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).
Related Videos
The ASCO Post Staff
Smitha Krishnamurthi, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, and Deb Schrag, MD, MPH, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discuss phase III findings from the PROSPECT trial, which showed FOLFOX chemotherapy with selective use of radiation therapy and sensitizing fluoropyrimidine (5FUCRT) is noninferior to 5FUCRT for the neoadjuvant treatment of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer, prior to low anterior resection with total mesorectal excision (Abstract LBA2).
The ASCO Post Staff
Catherine C. Coombs, MD, of the University of California, Irvine, discusses prolonged pirtobrutinib therapy, which continues to demonstrate a safety profile amenable to long-term administration at the recommended dose without evidence of new or worsening toxicity signals. The safety and tolerability observed in patients on therapy for 12 months or more were similar to previously published safety analyses of all patients enrolled, regardless of follow-up (Abstract 7513).
The ASCO Post Staff
Bradley J. Monk, MD, of the University of Arizona, Phoenix, and Creighton University, discusses phase III findings from the KEYNOTE-826 study of overall survival results in patients with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. Study participants received first-line treatment of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, with or without bevacizumab, which reduced the risk of death by up to 40% in three different subsets of patients (Abstract 5500).
The ASCO Post Staff
Narjust Florez, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Filippo Gustavo Dall’Olio, MD, of Institut Gustave Roussy, discuss circulating tumor DNA tumor fraction, and its link to survival in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with maintenance durvalumab in the UNICANCER SAFIR02-Lung/IFCT1301 trial. Tumor fraction was positive in 16% of patients randomly assigned to receive durvalumab in the study. This population seems to have a limited benefit from maintenance durvalumab after induction chemotherapy (Abstract 2516).
The ASCO Post Staff
Muhit Özcan, MD, of Turkey’s Ankara University School of Medicine, discusses waveLINE-007, a two-part study now recruiting in more than 20 locations, to determine the safety and recommended phase II dose of the antibody-drug conjugate zilovertamab vedotin in combination with R-CHP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, prednisone) in previously untreated patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Efficacy of this regimen will be investigated in the second half of the study (Abstract TPS7589).