In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication On November 13, 2013, ibrutinib (Imbruvica) was granted...
Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, was named President of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) at the organization’s 10th International Conference in October. Dr. Greenlee is Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New...
The following four abstracts, which describe findings in three clinical studies and one basic science study, were singled out as the top abstracts at this year’s International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology. Self-Administered Acupressure Zick S, Wyatt G, Murphy S; et al: The...
Targeted anticancer therapies like epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (mTKIs), and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors frequently result in dermatologic adverse events and mucosal adverse events, or, taken together, mucocutaneous ...
Welcome to the meeting we hold every 3 years to choose our next projects,” said John Mendelsohn, MD, Chair of the National Cancer Policy Forum and Director of the Khalifa Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. “We have here a...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted regular approval for crizotinib (Xalkori) for the treatment of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors are anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive as detected by an FDA-approved test. The approval was based...
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has identified 388 individuals who have been named AAAS Fellows. These individuals have been recognized by their peers for their efforts to advance science or its applications. The new AAAS Fellows, whose names were published in the...
ASCO Chief Medical Officer Richard L. Schilsky, MD, and other oncology drug experts presented a panel on drug dosing at a recent meeting, cosponsored by the Friends of Cancer Research and the Brookings Institution, in Washington, DC.1 The presentations made it clear that issues surrounding drug...
The recently released Clinical Cancer Advances 2013: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer, highlights the most impactful advances in clinical cancer research of the year, and this year’s report identifies two studies that were funded by the Conquer Cancer Foundation. Advances in Targeted ...
The Society has recently published Clinical Cancer Advances 2013: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer, a comprehensive review of progress in clinical cancer research that has come to fruition in 2013. The report highlights advances across the entire continuum of cancer care, from...
As reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology by Glenwood D. Goss, MD, of the Ottawa Hospital Cancer Center, and colleagues, the prematurely closed NCIC CTG BR19 study showed no apparent survival benefit of adjuvant gefitinib (Iressa, withdrawn from U.S. market) vs placebo in patients with completely ...
An interim analysis of the COU-AA-302 phase III trial in asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic chemotherapy-naive men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer showed that the addition of abiraterone (Zytiga) to prednisone significantly delayed radiographic progression and improved overall...
In a phase III trial (NSABP B-41) performed to assess the potential benefit of neoadjuvant dual HER2 blockade in HER2-positive breast cancer, André Robidoux, MD, of Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, and colleagues in the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP)...
As reported in The Lancet by Aron Goldhirsch, MD, of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, Italy, and colleagues from the Breast International Group (BIG), the comparison of 1 vs 2 years of trastuzumab (Herceptin) in patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer in the phase III HERA trial ...
The first candidate vaccine to prevent recurrence of breast cancer entered clinical trials about 8 years ago, and since then, the idea of a vaccine for secondary prevention has gained traction; more such vaccines are now in development. But this fall, it was vaccines for primary prevention that had ...
With an expanded list of drugs to treat multiple myeloma, experts are interested in whether treating precursor diseases to multiple myeloma can prevent progression to full-blown myeloma. In addition, new drugs are entering the armamentarium for treating multiple myeloma, noted Ruben Niesvizky, MD,...
A strong antiproliferative response was shown for the somatostatin analog lanreotide (subcutaneous, extended-release formulation, Somatuline Autogel [Somatuline Depot in the United States]) in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, in the large multinational prospective phase...
Radiation therapy appears to significantly decrease local recurrence in premenopausal women with node-positive and luminal A tumors, based on an analysis of two small but independent randomized series reported at the 2013 European Cancer Congress in Amsterdam.1 “Though not definitive, our study...
The strategy of autologous stem-cell transplantation as consolidation in high-intermediate– or high-risk diffuse aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) has not been specifically examined in the rituximab (Rituxan) era. In the phase III Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG)-led intergroup 9704 trial...
A 72-year-old, obese male patient and a poor operative candidate is diagnosed with esophageal carcinoma. He has multiple comorbidities and a past history of colon carcinoma. His staging workup, which included a colonoscopy, revealed recurrent colon carcinoma. Thus, we have a patient who we...
There is growing interest by patients, policymakers, and clinicians in shared decision-making as a means to include patients in health decisions and translate patient evidence into clinical practice. Conceptually, sharing of information seems like a natural interplay between doctors and their...
Addressing a presentation by Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, at the 2013 Chemotherapy Foundation, Howard Hochster, MD, Yale University Cancer Center, New Haven, Connecticut, said he agrees with Dr. Kopetz about the need for expanded RAS testing. “Now we have two studies suggesting that tumors with all the...
Dr. Janet L. Rowley’s groundbreaking research in the translocation of genetic material bucked scientific convention and heralded a new understanding that cancer is indeed a genetic disease. Her research was largely responsible for the discoveries that led to the development of the targeted cancer...
Daily manual lymphatic drainage and bandaging followed by compression garments did not result in significant improvement in lymphedema compared to a more conservative approach with compression garments only, according to a study evaluating 95 women previously treated for breast cancer with...
Two events in Ezra M. Greenspan’s early adult life convinced him to pursue a career in medicine: the death of a college friend from pneumonia when the two were students at Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences and his own bout with the disease soon after. Saved by a local physician who...
