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
Riccardo Lencioni, MD, of the University of Pisa School of Medicine, discusses phase III results from the EMERALD-1 study of durvalumab plus bevacizumab plus TACE (transarterial chemoembolization) in patients with embolization-eligible unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. Compared with TACE alone, this combination is the first immune checkpoint inhibitor–based regimen to improve progression-free survival and has the potential to set a new standard of care in this disease, according to Dr. Lencioni (Abstract LBA432).
The ASCO Post Staff
Frank Kullmann, MD, of Germany’s Klinikum Weiden, discusses results from the ALPACA trial, which suggest a dose-reduced regimen with alternating cycles of gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine monotherapy after three induction cycles of standard gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel is feasible and associated with an overall survival comparable to that with standard treatment, as well as improved tolerability (Abstract 605).
The ASCO Post Staff
Yasunobu Ishizuka, MD, of Japan’s Aichi Cancer Center, discusses study results showing that scheduling infusions of nivolumab monotherapy before mid-afternoon for patients with metastatic gastric cancer may alter treatment efficacy. Several studies have suggested that circadian rhythm is essential in immune system function, including anticancer immunity (Abstract 268).
The ASCO Post Staff
Michael K. Gibson, MD, PhD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, discusses phase III findings on chemotherapy plus camrelizumab in the ESCORT-NEO trial of patients with resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; and phase III SKYSCRAPER-08 results on first-line tiragolumab plus atezolizumab and chemotherapy in the same patient population (Abstracts LBA244 and 245).
