Phoebe Starr

The phase 3 CheckMate-816 trial establishes a new standard of care for resectable non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC): neoadjuvant nivolumab (Opdivo) plus chemotherapy. Read More ›

Adding abemaciclib to endocrine therapy led to a significant reduction in invasive disease recurrence versus endocrine therapy alone in HR-positive, HER2-negative early-stage breast cancer, according to the results of a new study. “This is a very important trial, and the findings will change practice,” said Giuseppe Curigliano, MD, PhD. Read More ›

The addition of the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) to the 2 targeted therapies—the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) and the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib (Cotellic)—improved progression-free survival (PFS) and the duration of responses compared with the 2 targeted therapies plus placebo in patients with newly diagnosed advanced melanoma and BRAF V600E/K mutation, according to the phase 3 IMspire150 clinical trial. Read More ›

Tumors with KRAS mutation are notoriously difficult to treat. Early data presented at the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research virtual annual meeting suggest 2 new routes for the treatment of cancers with KRAS mutation, including (1) the combination of a RAF/MEK inhibitor and an FAK inhibitor, and (2) the use of onvansertib, an investigational competitive inhibitor of the PLK1 enzyme, together with chemotherapy. Read More ›

The addition of the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) to the 2 targeted therapies—the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) and the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib (Cotellic)—improved progression-free survival (PFS) and the duration of responses compared with the 2 targeted therapies plus placebo in patients with newly diagnosed advanced melanoma and BRAF V600E/K mutation, according to the phase 3 IMspire150 clinical trial. Read More ›

Data from the TRACERx lung study suggest that circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may be a biomarker for the detection of postsurgical minimal residual disease (MRD) in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), suggesting which patients are at increased risk for disease relapse and will require more aggressive adjuvant therapy. Read More ›

The combination of the checkpoint inhibitor durvalumab (Imfinzi), the poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza), and chemotherapy with paclitaxel used as neoadjuvant therapy improved the pathologic complete response (pCR) of patients with high-risk HER2-negative stage II or III breast cancer compared with the physician’s choice of chemotherapy. Read More ›

At the 2020 virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting, part I, a team of oncologists from different COVID-19 hotspots around the world gave a snapshot of wisdom gleaned from their experience thus far. Read More ›

San Antonio, TX—Although capecitabine (Xeloda) is approved for metasta­tic breast cancer, it is not clear whether it should be used in early breast cancer, and its optimal role remains to be established. Read More ›

San Francisco, CA—Although there is a biological rationale that supports the “abscopal” effects of radiation therapy plus checkpoint immunotherapy in fighting cancer, this combination showed mixed results and no robust effects in patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma (RCC), according to results of 2 preliminary studies presented at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. Read More ›

No improvement in survival or in any key secondary end point was observed when the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) was added to enzalutamide (Xtandi) for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) in the phase 3 IMbassador250 trial. Read More ›

San Francisco, CA—The combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus the investigational drug sitravatinib improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with pretreated metastatic clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) and the historical disease control rates compared with nivolumab alone, according to the results of a phase 1/2 clinical trial reported at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. Read More ›

San Francisco, CA—Treatment with the novel agent MK-6482 led to promising results in a phase 1/2 clinical trial of patients with metastatic clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (RCC). Read More ›

Orlando, FL—Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is now approved as third-line treatment for patients with B-cell lymphomas and leukemias. For some patients, CAR T-cell therapy is a miracle therapy, extending survival and, in some cases, as a bridge to a potentially curative transplant. Read More ›

Orlando, FL—Mosunetuzumab is an investigational bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) agent dually targeting 2 proteins on the surface of lymphoma cells—CD3 (on the surface of T-cells) and CD20 (on the surface of B-cells). Read More ›

Genetic cancer screening and testing are valuable tools that can be used for the early detection of familial/hereditary cancer syndromes. However, people living in rural, medically underserved areas may have difficulty accessing these potentially life-saving services. Read More ›

Barcelona, Spain—Treatment with ceritinib (Zykadia) led to excellent responses in patients with ALK-positive non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and brain metastases, according to results of the ASCEND-7 clinical trial, which enrolled only patients with ALK-positive NSCLC with newly diagnosed or progressive brain metastases. Read More ›

