Susana N. Banerjee, MBBS, PhD, on Ovarian Cancer: Novel Combination Therapy Under Study
ESMO Congress 2021
Susana N. Banerjee, MBBS, PhD, of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, discusses phase I results that have generated interest in the combination of the RAF/MEK inhibitor VS-6766 and the FAK inhibitor defactinib for patients with recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer, a disease that typically has limited response to conventional chemotherapy and hormonal therapy. The data support ongoing investigation (Abstract 725MO).
The ASCO Post Staff
Jason J. Luke, MD, of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, discusses phase III results showing that adjuvant pembrolizumab for patients with resected stage IIB and IIC melanoma decreased the risk of disease recurrence or death by 35% compared with placebo. It was also associated with significantly prolonged recurrence-free survival (Abstract LBA3).
The ASCO Post Staff
Nicoletta Colombo, MD, of the Istituto Europeo Oncologico, discusses phase III results that showed improvements in progression-free and overall survival with a combination of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, compared with placebo and chemotherapy, for patients with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. These benefits were seen regardless of PD-L1 expression and concomitant bevacizumab use, suggesting that pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, with or without bevacizumab, may be a new standard of care for this population (Abstract LBA2).
The ASCO Post Staff
Joseph M. Unger, PhD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses findings from his study of the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Trials Network, which has conducted publicly funded cancer research for more than 50 years. The substantial gains in life years for patients with cancer, he says, supports the critical role of government-sponsored cancer research (Abstract 1503O).
The ASCO Post Staff
Robin Cornelissen, MD, PhD, of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, discusses phase II findings from the ZENITH20-4 study, which explored the question of whether poziotinib could benefit patients whose newly diagnosed non–small cell lung cancer harbors EGFR and HER2 exon 20 mutations. Potentially, this novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor may fill an unmet medical need (Abstract LBA46).
The ASCO Post Staff
Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London, discusses phase II results from the NORSE study, which showed that the kinase inhibitor erdafitinib plus the monoclonal antibody cetrelimab produced meaningful responses in cisplatin-ineligible patients with first-line metastatic or locally advanced urothelial carcinoma and fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) alterations (Abstract LBA27).
