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).
Erika P. Hamilton, MD, of Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses results of the nextMONARCH study, which indicated that combining abemaciclib with tamoxifen improved overall survival. Dr. Hamilton also details adverse events in different arms of the study (Abstract 273O).
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).
Paolo A. Ascierto, MD, of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori, discusses phase II results on progression-free survival for patients with advanced melanoma in the SECOMBIT study, whose aim is to evaluate the different sequencing of a BRAF inhibitor (encorafenib) plus a MEK inhibitor (binimetinib) with ipilimumab plus nivolumab (Abstract LBA45).
Andreas Schneeweiss, MD, of the Heidelberg University Hospital and German Cancer Research Center, discusses phase III survival data from the GeparOcto trial, which compared the neoadjuvant chemotherapy intense dose-dense EPC (epirubicin, paclitaxel, and cyclophosphamide) with weekly paclitaxel and liposomal doxorubicin (with or without carboplatin in triple-negative breast cancer) for patients with high-risk early breast cancer (Abstract 160O).
