Shailender Bhatia, MD, on Adjuvant Avelumab in Patients With Metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma
ASCO 2026
Shailender Bhatia, MD, of the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, presents data from the phase III ADAM trial, a multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of the anti–PD-L1 antibody avelumab in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma and lymph node metastases (Abstract LBA9504).
The ASCO Post Staff
Jonathan W. Goldman, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, presents event-free survival data from the primary analysis of the phase III LIBRETTO-432 trial, which investigated the efficacy of the kinase inhibitor selpercatinib in patients with stage IB–IIIA RET fusion–positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Abstract LBA3).
Elizabeth Smyth, MD, of Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Churchill Hospital, discusses three major studies presented at this year’s meeting: the antibody-drug conjugate izalontamab brengitecan in recurrent or metasatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (Abstract 4008); the ATTRACTION-6 study of chemoimmunotherapy in HER2-negative advanced gastric/gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer (Abstract 4006); and an investigational EP4 antagonist in combination with chemoimmunotherapy as a first-line strategy for HER2-negative gastric/GEJ cancer (Abstract 4007).
Daniel A. Ermann, MD, of Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah School of Medicine, reviews data from a retrospective analysis that compared the real-world effectiveness of monotherapy first-line treatment for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) based on overall survival and time to next treatment (Abstract 7045).
Mohammed Al-Jumayli, MD, of H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, discusses the effects of the use of a multimodal, digitally supported prehabilitation program among adults aged 65 years and older undergoing surgery for hepatobiliary cancer; the model was associated with favorable short-term functional performance signals and high levels of engagement (Abstract 12039).
William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, presents pooled results from the BRUIN CLL-313 and BRUIN CLL-314 trials. BRUIN CLL-313 is comparing pirtobrutinib to bendamustine plus rituximab in treatment-naive patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL); BRUIN CLL-314 is comparing pirtobrutinib to ibrutinib in the same patient population (Abstract 7044).