Flora E. van Leeuwen, PhD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, discusses cardiovascular disease risk after treatment-induced primary ovarian insufficiency in female survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma (Abstract 114).
Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, of Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the Commission on Cancer’s efforts to promote robust survivorship care and how its new recommendations will affect clinical practice and patients.
Christopher J. Recklitis, PhD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a study investigating the availability of supportive care sexual aids and resources for cancer survivors at U.S. cancer centers (Abstract 134).
Christopher J. Recklitis, PhD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, summarizes two key papers on mental health: suicide risk among survivors of head and neck cancer vs other types of cancer; and the fear of cancer recurrence—its associations with mental health status and individual characteristics ...
Electra D. Paskett, PhD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses study findings on whether exercise helps women with breast cancer regain arm mobility after lymph node surgery (Abstract 123).
Paul B. Jacobsen, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute, discusses his evaluation of whether survivorship care plans have a positive impact on health outcomes and health-care delivery for cancer survivors, in both the long and short term (Abstract 2).
Arti Hurria, MD, of the City of Hope, discusses ways to incorporate the principles of geriatrics into oncology care and offer targeted interventions for older survivors.
Carrie R. Howell, PhD, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, discusses study findings on a web-based exercise intervention for adolescent survivors, who are at increased risk for obesity and metabolic syndrome. The program was designed to improve fitness, cognition, and quality of life...
Patricia A. Ganz, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, and this year’s recipient of the Ellen Stovall Award for Advancement of Cancer Survivorship Care, discusses her 30-year-long career researching and advocating for survivors and quality care.
Genevieve Chaput, MD, of McGill University Health Centre, discusses an accredited workshop that increased primary care providers’ confidence and knowledge about cancer survivorship, which is key to supporting their growing role in post-treatment care (Abstract 20).
Lynda M. Beaupin, MD, of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, discusses her findings on the factors contributing to adolescent and young adult cancer survivors not seeking follow-up care (Abstract 29).
On February 15, updated results were made available from the phase III JAVELIN Lung 200 trial comparing avelumab (Bavencio) to docetaxel in patients with unresectable, recurrent, or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease progressed after treatment with a...
On February 14, Amgen announced that the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will review data supporting the supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) for blinatumomab (Blincyto) for the treatment of patients with minimal residual disease...
On February 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved durvalumab (Imfinzi) for the treatment of patients with stage III unresectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose cancer has not progressed after treatment with chemoradiation. “This is the first treatment...
Nominations are now being accepted for the William L. McGuire Award and Lectureship. The award is given annually at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in recognition of an investigator whose extraordinary and sustained achievements in translational and/or clinical research have made an impact ...
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah has been awarded a $2.4 million 2-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to help continue its research in breast cancer. Alana Welm, PhD, and Bryan Welm, PhD, investigators at Huntsman Cancer Institute, along with Michael Lewis, PhD, a...
On January 30, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals announced it has received notice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that U.S. studies of BPX-501—an agent being studied to improve outcomes for patients undergoing stem cell transplant who lack a matched donor—have been placed on a clinical hold ...
Matthew J. Ellis, MB, PhD, Director of the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, commented on the POETIC trial for The ASCO Post. “This is a wonderful study that validates a point that our research team has also made over the years—that Ki67 is much more...
We have covered many of the important presentations from the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in the pages of The ASCO Post and in our online Evening News. Here are summaries of additional noteworthy studies presented at the meeting. We hope you will find them of interest. Predicting...
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) has announced a “Convergence 2.0” research initiative that awards $11 million to 7 multidisciplinary research teams to investigate immune system response to cancer. The multi-institutional teams were announced at SU2C’s Scientific Summit. Each team comprises experts in...
The BBVA Foundation awarded its Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Biomedicine category to American immunologist James P. Allison, PhD, whose innovative research has almost single-handedly transformed cancer treatment. His seminal research in immunotherapy has paved the way for the development of ...
An international group of clinicians and scientists representing the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) published the first-ever clinical practice guidelines for using CYP2D6 genotype to guide tamoxifen therapy. Their research was published by Goetz et al in Clinical...
As innovations in immunotherapies multiply, cancer programs and practices must overcome care coordination and communication challenges across the nation’s health-care system to integrate these advances into effective patient care. A new report from the Association of Community Cancer Centers...
In the December 10, 2017, issue of The ASCO Post, I authored an article in which I raised the possibility of curing follicular lymphoma without the dreaded chemotherapy. Clearly, no good deed goes unpunished: My good friend and The ASCO Post’s editor Jim Armitage, MD, challenged me to defend that...
Following the publication of two landmark studies in the United States,1,2 laryngeal preservation with combined chemoradiotherapy has become standard practice as opposed to laryngectomy for patients with locally advanced laryngeal cancer. The Department of Veterans Affairs Laryngeal Cancer Study...
Preliminary results from the phase II portion of the TiNivo study, a phase Ib/II multicenter trial of oral tivozanib in combination with intravenous (IV) nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) were presented by Escudier et al at the 2018 Genitourinary Cancers...
