Carmen E. Guerra, MD, MSCE, on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Clinical Trials: Expert Commentary
2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Carmen E. Guerra, MD, MSCE, of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center, discusses three key abstracts presented at ASCO: strategies to increase accrual of underrepresented populations in Alliance NCTN trials, how patient-clinician education can strengthen partnerships and improve diversity in breast and lung cancer trials, and mediators of racial and ethnic inequities in clinical trial participation among U.S. patients with cancer from 2011 to 2022 (Abstracts 6509, 6510, 6511).
The ASCO Post Staff
Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the combination of erdafitinib and cetrelimab, which demonstrated clinically meaningful activity and was well tolerated in cisplatin-ineligible patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma and fibroblast growth factor receptor alterations (Abstract 4504).
The ASCO Post Staff
Lisa A. Carey, MD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Dennis J. Slamon, MD, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, discuss phase III study findings on ribociclib plus endocrine therapy as adjuvant treatment in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer. When added to standard-of-care endocrine therapy, ribociclib improved invasive disease–free survival with a well-tolerated safety profile (Abstract LBA500).
The ASCO Post Staff
Jennifer A. Woyach, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses results of a phase III study showing that progression-free survival with ibrutinib plus obinutuzumab plus venetoclax is not superior to ibrutinib plus obinutuzumab for treatment-naive older patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic. Long-term follow-up will determine whether there are advantages to obinutuzumab plus venetoclax, with special attention to measurable residual disease and therapy discontinuation (Abstract 7500).
The ASCO Post Staff
Narjust Florez, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, of Yale Cancer Center, discuss new phase III findings on osimertinib, a third-generation, central nervous system EGFR-TKI, which demonstrated an unprecedented overall survival benefit for patients with EGFR-mutated, stage IB–IIIA non–small cell lung cancer after complete tumor resection, with or without adjuvant chemotherapy (Abstract LBA3).
The ASCO Post Staff
Nirav N. Shah, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses phase II results showing that split-dose R-CHOP offers older patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) an equivalent dose intensity as R-CHOP-21 through a fractionated dosing schedule, improving tolerability. At the end of treatment for these older patients, a complete response rate of 71% was comparable to outcomes with R-CHOP in younger patients with the disease (Abstract 7554).
