Paolo Ghia, MD, PhD, of the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, discusses phase II results from the CAPTIVATE study, which examined ibrutinib plus venetoclax as a fixed-duration first-line treatment in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (Abstract 7501).
Nicholas J. Short, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses early results from a phase II study which showed that combining ponatinib and blinatumomab in patients with Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia may prove to be an effective chemotherapy-free regimen that might reduce the need for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (Abstract 7001).
Ian Chau, MD, of Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, discusses first results of the CheckMate 648 study, which showed that nivolumab plus chemotherapy and nivolumab plus ipilimumab both demonstrated superior overall survival vs chemotherapy alone in patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. These regimens may represent potential new first-line treatment options (Abstract 4001).
Terry P. Mamounas, MD, MPH, of the University of Florida Health Cancer Center, discusses results from the NRG Oncology/NSABP B-42 study, which examined the Breast Cancer Index and its ability to predict whether extended treatment with letrozole benefits patients with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer (Abstract 501).
Brian I. Rini, MD, of Vanderbilt University, discusses findings from KEYNOTE-426, the longest follow-up of a checkpoint inhibitor (pembrolizumab) combined with a VEGF/VEGFR inhibitor (axitinib) for first-line clear cell renal cell carcinoma. The trial results continue to support this combination as a standard of care for patients with previously untreated disease (Abstract 4500).
Narjust Duma, MD, of the Carbone Cancer Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Gladys I. Rodriguez, MD, of South Texas Oncology and Hematology, talk about the underrepresentation of Hispanic individuals in medicine, especially in oncology, and their efforts to create the first Young Investigator Award in Recognition of an Outstanding Latina Researcher to encourage Hispanic women to enter medicine and cancer research.
