The antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) has led to practice changes in previously treated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Most notably, in the DESTINY-Breast03 trial, treatment with T-DXd produced a doubling in 12-month progression-free survival vs...
As presented at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium and reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Smith et al, the phase III ARASENS trial has shown significantly improved overall survival with the addition of darolutamide to androgen-deprivation therapy and docetaxel in men with ...
Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, of Yale Cancer Center, discusses new data on the antitumor activity of neoadjuvant treatment with enfortumab vedotin-ejfv monotherapy in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who are not eligible for cisplatin.
For the first-line treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, the percentage of patients achieving measurable residual disease (MRD, previously called minimal residual disease) negativity was significantly greater when the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody isatuximab was added to a standard...
Precursors to multiple myeloma were identified by population screening in two studies reported at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. The prevalence of monoclonal gammopathies was determined in the PROMISE trial using cutting-edge technology in a high-risk ...
The phase III PANTHER trial, which evaluated pevonedistat plus azacitidine vs azacitidine alone in higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and low–blast count acute myeloid leukemia (AML) failed to meet its primary endpoint of event-free survival,1 though lessons...
In the primary analysis of the phase III ZUMA-7 trial, examining second-line therapy for relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, the CAR T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel led to a fourfold increase in event-free survival over the standard of care. These findings were presented at the...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with lisocabtagene maraleucel could prove to be the new standard-of-care treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma in the second-line setting, according to data presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH)...
As a first-line treatment of intermediate- or high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the addition of the antibody-drug conjugate polatuzumab vedotin-piiq to standard-of-care therapy resulted in a 27% reduction in the relative risk of disease progression, relapse, or death, with a similar safety...
In December 2021, Nobel laureates, cancer center directors, physicians, scientists, politicians, public health officials, and patient advocates gathered at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the National...
A rapid update to the ASCO guideline on optimal adjuvant chemotherapy and targeted therapy for early breast cancer provides guidance on the use of the oral cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) inhibitor abemaciclib with endocrine therapy in patients with high-risk early breast cancer.1 The...
COVID has upended our world, and medical conferences have had to adapt to ever-shifting sands depending on the behavior of the variants of the virus that emerge. The 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition was no exception, offering a hybrid meeting for in-person...
The use of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) assays in early-stage colorectal cancer is highly prognostic for recurrence and may help identify patients who could benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, according to findings from the GALAXY trial, presented at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers...
New data validating the clinical utility of the Decipher prostate genomic classifier for guiding treatment selection in men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer was presented at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (Abstract 269). Data from the randomized phase III NRG/RTOG 0126 study,...
The combination of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor niraparib plus abiraterone acetate and prednisone as first-line therapy significantly improved radiographic progression-free survival vs abiraterone and placebo alone in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer...
In the INTRIGUE trial, reported during the January 2022 session of the virtual ASCO Plenary Series, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor ripretinib was not superior to sunitinib in the second-line treatment of patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) but was better tolerated.1...
In patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with an IDH1 mutation who were ineligible for intensive chemotherapy, the addition of the IDH1 inhibitor ivosidenib to azacitidine significantly improved survival vs azacitidine alone, according to data presented at the 2021 American...
Two different trials presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition found that fixed-duration treatment with ibrutinib and venetoclax achieved deep and sustained undetectable measurable residual disease (MRD) status when used as first-line therapy for...
Administering time-limited regimens that were combinations of venetoclax plus obinutuzumab or venetoclax plus obinutuzumab and ibrutinib was superior to chemoimmunotherapy in achieving undetectable measurable residual disease in the peripheral blood at month 15 in fit patients with chronic...
New research underscores the need for aggressive support of patients hospitalized with blood cancer and COVID-19, according to data presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. Two studies of one of the largest data sets of patients with blood cancer...
The antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin-ejfv is effective in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who are not eligible for cisplatin chemotherapy, according to data from cohort H of the phase IB/II EV-103 clinical trial being presented at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium ...
The presence of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential, or CHIP, increases the risk of developing a myeloid malignancy and also cardiovascular disease—which are well-established findings—but it may also protect against developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to findings reported at the ...
Taking aspirin daily does not prevent breast cancer recurrence, according to research presented by Wendy Y. Chen, MD, MPH, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, during the February 2022 ASCO Plenary Series session (Abstract 360922). Results of a double-blind phase III study of more...
As reported by Kalinsky et al and summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post, an interim analysis of the phase III RxPONDER trial showed that the addition of adjuvant chemotherapy to endocrine therapy improved invasive disease–free survival among premenopausal—but not postmenopausal—women with...
Patients with advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma may be gaining another first-line treatment option. In the global phase III HIMALAYA trial, a single priming dose of tremelimumab plus regular-interval durvalumab significantly improved overall survival, according to Ghassan K....
For the first time, a phase III study has shown an overall survival benefit for upfront treatment using immunotherapy plus chemotherapy in advanced biliary tract cancer. In the TOPAZ-1 trial, the addition of the anti–PD-L1 agent durvalumab to gemcitabine plus cisplatin significantly improved...
