Until 3 years ago, cancer was so utterly frightening to me that I avoided discussing the disease or even mentioning the word as much as possible. I sympathized with a friend when she was diagnosed with lung cancer, but I never expected to be in her position. I’m a never-smoker, and except for a...
Simplified oncologic computed tomography (CT) reports using large language models (LLMs) enabled patients to better understand the results of their restaging CT scans and reduced overall reading burden, according to the results of a study published in Radiology. However, the study also revealed...
Here are brief reports on four oncology approvals by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2025: • Menin Inhibitor in NPM1-Positive AML : On October 24, 2025, the FDA approved revumenib (Revuforj), a menin inhibitor, for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid...
During its recent Annual Meeting, the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) honored the recipients of its 2025 Gold Medal awards and other prestigious distinctions. Here, The ASCO Post celebrates the achievements of these leading radiation oncology experts. Gold Medal The Gold Medal is...
In 2016, Filippo Milano, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Translational Science and Therapeutics Division, and Director of the Cord Blood Transplant Program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, published the results of his landmark study investigating whether an alternative stem cell donor...
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) will award three cancer researchers with this year’s Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. The prize, named in honor of former MSK president Paul Marks, MD, recognizes a new generation of leaders who are making significant contributions to the...
The ASCO Nominating Committee has selected 13 distinguished members as candidates for open leadership positions within the Society. President-Elect: Deb Schrag, MD, MPH, FASCO, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Dr. Schrag is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist who currently serves as Chair...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule for 2026 on October 31, 2025.1 The rule finalizes physician reimbursement and policy reforms under the Physician Fee Schedule as well as changes to reporting requirements and policy...
Often referred to as a “silent killer,” ovarian cancer is the most lethal of female cancers. Issues of late detection and poor survival rates continue to persevere, leading to increasing levels of incidence and mortality. Data from the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition have stressed that ovarian...
The phase III STELLAR-303 trial evaluated the anti-VEGFR–related multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor zanzalintinib in combination with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab vs the multikinase inhibitor regorafenib in patients with previously treated non–microsatellite instability (MSI)–high...
Allison J. Applebaum, PhD, FAPOS, recently announced the launch of the website for the Steven S. Elbaum Family Center for Caregiving at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York (www.mountsinai.org/care/palliative-care/elbaum-center-caregiving). Dr. Applebaum is Director of the...
In the phase III HARMONi-6 trial, conducted in China, the bispecific antibody ivonescimab, given with chemotherapy, improved progression-free survival by 4.2 months over the PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab-jsgr plus chemotherapy, a 40% reduction in risk as first-line treatment of advanced squamous...
Health-related quality-of-life analyses for proton radiation therapy and photon radiation therapy in patients with nonmetastatic breast cancer showed similar impacts on quality of life with both treatments, according to findings from the phase III RadComp consortium trial. Shannon M. MacDonald, MD, ...
With 10 years of follow-up, no significant difference in survival rates was reported between patients who were treated with stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These findings from the revised...
The pace of therapeutic innovation in hematologic oncology continues to accelerate, moving clinical practice away from broad-spectrum chemotherapy and toward an era of highly personalized, biologically driven treatment. This transformation was the central theme of the 2025 National Comprehensive...
The addition of lutetium-177–labeled PSMA-617 (vipivotide tetraxetan; 177Lu-PSMA-617), a targeted radionuclide therapy, to standard-of-care androgen-deprivation therapy and an androgen receptor pathway inhibitor appeared to significantly improve radiographic progression–free survival in patients...
The addition of bemarituzumab, a first-in-class anti-FGFR2b antibody, to mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy significantly improved overall survival in patients with FGFR2b-overexpressing (≥ 10% tumor cell staining) unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer,...
In patients with high-risk non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer, the addition of 1 year of the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab to standard induction and maintenance bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) infusions led to a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in disease-free survival...
In the phase III HARMONi-6 trial, conducted in China, the bispecific antibody ivonescimab, given with chemotherapy, improved progression-free survival by 4.2 months over the PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab-jsgr plus chemotherapy, a 40% reduction in risk as first-line treatment of advanced squamous...
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2025 in Berlin featured many important trials with the potential to significantly influence clinical practice and improve outcomes for patients with multiple tumor types. These studies highlighted the benefits of novel treatment combination...
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the first to focus on radiation therapy for patients with gastric cancer. The recommendations outline radiation therapy’s role in multidisciplinary care, including best practices for patient selection, integration...
On November 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) or the subcutaneous formulation pembrolizumab and berahyaluronidase alfa-pmph (Keytruda Qlex) in combination with enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (Padcev) as neoadjuvant treatment followed by adjuvant treatment...
The addition of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab to weekly paclitaxel, with or without the VEGFA-targeted bevacizumab, significantly improved progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer, in the randomized, double-blind, phase III...
Two pivotal studies of fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in early HER2-positive breast cancer suggest this antibody-drug conjugate (targeting the HER2 protein) may be moving into the curative setting after having shown benefit in metastatic disease in multiple previous trials. The new...
A perioperative regimen of the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin-ejfv plus the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab significantly improved outcomes vs radical cystectomy alone in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who were ineligible for or declined cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Results...
