Ian Chau, MD, on Gastrointestinal Cancers: Real-World Effectiveness of Nivolumab Plus Chemotherapy
2024 ASCO GI Cancers Symposium
Ian Chau, MD, of The Royal Marsden Hospital, discusses reportedly the first study to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of nivolumab as a first-line treatment of advanced gastric, gastroesophageal junction, or esophageal adenocarcinoma. The combination therapy improved overall survival compared with chemotherapy alone. Dr. Chau presents the 18-month follow-up results (Abstract 295).
The ASCO Post Staff
Dominik P. Modest, MD, of Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, discusses phase III study findings showing sotorasib plus panitumumab vs trifluridine/tipiracil or regorafenib benefits patients with chemorefractory metastatic colorectal cancer in terms of improved clinical outcomes and better self-reported quality of life (Abstract 10).
The ASCO Post Staff
Ken Kato, MD, PhD, of Japan’s National Cancer Center Hospital, discusses the first comprehensive findings on biomarkers from the CheckMate 648 study. These results further corroborate the clinical efficacy of nivolumab plus chemotherapy and nivolumab plus ipilimumab in the first-line treatment of advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. According to Dr. Kato, the data suggest an overall survival benefit across multiple biomarker subgroups (Abstract 252).
The ASCO Post Staff
Van K. Morris, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase II results on using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as a predictive biomarker of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage II colon cancer. During the trial, no improvement in ctDNA clearance was observed after 6 months of chemotherapy following resection of disease. Dr. Morris notes that future trials should account for evolving assay performance in patients with colorectal cancer (Abstract 5).
The ASCO Post Staff
Ian Chau, MD, of The Royal Marsden Hospital, discusses an analysis from the CheckMate 648 study on quality-adjusted time without symptoms and toxicity in patients with unresectable advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Patients treated with nivolumab plus ipilimumab and nivolumab plus chemotherapy compared with chemotherapy alone experienced longer quality-adjusted survival (Abstract 251).
The ASCO Post Staff
Anant Ramaswamy, DM, of Tata Memorial Centre, discusses phase III results of a study that added docetaxel to a doublet regimen of fluorouracil or capecitabine and oxaliplatin, which did not improve overall survival in patients with advanced gastroesophageal junction and gastric cancers. Continuing chemotherapy beyond 6 months also did not appear to improve survival in this population (Abstract LBA248).
