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
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
James Chih-Hsin Yang, MD, PhD, of the National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University Cancer Center, discusses the latest data from the phase III KEYNOTE-789 study, which evaluated the efficacy and safety of pemetrexed plus platinum chemotherapy (carboplatin or cisplatin) with or without pembrolizumab in the treatment of adults with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor–resistant, EGFR–mutated, metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Abstract LBA9000).
The ASCO Post Staff
Jonathan W. Riess, MD, of the University of California, Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, explores the findings of three important clinical trials in lung cancer treatment: whether to incorporate immune checkpoint inhibitors into the treatment of EGFR-mutated lung cancer, the importance of central nervous system activity in EGFR-mutant lung cancer, and new therapies for disease with EGFR exon 20 insertion.
The ASCO Post Staff
Bobbie J. Rimel, MD, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Isabelle L. Ray-Coquard, MD, PhD, of Centre Léon Bérard and the University Claude Bernard Lyon Est, discuss findings from the COLIBRI trial, which showed that, for patients with cervical squamous cell carcinoma, neoadjuvant nivolumab plus ipilimumab is safe and orchestrates de novo immune responses. The 82.5% complete response rate for primary tumors 6 months after standard chemoradiation therapy suggests favorable clinical outcomes (Abstract 5501).
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).