Using an artificial intelligence (AI)–integrated workflow, DeepHealth, in computer-aided detection of breast cancer from digital breast tomosynthesis exams found 21.6% more cases than the usual standard of care, according to findings from the AI-Supported Safeguard Review Evaluation (ASSURE) study...
In the final analysis of the phase III POTOMAC trial reported in The Lancet, De Santis et al found that the addition of durvalumab to bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) induction and maintenance improved disease-free survival in patients with high-risk non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) who...
“Pretreatment geriatric assessment in older adults with acute myeloid leukemia is feasible, can identify several functional impairments, and [can] guide the selection of treatment intensity,” resulting in low rates of early mortality, according to Vijaya R. Bhatt, MBBS, MS, of the University of...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has transformed treatment for patients with hematologic malignancies, achieving unprecedented responses in some patients, especially those diagnosed with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple...
A large international study published by Kunkler et al in The New England Journal of Medicine examined whether chest wall radiation therapy after mastectomy improves survival for patients with early-stage breast cancer. The study, known as the SUPREMO trial, found no overall survival difference...
Known as “the silent killer” due to its lack of symptoms and reliable screening tests, ovarian cancer remains one of the deadliest gynecologic cancers, claiming more than 12,000 lives annually. At a recent meeting, experts said that performing a single preventive procedure within general surgery...
On November 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted traditional approval to tarlatamab-dlle (Imdelltra), a DLL3-targeting bispecific T-cell engager, for adults with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy....
On November 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to sevabertinib (Hyrnuo), a kinase inhibitor, for adults with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have HER2 tyrosine kinase domain (TKD) activating...
Researchers have identified a melanoma cancer cluster in 15 counties in Pennsylvania near or containing cultivated croplands, according to findings published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics. The research highlights that sunlight and areas of higher herbicide use may contribute to these...
Patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who achieve a long-lasting disease remission from chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy may differ from patients who relapse sooner based upon their immune system and how it responds to the infused CAR T cells, as well as how it...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Cloughesy et al, vorasidenib was associated with improvement in some secondary and exploratory outcomes vs placebo in the phase III INDIGO trial in patients with residual or recurrent IDH1-mutant or IDH2-mutant low-grade glioma. Initial reports at second...
Emese Zsiros, MD, PhD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, reviews results from the randomized, double-blind, phase III ENGOT-ov65/KEYNOTE-B96 trial. According to the study investigators, “Pembrolizumab in combination with weekly paclitaxel with or without bevacizumab demonstrated...
On November 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted traditional approval to daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj (Darzalex Faspro) with bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone (VCd) for newly diagnosed light chain (AL) amyloidosis. The FDA granted accelerated approval to the...
Using a computational tool, DeepTarget, physicians were able to predict both primary and secondary targets of small-molecule agents for cancer treatment, according to findings from a study published in npj Precision Oncology. The study authors suggest that this represents a potentially significant...
Curative treatment following first-line immunotherapy is infrequently received, but when it was utilized, it significantly improved overall survival outcomes for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, according to findings from a study published in Liver Cancer. The risk for death was improved by...
On November 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved selumetinib (Koselugo), a MEK inhibitor, for adults with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) who have symptomatic, inoperable plexiform neurofibromas (PN). In September 2025, the FDA approved selumetinib capsules and granules for...
New research has ruled out hormone signaling as the reason why men with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) tend to have poorer outcomes than women, even when treated with the same intensive chemotherapy—a finding that helps refine future research and could influence clinical trial design. The...
As reported in the The New England Journal of Medicine by Kunkler et al, the phase III SUPREMO trial showed no significant difference in 10-year overall survival in women with breast cancer receiving vs not receiving postmastectomy chest-wall irradiation. Study Details In the international trial...
On November 18, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved epcoritamab-bysp (Epkinly), a bispecific CD20-directed CD3 T-cell engager, in combination with lenalidomide and rituximab for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma. In addition, the FDA...
In a U.S. cohort study reported as a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Zheng et al found that increasing use of dexrazoxane in newly diagnosed children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) receiving front-line anthracycline treatment has been accompanied by a reduction in intensive care unit...
In a Canadian phase III trial (MAST) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fleshner et al found that metformin did not improve progression-free survival vs placebo in men with low-risk prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance. Study Details In the multicenter double-blind trial, 408...
A national quality improvement program led by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) found that transportation barriers and illness are among the top reasons patients with cancer miss critical radiation therapy appointments—and that providing hospitals and patients with structured support can...
In an interim analysis of a Chinese phase III trial (BL-B01D1-303) reported in The Lancet, Yang et al found that izalontamab brengitecan (iza-bren)—a bispecific antibody–drug conjugate targeting EGFR and HER3—significantly improved the objective response rate vs physician’s choice of chemotherapy...
Based on the results of a multicenter retrospective cohort study published in JAMA Network Open, in patients who underwent radical nephroureterectomy for upper tract urothelial carcinoma, a history of urinary stones was associated with significantly worse cancer-specific and disease-free survival....
Sacituzumab tirumotecan, a novel TROP2 antibody-drug conjugate, was found to significantly improve both progression-free and overall survival compared with platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had experienced disease progression following...