“This is truly a practice-changing study, not just for our patients but for the design of other studies. We can successfully identify candidates for olaparib. We saw a clinically meaningful improvement in outcomes for patients with HRR genetic alterations, driven mainly by BRCA2,” said Eleni Efstathiou, MD, PhD. Read More ›

Barcelona, Spain—Osimertinib (Tagrisso), a third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), extended overall survival (OS) compared with older TKI EGFR inhibitors, including gefitinib (Iressa) or erlotinib (Tarceva), as first-line treatment for patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and EGFR mutation in the phase 3 clinical trial called FLAURA. Read More ›

Barcelona, Spain—The immunotherapy combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) improved overall survival (OS) compared with chemotherapy as first-line treatment in patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and PD-L1 expression ≥1%, according to results of CheckMate 227. The OS was also improved with nivolumab plus ipilimu­mab compared with chemotherapy in the total study population and in patients whose tumors had low (<1%) PD-L1 expression. Read More ›

Barcelona, Spain—The poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) delayed disease progression and showed a trend toward improved survival compared with newer hormonal agents in men with pretreated metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and homologous recombinant repair (HRR) gene mutations or with BRCA1, BRCA2, and ATM mutations. Results of this late-breaker were reported at the ESMO Congress 2019 during the presidential session. Read More ›

Barcelona, Spain—Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibition has an established role as maintenance therapy in women with newly diagnosed high-grade advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation. At the ESMO Congress 2019, results of 3 clinical trials expand the use of PARP inhibition in ovarian cancer to all patients. The 3 studies had different enrollment criteria, used a different PARP inhibitor, and 2 of them used PARP inhibitor plus bevacizumab (Avastin); however, taken together, all 3 trials show that the PARP inhibition era is here. Read More ›

Chicago, IL—Treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembroliz­umab (Keytruda) dramatically improved 5-year survival for patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with expected survival in the preimmunotherapy era, according to the 5-year follow-up data from the phase 1b KEYNOTE-001 clinical trial. The study was presented at ASCO 2019 and was published simultaneously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Read More ›

Treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembroliz­umab (Keytruda) dramatically improved 5-year survival for patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with expected survival in the preimmunotherapy era. Read More ›

Barcelona, Spain—Late-breaking data from 2 clinical trials presented at ESMO 2019 will likely change the treatment paradigm for pre- or postmenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, regardless of menopausal status. The MONALEESA-3 study and the MONARCH-2 study showed an improved overall survival (OS) with the addition of the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib (Kisqali) or abemaciclib (Verzenio) to endocrine therapy as first- or second-line therapy. The results were presented at the Presidential Session of the meeting. Read More ›

The FDA has announced the launch of an oncology-specific pilot program for physicians and patients who need access to investigational therapies. Read More ›

Results from a new clinical trial suggest that limited access to care is the main contributing factor to the disparities in outcomes that exist between African American patients and white patients with cancer. Read More ›

Reduced-dose chemotherapy is as effective as full-dose chemotherapy in frail elderly patients with advanced gastroesophageal cancer, according to results of the phase 3 GO2 clinical trial presented at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Read More ›

Enzalutamide (Xtandi) and apalutamide (Erleada) had strong showings in 2 separate, randomized phase 3 clinical trials demonstrating that these drugs delay disease progression when added to background androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) in ­patients with metastatic, hormone-­sensitive prostate cancer. Read More ›

Maintenance therapy with the targeted drug olaparib (Lynparza) after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy prolonged progression-­free survival (PFS) in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and a germ­line BRCA mutation, according to results of the phase 3 POLO clinical trial presented at the plenary session at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Read More ›

Darolutamide, an investigational androgen receptor inhibitor, significantly improved metastasis-free survival in men with high-risk nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) compared with placebo in a large phase 3 clinical trial. Read More ›

First-line therapy with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) plus ­axitinib (Inlyta) significantly improved overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and objective response rates compared with standard-of-care sunitinib (Sutent) in patients with clear-cell metastatic renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) in KEYNOTE-426. Read More ›