Over the past 7 years, the introduction of combined endocrine therapy with cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors resulted in a dramatic improvement in outcomes for patients with metastatic, hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Early attempts to modulate the cell cycle with ...
An updated analysis of the phase III CANDOR study—recently reported by Usmani et al and summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post—confirmed a significant progression-free survival benefit for the combination of daratumumab, carfilzomib, and dexamethasone (KdD) over carfilzomib and dexamethasone...
On January 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to tebentafusp-tebn (Kimmtrak) for the treatment of adult patients with HLA-A*02:01–positive, unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma. Tebentafusp’s approval establishes several firsts: as the first T-cell receptor...
In the INTRIGUE trial, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor ripretinib was not superior to sunitinib in the second-line treatment of patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST); however, the agent was better tolerated. These findings were presented by Michael C. Heinrich, MD, FACP, and...
Black women with breast cancer had significantly higher rates of lymphedema after axillary lymph node dissection compared with Hispanic, White, and Asian women in a prospective study of breast cancer–related lymphedema presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). In fact,...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Burundi. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
Adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy for early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is currently almost an afterthought and is taken for granted as a standard of care for patients with stage II to IIIA NSCLC after resection. The earliest meta-analysis, published in 1995,1 gave the first hint of ...
A greater understanding of the mutational landscape in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has identified key oncogenes, such as EGFR, ALK, ROS, RET, and BRAF, among others. These discoveries, coupled with the availability of specific targeted small-molecule inhibitors, have transformed the...
Ian E. Krop, MD, PhD, has been appointed Chief Clinical Research Officer, Associate Cancer Center Director for Clinical Research, and Director of the Yale Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office. Dr. Krop will assume his new position on March 2, 2022. “I’m pleased to announce Dr. Krop will work with ...
Multiple comparisons of traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy combinations that began decades ago led to the adoption of the platinum plus fluorouracil doublet as the standard of care for treatment of recurrent or metastatic esophageal cancer.1 Other combinations created by the addition and/or...
After almost a century of limited efficacy of cancer immunotherapy,1 the breakthrough happened in 2012 with the discovery of immune checkpoint inhibitors,2,3 leading to the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo. Yet about 40% of patients on immune...
Biliary tract cancer is a rare and often fatal disease comprised primarily of bile duct and gallbladder cancers; it is diagnosed in about 12,000 individuals each year in the United States. The cancer has a 5-year relative survival rate of 25% for localized intrahepatic bile duct cancers and just...
Less experienced radiologists are more likely to recommend additional imaging for women undergoing breast cancer screening when they read digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) images later in the day, according to a new study published by Bernstein et al in the journal Radiology. The results highlight ...
A team of scientists has used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify which patients with certain head and neck cancers may benefit from reducing the intensity of treatments such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Their findings were published by Corredor et al in the Journal of the National...
In the past decade, use of immunotherapy has arisen as a novel adjunct to multiple myeloma therapy. Daratumumab is the first anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in November 2015, for use in treating relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.1...
The phase III COSMIC-312 study has met its primary endpoint, showing a significant improvement in progression-free survival with cabozantinib plus atezolizumab compared with sorafenib in treatment-naive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), investigators reported at a European Society for Medical...
The final results of the phase III PALLAS trial1 are “deeply disappointing,” said session moderator Matthew J. Ellis, MB, BChir, PhD, FACP, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine. The results of the final primary analysis of PALLAS ...
The enthusiasm behind the open access initiative sprang from the need for scientific research that is accessible to everyone worldwide. Open knowledge based on open access also aimed to increase good research practices such as reproducibility and transparency.1 This movement was launched by...
Achieving undetectable measurable residual disease (MRD) is an important milestone in the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) as well as those with other hematologic malignancies undergoing treatment. Now a small phase II study, presented at the 2021 American Society of...
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) recently acknowledged the commitment of the Edward P. Evans Foundation to inaugurate The Edward P. Evans Center for Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) at MSK. With the grant of $5 million matched by institutional funds, MSK will establish the Edward P....
The Principal investigator Committee of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) re-elected Mitchell D. Schnall, MD, PhD, as the Group Co-Chair, a position he has held since the founding of the Group in 2012. Dr. Schnall will serve in this role from 2021 to 2031. Dr. Schnall co-leads the...
In a single-institution study reported in the journal Cancer, and reviewed in the September 10, 2021, issue of The ASCO Post, Bei Hu, MD, and colleagues from Levine Cancer Institute/Atrium Health found that the use of a dedicated nurse navigation program aided in producing similar patterns of...
Our goal with this review of the pivotal years of oncology in Europe is to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of the early leaders in the field and to help young investigators learn from the past to better cope with the inevitable challenges of today and tomorrow. “On ne connaît pas...
Adam M. Brufsky, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center, commented on the KEYNOTE-355 final analysis1 for The ASCO Post. “We now have a drug with full approval of the U.S. Food and Drug...