acalabrutinib vs investigator’s choice of rituximab/idelalisib or rituximab/bendamustine in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Ghia et al presented ...
The phase III BELLINI trial—reported by Kumar et al at the 24th Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA; Abstract LB2601) investigated the efficacy and safety of venetoclax/bortezomib/dexamethasone vs bortezomib/dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory...
In the phase II CASPS trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Judson et al found evidence of activity of cediranib in alveolar soft-part sarcoma. In the double-blind trial, 48 patients from 12 sites in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Australia were randomly assigned 2:1 between July 2011 and July...
On June 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) therapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with disease...
Through a systematic review of published studies, researchers report they have identified a distinct subtype of primary central nervous system (PCNS) lymphoma that should be considered for surgical removal, suggesting a major shift in how this type of tumor is evaluated and managed. These findings...
In the single-center, phase II NeoCombi trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Long et al found that neoadjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib produced promising response rates in resectable, stage IIIB/C, BRAF V600–mutant melanoma. As noted by the investigators, adjuvant dabrafenib plus...
In the phase III QuANTUM-R trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Cortes et al found that the FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib produced a modest but significant improvement in overall survival vs salvage chemotherapy in relapsed or refractory FLT3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD)-positive acute...
Long-term follow-up of the phase I KEYNOTE-001 study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Garon et al showed that pembrolizumab monotherapy was associated with an estimated 5-year overall survival of 23.2% for treatment-naive patients and 15.5% for previously treated patients with...
In the phase III MAIA trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Facon et al found that the addition of daratumumab to lenalidomide/dexamethasone significantly improved progression-free survival in previously untreated multiple myeloma ineligible for autologous stem cell transplantation ...
In a retrospective multicenter study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Abu-Sbeih et al found that approximately one-third of patients resuming immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy after improvement in immune-mediated diarrhea and colitis experienced a recurrence of the adverse effect....
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Smith et al found that a high proportion of patients in community cancer centers did not report discussing, getting advice, or receiving desired help for cancer-related pain, fatigue, or emotional distress. The study involved surveys of...
New research on the immunotherapy talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC)—an injectable oncolytic virus—for patients with unresectable melanoma was presented by Milhem et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9524). Researchers reported the ad hoc analysis of progression-free survival...
The 2006 publication of the National Cancer Institute’s report Closing the Gap: Research and Care Imperatives for Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer highlighted the lack of improvement in cancer survival among people between the ages of 15 and 39 compared to children and older adults...
In an extended analysis of the COMBI-d and COMBI-v trials reported at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9507) and in The New England Journal of Medicine, Robert et al found a 5-year overall survival rate of 34% with the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib in previously untreated...
In an international prospective cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kraaijpoel et al found that incidental pulmonary embolism in patients with cancer is associated with substantial risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism, despite anticoagulant treatment. Study Details The...
The E2810 trial was conducted to determine whether treatment with the oral drug pazopanib following surgery to remove further metastases in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma would improve their disease-free survival. Results from the study—which showed that primary endpoint of...
Results from an experimental arm of the phase II NRG-GI002 trial using veliparib, a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, as part of total neoadjuvant therapy (induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy and surgery) in patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma were...
The poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib may benefit some men with prostate cancer, according to findings from the phase II TOPARP-B trial presented by Mateo et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 5005). Olaparib previously showed activity against metastatic...
A new study examining Medicaid expansion and cancer screening found that the five states and District of Columbia that first adopted Medicaid expansion saw larger increases in colorectal cancer screening than states that did not expand Medicaid. The study—published by Fedewa et al in...
The phase III CLL14 trial—reported by Fischer et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 7502) and in The New England Journal of Medicine—found that the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax plus the monoclonal antibody obinutuzumab prolonged progression-free survival vs obinutuzumab and...
Findings in a cohort of the phase II CheckMate 205 study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ramchandren et al, indicate that nivolumab monotherapy followed by nivolumab plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (N-AVD) is highly active in newly diagnosed, advanced-stage classical ...
A recent, updated predictive analysis of the three World Health Organization (WHO)-defined molecular subgroups based on IDH mutation status and 1p/19q codeletion status represented in the high-risk treatment arms of a phase III trial found that both IDH-mutant subgroups may derive benefit ...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Dess et al found that after adjustment for nonbiologic differences, black men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer did not appear to have higher rates of prostate cancer–specific mortality vs white men. Black patients had higher rates of other-cause...
On June 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic or unresectable recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Pembrolizumab was...
On June 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to polatuzumab vedotin-piiq (Polivy), a CD79b-directed antibody-drug conjugate, in combination with bendamustine and a rituximab product for adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma...
The latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer finds that, for all cancer sites combined, cancer death rates continued to decline in men, women, and children in the United States from 1999 to 2016. Overall cancer incidence rates, or rates of new cancers, decreased in men from 2008...
As I write this, I think I’m making sense but am not 100% sure. My brain is a little scrambled after nearly 4 years of treatment for grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, but I think the essence of my humor and humanity is still intact. When I experienced my first partial seizure while riding my...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Breelyn Wilky, MD, and colleagues found evidence of activity of axitinib plus pembrolizumab in advanced sarcomas, including alveolar soft-part sarcoma. Study Details The study involved 33 patients with advanced or metastatic sarcomas, including...
In an interim analysis of the phase III NEJ026 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Makoto Maemondo, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of bevacizumab to erlotinib improved progression-free survival in patients with EGFR-positive, nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the...
The Board of Directors of the National Association for Proton Therapy (NAPT) has awarded George Laramore, MD, PhD, FACR, FASTRO, of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Proton Therapy Center and the University of Washington, the 2019 NAPT Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of his decades of...
BOOKMARK Title: Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of BloodAuthor: Rose GeorgePublisher: Metropolitan BooksPublication date: October 2018Price: $27.00, hardcover, 368 pages Blood has been mythologized and misunderstood since the earliest records of humankind and still ...
BOOKMARK Title: Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism: My Journey as a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism DadAuthor: Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhDPublisher: Johns Hopkins University PressPublication date: October 2018Price: $22.95, hardcover; 240 pages English physician Edward Jenner invented...
An Oklahoma jury recently awarded $25.5 million to the widower of a 53-year-old woman diagnosed with stage IV nasopharyngeal cancer who was denied coverage for proton therapy by her health insurer, Aetna. The patient’s family subsequently raised $92,000 to cover her proton therapy at The University ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Perrot et al identified a cytogenetic prognostic index predictive of survival in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. Study Details The study involved data from 1,635 patients in four trials conducted by the Intergroupe...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Maher et al found that treatment-related adverse events of special interest and immune-mediated adverse events were more common among patients with advanced urothelial cancer with vs without response to anti–programmed cell death...
To complement The ASCO Post’s comprehensive coverage of the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapeutic regimens for plasma cell dyscrasias, particularly multiple myeloma. For full details of these study abstracts, visit ...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel hematology and oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Early in 2019, ibrutinib was approved for...
Neoadjuvant treatment with nivolumab plus ipilimumab resulted in an overall major pathologic response rate of 33% of treated patients with early-stage, resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). With these results, the combination immunotherapy met the prespecified trial...