Targeted therapies for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are a hotbed of investigation. Two new targeted therapies are promising for patients with lung tumors that are either EGFR exon 20 insertions or RET-rearranged. At the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, attendees heard early data on therapies...
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy had encouraging activity and demonstrated favorable safety in patients with resectable early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to two studies presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.1,2 This approach has the potential to boost the survival rate in...
In the global phase III NALA trial, treatment of metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer with neratinib plus capecitabine significantly improved progression-free survival, delayed the time to intervention for central nervous system disease, and showed a trend toward improved overall survival vs...
Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, Thompson Chair in Breast Cancer Research and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Breast Cancer Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, commented on Dr. Sparano’s presentation for The ASCO Post. “We already use information in...
Clinical risk factors add prognostic information that complements the 21-gene recurrence score, according to a new analysis from the landmark TAILORx trial.1,2 The integration of clinical risk with the recurrence score provides greater precision in determining recurrence risk and guiding the use of ...
I was born at the beginning of World War II in a country half way around the world from the fighting. As a child, I was immune to the carnage. My father was too old to be included, although his elder brother had been killed in World War I. Thousands of families in many countries lost a father, a...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to provide oncologists with greater help in acquiring expanded access to investigational therapies. Deemed Project Facilitate, the pilot program was announced at a press briefing during the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. Project Facilitate is essentially ...
“The end-of-study analysis of the CLEOPATRA trial demonstrates and confirms the long-term benefit of combined HER2-antibody therapy, with a significant number of ongoing responders,” said John T. Cole, MD, breast cancer specialist and Director of Clinical Cancer Research at Ochsner Health System...
The end-of-study analysis of the landmark CLEOPATRA trial shows that 37% of patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer are still alive at 8 years, according to principal investigator Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, FASCO, Associate Dean for Research Development at Georgetown University Medical ...
Limiting ovarian cancer surgery to high-volume hospitals could improve survival but may also reduce access for many rural and underserved patients, a study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found. The findings were published by Wright et al...
Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after two cycles of lutetium-177 (Lu-177)-PSMA radioligand therapy has shown a significant predictive value for patient survival. The research was...
In a single-center retrospective analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Funt et al found that the presence of teratoma in advanced nonseminomatous germ cell tumors was associated with a greater risk for disease-related death. The study was a retrospective review of primary tumor...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Agochukwu et al validated the sexual interest and sexual satisfaction single-item measures of the Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) in men who underwent radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer. The study ...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted a new drug application for niraparib in the treatment of certain pretreated gynecologic cancers; granted Fast Track designation to a T-cell product; accepted investigational new drug applications for a myelopreservation agent and an...
New research published in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and presented by Jarushka Naidoo, MBBCh, at the NCCN 2019 Annual Conference suggests that institutions and networks that utilize immunotherapy should consider establishing multidisciplinary teams for...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved daratumumab (Darzalex) in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are ineligible for autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). The application received approval ...
Final analyses from the ALCANZA study, a phase III trial investigating brentuximab vedotin vs physician’s choice for the treatment of CD30-positive cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), were presented by Horwitz et al at the 15th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML; Abstract...
Today, the American Association for Cancer Research, Moffitt Cancer Center, and Biden Cancer Initiative hosted a congressional briefing titled “Let’s End HPV-Related Cancers” in Washington, DC. In conjunction with this briefing, leading health organizations and...
The ROBUST trial compared the addition of lenalidomide to R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine/prednisone) vs placebo/R-CHOP in previously untreated, prospectively selected, CD20-positive patients with activated B-cell–like (ABC)-type diffuse large B-cell...
In a single-center study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ricciuti et al found better outcomes with immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment among patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving baseline prednisone equivalent of ≥ 10 mg daily for...
ASCO OFFERS tools and resources designed specifically for caregivers who are supporting someone with cancer. The ASCO Answers Guide to Caregiving includes advice for talking with family and the health-care team, trackers for symptoms and medications, and more. A simple one-page worksheet,...
ASCO is one of the premier professional societies that is guiding oncologists throughout the world. Whether you are a medical student or an early-career oncologist, ASCO has a lot to offer. A main focus of ASCO is to promote and provide guidance to trainees and early-career oncologists. I consider...
The work of nine researchers who have previously received funding from Conquer Cancer is featured in ASCO’s Clinical Cancer Advances 2019. Visit CONQUER.ORG/CCA for more details. New Approaches in Leukemia In two separate trials, Conquer Cancer researchers joined forces to improve treatment for...
The 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting included groundbreaking science that has the potential to influence oncology care for years to come—but how should that science be applied in practice? The National Library of Medicine–indexed 2019 ASCO Educational Book aims to answer that question with compelling,...
A noninferiority phase III trial, previously reported in The Lancet, has established the standard of care in human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oral cancer, according to Andy M. Trotti, MD, a radiation oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. Data from the NRG Oncology RTOG 1016 trial ...
Recent technologic improvements in radiotherapy now offer an unprecedented opportunity to enhance immune response, and going forward, may play a role in the definitive treatment of head and neck cancer, according to William Stokes, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at...
Patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-related head and neck cancer stand to benefit greatly from immunotherapy, according to Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, Director, Head and Neck Medical Oncology Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, Atlanta. He added, immunotherapy will likely play...
Despite progress being made in cancer survivorship—there are currently nearly 17 million cancer survivors in the United States1—not everyone is benefiting equally, especially those patients living in rural communities across America. According to “The State of Oncology Practice in America, 2018:...
Outcomes are typically grim for patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme. At the 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), three early-stage studies hinted at ways that standard treatments might be made more effective. Metronomic Dosing of...
The KEYNOTE-048 trial is practice-changing, according to its invited discussant, Vanita Noronha, MD, Professor of Oncology at Tata Memorial Centre in Mumbai, India. Although a number of questions remain to be answered, she said the take-home message is that the study “met most of its primary...
In the final analysis of KEYNOTE-048, first-line pembrolizumab monotherapy led to a significant improvement in overall survival, vs standard chemotherapy with targeted therapy (EXTREME regimen), in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma expressing programmed...
In the field of prostate cancer, the use of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer is received wisdom. When experts are asked why ADT is continued once the disease has figured out how to evade hormone suppression, the answer invariably is...
A fixed-duration regimen of venetoclax plus obinutuzumab demonstrated superior progression-free survival, complete response rates, and minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity compared with chlorambucil plus obinutuzumab as first-line therapy for older patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia...
IN A SEPARATE interview with The ASCO Post, Charles Drake, MD, PhD, commented on the clinical implications of the ENZAMET and TITAN trials, as well as studies of apalutamide, abiraterone acetate, and docetaxel used in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. Dr. Drake is Director of...
Adding apalutamide to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) significantly improved survival in men with metastatic castration-sensitive (also termed hormone-sensitive) prostate cancer, according to the results of the phase III TITAN trial, which were presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting and...
ONEONCOLOGY, a clinical partnership between three community oncology practices—Tennessee Oncology, New York Cancer and Blood, and West Cancer Center, and other independent community oncologists, recently announced three new appointments to the group's executive team: Natalie Dickson, MD, as Chief...
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 approved for...
IAN CHAU, MD, a consultant medical oncologist at the Gastrointestinal and Lymphoma Units of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in London and Surrey, United Kingdom, was the invited discussant of KEYNOTE-062. In an interview with The ASCO Post, he first commented that although single-agent...
KEYNOTE-062, a study of first-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, found pembrolizumab to be noninferior to chemotherapy and perhaps better than chemotherapy in a subgroup of patients. The results were reported at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting ...
“THE RATIONALE for the POLO study is sound,” said invited study discussant Wells Messersmith, MD. “There’s clearly an unmet need in pancreatic cancer, and there are promising data for poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors in other BRCA-mutated tumors.” Dr. Messersmith is Professor and Head ...
In patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and germline mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2, maintenance therapy with olaparib doubled the time to disease progression and the proportion of patients who were progression-free at 2 years, in the phase III POLO trial.1 “Maintenance olaparib provided a...
Excluding skin cancer, colorectal cancer is the third most prevalent and lethal cancer among both men and women in the United States.1 Although the risk of developing colorectal cancer increases with age—more than 90% of cases occur in people aged 50 or older2—recent research shows that the...
HOW DO YOU respond when patients with a good prognosis want to delay chemotherapy to try an anticancer diet for a few months or visit an unregulated clinic for unproven therapies? I’m asking because of an alarming finding of ASCO’s 2018 National Cancer Opinion Survey: “Nearly 4 in 10 Americans...
WHEN ASKED which treatment to start with—docetaxel or enzalutamide, Dr. Sweeney said, “Patients fit for chemotherapy with high-volume disease can receive chemotherapy [docetaxel] and come back to these newer hormonal treatments or start with anyone of the hormonal options. Choosing among the newer...
Agents that improve survival in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer when added to background androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) are showing success in treating metastatic prostate cancer earlier while it is still hormone-sensitive. These agents include docetaxel (chemotherapy) and...
The Oncology Center of Excellence of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced a new pilot program to assist oncology health-care professionals in requesting access to unapproved therapies for patients with cancer. A new call center designated Project Facilitate will be a...
I am writing to provide personal context to my column on adjuvant denosumab or bisphosphonates for resected breast cancer, which appears on page 52 in this issue of The ASCO Post. I have been upset since 2013 that adjuvant zoledronate has been recommended for women with breast cancer onset after...
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has joined with hospitals, health systems, physicians, and supportive care teams from across New York to launch the Roswell Park Care Network. Led by Roswell Park, the network is the most expansive community cancer, supportive care, and specialized care...
The most common reason that patients with cancer do not tell their physicians about using complementary and alternative medicines is that their physicians do not ask, according to a nationwide survey.1 Among 3,118 survey participants who reported a history of cancer, 1,023 (33.3%) had used a...
Nearly one-third of patients with cancer who reported that they used complementary and alternative therapies in a nationwide survey did not tell their physicians about the use of those therapies, and the most frequently cited reason for not telling their physicians was that their physicians did...