The recommendation that a survivorship care plan be provided to patients and their primary care providers was first presented in the 2006 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition. The IOM committee proposed that this document include two parts—a ...
While acknowledging that the full potential of cancer immunotherapy remains unclear, the editors of the journal Science said that the approach of using the immune system to attack tumors marks a turning point in the treatment of cancer.1 The successes of cancer immunotherapy in clinical trials in...
In 2012, ASCO issued a provisional clinical opinion addressing the integration of palliative care services into standard oncology practice at the time a patient is diagnosed with metastatic or advanced cancer and for patients with uncontrolled symptoms.1 However, despite ASCO’s provisional clinical ...
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has selected Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, as its next Chief Executive Officer. Currently the Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Dr. Desmond-Hellmann will assume her role on May 1, 2014. “We chose Sue because of her...
At a recent meeting in Washington, DC, Friends of Cancer Research and the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution officially announced activation of the Lung Cancer Master Protocol, a new research strategy that has the potential to hurdle or bypass known clinical trial...
Chronic graft-vs-host disease is a major cause of late, nonrelapse death following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In addition, chronic graft-vs-host disease results in significant functional impairment and decreased quality of life for long-term survivors of stem cell...
In addition to the election of Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, as President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for a 1-year term beginning in June 2015 (see page 85), ASCO has announced four new members who were recently elected to the ASCO Board of Directors and two new members...
Despite optimal surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin-based doublets, the 5-year overall survival for patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains suboptimal. In the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) staging project, the...
Multiple myeloma patients derived a benefit from maintenance lenalidomide (Revlimid) treatment in terms of progression-free but not overall survival, according to a meta-analysis of four key trials presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.1 The study does little to...
While the last 15 years have brought unprecedented advances in oncology drug development, the next 10 years promise to usher in even greater opportunities to realize the goal of precision medicine in the treatment of cancer, providing patients with more effective care and better outcomes. Reaching...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. New Indication On November 22, 2013, sorafenib (Nexavar) was...
Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, has been elected President of ASCO for a 1-year term beginning in June 2015. She will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago in June 2014. “ASCO is a very diverse and multifaceted organization with so much to offer its membership. The ...
In the randomized noninferiority TARGIT-A trial reported in The Lancet, Jayant S. Vaidya, PhD, FRCS, and Michael Baum, MD, FRCS, of University College London, and colleagues compared risk-adapted radiotherapy using single-dose targeted intraoperative radiotherapy vs fractionated external-beam...
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column offering insight into the FDA and its policies and procedures. This installment addresses a changing paradigm in the treatment of lung cancer, exemplified by concurrent approval of a companion diagnostic with each of several new targeted agents or new...
A new analysis of the multiple myeloma Intergroupe Francophone du Myelome (IFM) 2005-02 trial showed that lenalidomide (Revlimid) maintenance prolongs progression-free survival after stem cell transplantation, but does not improve overall survival.1 This is possibly attributed to the shorter...
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that harbors KRAS mutations in exon 2 and patients with other activating RAS mutations do not benefit from anti–epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy and may in fact be harmed by it. In an analysis reported in The New England Journal of Medicine ...
It has been posited that aspirin treatment may reduce risk for colorectal cancer through inhibition of WNT/cadherin-associated protein β1 (CTNNB1, or β-catenin) signaling. In a study reported recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Nan et al investigated the potential role of the...
There may be a benefit for treating small HER2-positive tumors—a breast cancer subset for whom treatment recommendations have not been established but for whom there is still risk of recurrence—and this can be done with little toxicity, according to a multicenter study presented at the 2013 San...
From December 10 to 14, the American Association for Cancer Research, the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, and Baylor College of Medicine once again hosted the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), presenting...
A study by Sosman et al has identified two novel BRAF fusions in melanomas previously considered to be negative for molecular targets. In addition, these “pan-negative” melanomas were found to be sensitive to MEK inhibitors. According to the study, BRAF fusions define a new molecular subset of...
We have an aging population, which is a good thing since people are living longer. [But] cancer is a disease that tends to occur most frequently in older people, so the combination of those two events will lead to many more older people with cancer, a larger cancer population in general, and a...
One of the key questions in geriatric oncology is: How can we use all of the work geriatricians have done over the years in general geriatrics and apply that to the field of oncology? One-quarter to one-third of us are going to develop cancer throughout our lifetime, and half of the time it is...
Based on age and risk, an estimated 10 million women in the United States may be eligible for an agent aimed at preventing breast cancer, but chemoprevention is underutilized. Fewer than 5% of women at high risk who are offered tamoxifen for chemoprevention agree to take the drug, partly due to...
Five years of treatment with anastrozole reduced the risk of breast cancer by 53% in postmenopausal women at high risk for developing the disease, according to an analysis of the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study (IBIS)-II trial. Anastrozole reduced the risk of estrogen...
Reports have been trickling in from centers conducting research on the use of chimeric antigen receptor–modified T cells (CAR-T) in hematologic cancer, and the news is encouraging. When directed against CD19, such personalized therapeutic T cells are known as CTL019, and small pilot trials of this...