Hani M. Babiker, MD, on Tumor Treating Fields: A Different Approach to Therapy
2019 ASCO Annual Meeting
Hani M. Babiker, MD, of the The University of Arizona, discusses an emerging treatment that inhibits the mitotic spindle and disrupts tumor cell growth. The method has been approved by the FDA to treat some cancers and data show improved progression-free and overall survival (Abstracts 2055, 8551, e14658, e14668, e15653, e20069, e15766).
Brian C. Baumann, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, discusses study findings that showed, for adults with locally advanced cancer across five different disease sites, proton chemoradiotherapy was associated with significantly reduced acute adverse events, with no difference in disease-free or overall survival (Abstract 6521).
Ahmad A. Tarhini, MD, PhD, of Emory University and Winship Cancer Institute, discusses phase III findings from the U.S. Intergroup E1609 trial, which showed survival benefits for patients with resected high-risk melanoma—for the first time in the history of melanoma adjuvant therapy (Abstract 9504).
William D. Tap, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses negative study findings on doxorubicin plus olaratumab vs doxorubicin plus placebo, which showed no difference in overall survival between the two treatments in patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcomas. The manufacturer is currently withdrawing olaratumab from the global market (Abstract LBA3).
Christopher Sweeney, MBBS, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Ian D. Davis, MBBS, PhD, of Monash University and Eastern Health, discuss the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group, working globally to speed clinical research in and treatment of urogenital cancers.
Taofeek Kunle Owonikoko, MD, PhD, of Emory University, discusses the findings of his phase II study, which assessed the efficacy of combined immune checkpoint inhibitors with or without radiation in relapsed small cell lung cancer (Abstract 8515).