ASCO has released its review of leading oncology pathway vendors in the United States. “Oncology Clinical Pathways: Charting the Landscape of Pathway Providers,” published in the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP), examines the clinical pathways offered by six commercial vendors using...
Immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors is the first of a new generation of immunotherapy treatments, revolutionizing treatment for many different types of cancer. By unleashing the body's immune system to attack cancer, these treatments can send even the most hard-to-treat cancers into...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved apalutamide (Erleada) for the treatment of patients with prostate cancer that has not spread, but that continues to grow despite treatment with hormone therapy. This is the first FDA-approved treatment for nonmetastatic,...
On February 12, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted and granted Priority Review to Pfizer’s new drug application for lorlatinib. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date for a decision by the FDA is in August 2018. Lorlatinib is an investigational, anaplastic lymphoma...
On February 14, Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) announced it had received premarket approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the BD Onclarity human papillomavirus (HPV) assay. The test detects 14 types of high-risk HPV from specimens collected for cervical cancer screening...
Despite survivorship guidelines from ASCO and other organizations regarding follow-up care after cancer treatment ends, follow-up care is generally lacking for adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors. Since AYA cancer survivors are at an increased risk for late effects from their cancer...
Cancer care guidelines recommend that cancer survivors who experience sexual dysfunction after cancer treatment use therapeutic aids to help improve their sexual health. However, a new study of 25 leading cancer centers found that 87% of the centers reported having no sexual aids available on site...
New findings from a clinical trial of women with breast cancer suggest that guided exercise with a physical therapist after lymph node dissection helps women regain their range of arm motion more quickly. These findings will be presented by Paskett et al at the upcoming 2018 Cancer Survivorship...
A follow-up study to a randomized clinical trial reveals that exercising during adjuvant chemotherapy helps people engage in more physical activity years later. Four years later, people with breast or colon cancer who had participated in an 18-week exercise program while receiving chemotherapy...
Gregory R. Pond, PhD, of McMaster University, discusses a new six-factor prognostic model for patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma receiving post platinum atezolizumab (Abstract 413).
Patrick Schöffski, MD, MPH, of Catholic University Leuven, discusses findings on the effect of crizotinib on disease control in patients with advanced papillary renal cell carcinoma type 1 with MET mutations or amplification (Abstract 580).
Eric J. Small, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, discusses phase III findings on apalutamide vs placebo in patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (Abstract 161).
Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses longer-term efficacy and safety findings on nivolumab monotherapy in metastatic urothelial carcinoma (Abstract 414).
Sumanta K. Pal, MD, of the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses phase III study findings from IMmotion151, which looked at atezolizumab plus bevacizumab vs sunitinib in untreated metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and results from a safety and efficacy trial of axitinib in...
Paul L. Nguyen, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, summarizes a session he chaired on prostate cancer, which included discussion of daily vs weekly image-guided radiotherapy; a biomarker to predict biochemical failure and metastasis; a comparison of abiraterone or enzalutamide activity; and...
Fatima Karzai, MD, of the National Institutes of Health, discusses phase II findings on olaparib and durvalumab in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in an unselected population (Abstract 163).
Nicholas D. James, MBBS, PhD, of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, discusses study findings on the addition of docetaxel to first-line hormone therapy in prostate cancer, an analysis focusing on cost-effectiveness and long-term and quality-adjusted survival (Abstract 162).
Maha Hussain, MD, of Northwestern University, discusses phase III findings on enzalutamide in men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (Abstract 3).
Jeffrey M. Holzbeierlein, MD, of the University of Kansas Medical Center, summarizes key abstracts on long-term sexual function in germ cell tumor survivors, sentinel node biopsy in clinical stage I testicular cancer, the impact of Medicaid expansion on diagnosis and management of patients with...
Daniel J. George, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, discusses phase III findings on adjuvant sunitinib in patients with high-risk renal cell carcinoma, in an exploratory pharmacogenomic analysis (Abstract 576).
Daniel J. George, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, discusses study findings on cabozantinib vs sunitinib for previously untreated patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma of intermediate or poor risk, in a subgroup analysis of progression-free survival and objective response rates...
Thomas Powles, MD, of Barts Cancer Institute, discusses phase III study findings on atezolizumab vs chemotherapy in platinum-treated locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma, with an emphasis on immune biomarkers, tumor mutational burden, and clinical outcomes (Abstract 409).
John J. Coen, MD, of 21st Century Oncology, discusses phase II study findings on selective bladder preservation with twice-daily radiation plus fluorouracil/cisplatin or daily radiation plus gemcitabine for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (Abstract 408).
Robert G. Bristow, MD, PhD, of Manchester Cancer Research Centre, discusses germline and somatic mutations; new ways to generate biomarkers that may describe tumor complexity; and how, in the future, this information may help triage patients with aggressive prostate tumors to intensified treatments.