Evan T. Hall, MD, on Merkel Cell Carcinoma: Tuvusertib With or Without Avelumab
ASCO 2026
Evan T. Hall, MD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, discusses findings from the randomized phase II MATRiX trial, which evaluated the efficacy of the ATR inhibitor tuvusertib with or without avelumab in patients with anti–PD-(L)1–refractory Merkel cell carcinoma (Abstract LBA9514).
The ASCO Post Staff
Robert C. Stein, PhD, MBBChir, FRCP, of the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, discusses the first results from the phase III randomized OPTIMA trial, which is comparing chemotherapy decisions made with the Prosigna (PAM50) gene expression test with standard treatment with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer (Abstract 500).
Hannah L. Kenny, MD, and Joseph M. Curry, MD, both of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, discuss results of a phase II trial of neoadjuvant cemiplimab-rwlc in patients with hedgehog inhibitor–naive basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the head and neck (Abstract 9515).
The ASCO Post Staff
Yashasvini Sampathkumar, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, presents data on Talking to Employers and Medical Staff about Work (TEAMWork), an English/Spanish intervention. The English/Spanish intervention, delivered as a booklet or mobile app, was developed to improve work outcomes among women undergoing breast cancer therapy. Dr. Sampathkumar discusses whether the digital vs print format was preferable among this population (Abstract 11060).
The ASCO Post Staff
Ronald C. Chen, MD, MPH, FASCO, of the University of Kansas Medical Center, presents health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data from the AMBASSADOR trial, which showed that in patients with high-risk muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma after radical surgery, adjuvant pembrolizumab for 1 year approximately doubled disease-free survival, causes fatigue and dyspnea which modestly impacted physical function and ability to perform certain roles (such as work and hobbies), without impact on overall quality of life (Abstract 4513).
The ASCO Post Staff
Mali Barbi, MD, MS, of Northwell Health Cancer Institute Center for Women's Cancer, discusses durable survival benefits shown in the NRG-GY018 trial with pembrolizumab and the RUBY trial with dostarlimab for patients with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) endometrial cancer. In addition, B7-H4 antibody-drug conjugates such as puxitatug samrotecan are emerging as options for relapsed/metastatic disease.