Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the first results from the phase III CheckMate 9ER trial, which suggested the combination of nivolumab and cabozantinib is safe. It showed activity in progression-free and overall survival, as well as in overall response rates and may have a place in treating patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (Abstract 696O_PR).
Thierry Andre, MD, of Hôpital Saint-Antoine, discusses phase III KEYNOTE-177 findings on the reduced risk of disease progression or death in patients receiving pembrolizumab monotherapy as a first-line treatment of microsatellite instability–high and/or mismatch repair–deficient metastatic colorectal cancer (Abstract 396O).
Mansoor Raza Mirza, MD, of Copenhagen University Hospital, discusses phase II study results that showed the combination of palbociclib and letrozole, compared with placebo plus letrozole, improved progression-free survival in patients with estrogen receptor–positive advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer (Abstract LBA28).
Ezra E.W. Cohen, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, discusses primary results of the phase III JAVELIN trial of locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, in which the immune checkpoint inhibitor avelumab was combined with chemoradiotherapy followed by avelumab maintenance. Although the study results were negative, Dr. Cohen suggests other regimens that may prove to be effective (Abstract 910O).
Erica L. Mayer, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses an initial analysis of phase III findings from the PALLAS trial, which suggested the benefits observed in the metastatic setting with palbociclib plus endocrine therapy did not translate into the earlier adjuvant setting for patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Long-term follow-up is ongoing (Abstract LBA12).
