William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the TRANSCEND CLL 004 trial, which studied the use of an experimental CD19-directed CAR T-cell product in heavily pretreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (Abstract 7501).
Amy J. Davidoff, PhD, of Yale University School of Public Health, discusses study findings on how expanding access to Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reduced racial disparities among patients with advanced cancer. Before the ACA was implemented in 2014, black patients with cancer were less likely than white patients to receive timely treatment, but in states that did not adopt Medicaid expansion, racial disparities persist (Abstract LBA1).
Neeraj Agarwal, MD, of Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah Health Care, and Thomas W. Flaig, MD, of the University of Colorado, discuss phase II findings on a novel predictive biomarker of response to the two accepted neoadjuvant regimens for muscle-invasive bladder cancer: methotrexate/vinblastine/doxorubicin/cisplatin and gemcitabine/cisplatin (Abstract 4506).
Miriam Knoll, MD, and Zachery Reichert, MD, PhD, discuss the FORCE trial, which is examining whether radiation can create a more durable response to systemic therapy, and whether using newer, more sensitive imaging technologies can improve outcomes (Abstract TPS5096).
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).
Jason Westin, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses findings of the Smart Start study on the chemotherapy-free combination of rituximab, lenalidomide, and ibrutinib in newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (Abstract 7508).
