Peter Reichardt, MD, PhD, of Helios Klinikum Berlin-Buch, discusses the 10-year survival analysis of 3 years vs 1 year of adjuvant imatinib for patients with high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumor. The study found that about 50% of deaths can be avoided with longer imatinib treatment (Abstract 11503).
Nancy U. Lin, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the HER2CLIMB study of patients with previously treated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer that had metastasized to the brain. Adding tucatinib to trastuzumab and capecitabine doubled the intracranial response rate and reduced the risk of death by nearly half, compared with trastuzumab plus capecitabine (Abstract 1005).
Parameswaran Hari, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses phase III data from a 6-year follow-up of the STaMINA trial, which compared progression-free survival among 758 patients with high-risk multiple myeloma who received a second autologous transplant and lenalidomide maintenance; consolidation with lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone followed by lenalidomide maintenance; or lenalidomide maintenance alone (Abstract 8506).
As Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London, prepares to deliver his late-breaking presentation at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program (LBA-1), he talks with Christopher Sweeney, MBBS, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, about current therapy: PD1/PDL1 inhibition in second-line treatment and as monotherapy in the first-line setting, as well as the concept of maintenance switch.
David C. Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, of the University of Pennsylvania, who trained as an oncologist, summarizes his opening lecture, a dramatic story of his battle against Castleman, a disease of the lymph nodes, his multiple near-death experiences, and the path that led him to develop a cooperative research effort making a difference for him and other patients with this idiopathic orphan illness.
Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, of the University of Michigan, and Narjust Duma, MD, of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, discuss the state of diversity in the hematology-oncology workforce, mechanisms that lead to inequities, promising interventions, and where the field should go next (Abstract 11000).
