The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies that are focused on novel drug regimens in gallbladder and biliary tract cancers. These trials are attempting to determine the best dosages, side-effect profiles, and effectiveness of new...
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...
Against the backdrop of the online crowd-sourcing initiative PCROWD and other research by faculty investigators on precursor conditions that may develop into leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), or multiple myeloma, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has opened the Center for the Prevention of...
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 ...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review for daratumumab in combination with a triplet therapy in multiple myeloma, Breakthrough Therapy designation to copanlisib for marginal zone lymphoma, and Fast Track designation for ARV-110 in metastatic...
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...
In addition to its well-known cardioprotective benefits, aspirin has a substantial body of observational, preclinical, and clinical evidence supporting its efficacy in preventing cancer, most strongly for colorectal cancer.1 The strength of this evidence led the U.S. Preventive Services Task...
In 2017, ASCO announced the launch of its Center for Research and Analytics (CENTRA). CENTRA’s mission is to conquer cancer by generating, integrating, analyzing, and sharing oncology data to foster innovation in research and patient care. CENTRA aims to make its cancer data available to the...
As part of ASCO’s State of Cancer Care in America initiative, the Journal of Oncology Practice recently published an infographic about opioids and cancer pain, which highlights the specific needs of patients with cancer and some of the hurdles they face in trying to access prescribed opioids to...
The Northern New England Clinical Oncology Society (NNECOS) is a tristate regional affiliate of ASCO serving oncology practices within Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. A long-time supporter of Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation, and its Young Investigator Award (YIA) program, NNECOS expanded...
The discussant of the abstract on the use of prophylactic cranial irradiation in patients with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), Kristin Higgins, MD, underscored the marked shift in practice patterns in the United States. However, she noted that many questions remain concerning...
Delivery of prophylactic cranial irradiation to patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has declined significantly since the publication of a study by Takahashi et al, according to a recent survey of academic radiation oncologists.1 Data presented at the 2019 Multidisciplinary...
Patients can safely recover from mastectomy at home, according to two studies reported at the 2019 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.1,2 The studies examined outcomes after implementation of comprehensive postmastectomy surgical home recovery programs, showing that they...
As nipple-sparing mastectomy gains favor, it is being performed on a broader spectrum of patients once considered off limits by surgeons. A Mayo Clinic study in a contemporary cohort found no increase in complication rates or decrease in reconstruction success with this surgical approach.1 “We...
“Lymphedema represents a significant morbidity for patients who experience it,” commented Julie A. Margenthaler, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. “This study [PREVENT] demonstrates that bioimpedance spectroscopy can identify early signs of lymphedema, so interventions...
Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitors are approved for the second-line treatment of head and neck cancer and likely will be soon in the first-line treatment of locally advanced disease. According to Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, developments in immunotherapy for this population should be...
As reported in The Lancet by Tony S.K. Mok, MD, of Chinese University of Hong Kong, and colleagues, the KEYNOTE-042 trial has shown an improvement in overall survival with pembrolizumab vs standard chemotherapy in previously untreated patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung ...
On May 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the NovoTTF-100L System in combination with pemetrexed plus platinum-based chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of unresectable locally advanced or metastatic malignant pleural mesothelioma. NovoTTF-100L is a noninvasive,...
On May 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the PIK3CA inhibitor alpelisib (Piqray) tablets to be used in combination with the FDA-approved endocrine therapy fulvestrant to treat postmenopausal women and men with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative, PIK3CA-mutated, advanced ...
An interim analysis of the large Pediatric MATCH trial found that 24% of children and young adolescents with cancers refractory to current treatments had been assigned to treatment with investigational targeted study agents based on genetic alterations detected in their tumors,1 which is more than...
Before the introduction of immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors, the 5-year life expectancy for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was 5.5%. This dismal outlook has changed. Treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab dramatically improved overall...
The past 20 years have seen an unprecedented increase in the development of effective drugs for the management of cancer. The advent of immunotherapy offers even the promise of cure for some previously highly resistant diseases. The science is brilliant, the need is ever increasing—but the cost is ...
The evidence is in: the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has enabled improved access to earlier diagnosis, earlier care, and reduced racial disparities in access to care for patients with cancer, according to two studies presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. In states that adopted Medicaid...
Harold Burstein, MD, PhD, FASCO, Associate Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute and Co-Director of the Cleveland Clinic Comprehensive Breast Cancer Program, commented on what...
In a trial presented by Baumann et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 6521), patients with locally advanced cancer treated with proton chemoradiotherapy instead of traditional photon chemoradiotherapy were at a lower risk of experiencing side effects. However, cure rates were almost...
The first statistically significant overall survival benefit has been shown for a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor plus endocrine therapy as first-line treatment of advanced breast cancer. The results are from the phase III MONALEESA-7 trial, which evaluated ribociclib plus endocrine...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Fangusaro et al found that the MEK1/2 inhibitor selumetinib was active in pediatric patients with recurrent, refractory, or progressive pilocytic astrocytoma with common BRAF aberrations and neurofibromatosis type 1...
A specialized pain management program for patients who underwent robotic surgery for urologic cancers resulted in 8% of patients going home with narcotics after discharge, compared to 100% who would have received them without this enhanced recovery protocol. The group of patients...
Results of the phase II Smart Start trial revealed that combination targeted therapy consisting of rituximab, lenalidomide, and ibrutinib had an 84.6% overall response rate (ORR) and 38.5% complete response rate (CRR) when given prior to any chemotherapy for newly diagnosed patients with a...
In the phase II SARC024 trial in sarcoma subtypes reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Davis and colleagues found that regorafenib improved progression-free survival vs placebo in the cohort of patients with metastatic osteosarcoma. The double-blind study included 42 patients from 12 U.S. ...
In a propensity score analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bonnot et al found that the addition of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) to cytoreductive surgery improved outcomes among patients with gastric cancer with peritoneal metastases. The study included 277...
A questionnaire aimed at assessing how well community oncologists understand “molecular profiling” results from tumor specimens found that 69% of participants either said they didn't know the answers or they responded incorrectly. In six different clinical scenarios, the oncologists...
Partial-breast irradiation produces similar long-term survival rates and risk for recurrence compared with whole-breast irradiation for many women with low-risk, early-stage breast cancer, according to new data from the NRG Oncology/NSABP B-39/RTOG 0413 trial. Results were presented by Ganz et al...
Don S. Dizon, MD, of the Lifespan Cancer Institute, and Richard T. Penson, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, discuss phase III study findings on the PARP inhibitor olaparib, which showed a significantly higher objective response rate vs nonplatinum chemotherapy for patients with...
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, and Ziad Bakouny, MD, both of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discuss a retrospective review of genomically profiled patients with sarcomatoid/rhabdoid renal cell cancer who were found to have better outcomes with immune checkpoint inhibitors and to harbor mutations associated...
Brian C. Baumann, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, discusses study findings suggesting postoperative radiotherapy may be an option for patients with locally advanced bladder cancer after radical cystectomy who are unable or unwilling to use adjuvant chemotherapy (Abstract 4507).
Patricia A. Ganz, MD, of NRG Oncology and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA, discusses the NRG/NSABP phase III findings, which showed that partial-breast irradiation was more convenient and resulted in less fatigue but slightly poorer cosmesis at 36 months in patients who did not receive...
Miriam Knoll, MD, of Hackensack University Medical Center, and Richard J. White, DO, of Allegheny Health Network, discuss improved overall survival among younger female patients with non–small cell lung cancer who have a lower comorbidity score, lower grade, private insurance, and treatment with...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence 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 single point...
A recent survey of U.S.-based physician members of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology found that 64% of respondents experienced sexual harassment in training or practice; among women, the rate was 71% and among men, it was 51%. Only 10% reported the incident(s) to officials. In addition, women...
The single-arm, phase II EV-201 trial showed treatment with enfortumab vedotin—an agent targeting Nectin-4, a protein found in 97% of urothelial cancers—produced responses in 44% of patients with locally advanced or metastatic forms of urothelial cancer. Patients had previously been...
The randomized Norwegian OSLO-COMET trial found that laparoscopic surgery did not change chances of survival compared to open resection to remove metastases that had spread to the liver in patients with colorectal cancer. Overall, patients lived more than 6.5 years after surgery, regardless of...
A study that examined 10,500 health records of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer from ASCO’s CancerLinQ database found that the use of expanded clinical trial inclusion criteria—as proposed by ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research in 2017—would nearly double...
Rowan T. Chlebowski, MD, PhD, of the Los Angeles BioMedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, discusses study findings from nearly 2 decades of data, which showed a 21% reduction in deaths from breast cancer among postmenopausal women who adhered to a low-fat diet (Abstract 520).
Mark J. Levis, MD, PhD, of The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, discusses the effect of gilteritinib on survival in patients with FLT3-mutated relapsed/refractory AML who have common co-mutations or a high FLT3-ITD allelic ratio, and the importance of FLT3-ITD...
Margaret A. Tempero, MD, discusses phase III results from the multicenter APACT trial, which showed that adjuvant nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine may be an option for patients who are ineligible for treatment with FOLFIRINOX (Abstract 4000).
The randomized phase III POLO trial found that maintenance therapy with the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor olaparib significantly delayed the progression of metastatic pancreatic cancer in patients with germline BRCA gene mutations compared with placebo (median...
An interim analysis of the international, randomized phase III ENZAMET trial found that 80% of men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer who received the nonsteroidal antiandrogen agent enzalutamide along with standard-of-care treatment were alive after 3 years, compared with 72% of men ...