Adding the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) to nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) chemotherapy is the first immunotherapy-based combination to improve progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in women with advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and PD-L1 expression compared with placebo plus nab-paclitaxel, according to results of the IMpassion130 clinical trial. Read More ›

The adjuvant use of the antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla) led to a clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement in invasive disease-free survival. Read More ›

Triple-negative breast cancer is considered one of the most difficult to treat breast cancers, with few treatment options, but finally a breakthrough study shows progress by extending patient survival. Read More ›

Chicago, IL—Moving nelarabine (Arranon), a T-cell–specific drug, up front combined with backbone chemotherapy (ie, COG-augmented Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster [aBFM]) improved ­survival by approximately 10% in the largest-­ever randomized clinical trial enrolling newly diagnosed children and young adults with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LL). Read More ›

“Tumor reductions and durable responses were observed in most patients, especially those whose cancers progressed with chemotherapy and multikinase inhibitors,” said Vivek Subbiah, MD, at the 2018 AACR meeting. Read More ›

A novel approach using the investigational toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist CMP-001 in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) may have the potential to reverse resistance to anti–PD-1 therapy, according to data from a preliminary phase 1b clinical trial. Read More ›

Chicago, IL—The current standard of care for women with early, HER2-positive breast cancer is 12 months of trastuzumab (Herceptin). Analysis of the phase 3 randomized clinical trial PERSEPHONE showed that 6 months of treatment with trastuzumab was noninferior to 12 months in terms of disease-free survival. Read More ›

A burning question is whether immunotherapy combinations will further improve outcomes compared with checkpoint inhibitor therapy alone—and if so, which combinations will rise to the top.

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“We find that T-cells with highly activated glycolysis pathways ended up performing worse when we tried to make them into CAR T-Cells. Substituting and supplementing heavily with fatty acids did seem to improve this a little,” said David M. Barrett, MD, PhD, at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.

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A new study presented at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research meeting suggests that HER2 mutations can be acquired during metastatic cancer and their development represents a previously unreported mechanism of resistance to treatment. Read More ›

According to the results of 2 separate clinical trials presented at the 2018 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, apalutamide and enzalutamide reduced the risk for metastasis and prolonged metastasis-free survival in patients with nonmetastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer.

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At the 2018 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, lead investigator Alison Jane Birtle, MD, MBBS, MRCP, FRCR, presented the results of the phase 3 POUT clinical trial which showed that adjuvant chemotherapy had impressive gains in the disease-free survival and metastasis-free survival in upper-tract urothelial cancer.

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Progression-free survival (PFS) was extended by 3.5 months with first-line atezolizumab (Tecentriq) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) in patients with metastatic renal-­cell carcinoma (RCC) versus standard-of-care sunitinib (Sutent) in the phase 3 IMmotion151 clinical trial presented at the 2018 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium

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Findings from an interim analysis of the phase 3 MURANO study show venetoclax plus rituximab achieved superior progression-free survival and overall survival compared with standard-of-care bendamustine plus rituximab in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

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Lead investigator Joseph M. Connors, MD, FRCPC, Clinical Director, Centre for Lymphoid Cancer, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, Canada, reported the results of the phase 3 ECHELON-1 clinical trial, which were also published online (Connors JM, et al. N Engl J Med. 2018;378:331-344) to coincide with the ASH meeting.

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Chicago, IL—Alectinib (Alecensa), a next-generation anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, was called a new standard of care for patients with ALK mutation–positive non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), based on results of the phase 3 ALEX clinical trial, which were presented at the 2017 ASCO annual meeting.

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Chicago, IL—The tumor types amenable to immunotherapy with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) keep expanding and now include sarcoma, which has been difficult to treat. Read More ›

CDK4/CDK6 inhibitors will most likely not have a role as monotherapy, said Ingrid Mayer, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, who discussed the study results. Read More ›

Chicago, IL—Larotrectinib (LOXO-101), an investigational agent that targets tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) fusions, has demonstrated excellent, consistent, and durable antitumor activity in a range of tumor types in adults and children, reported lead investigator David M. Hyman, MD, Chief, Early Drug Development Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, at the 2017 ASCO annual meeting. Read More ›

Adding the investigational drug indoximod, an indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) pathway inhibitor, to the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab led to higher response rates in patients with advanced melanoma than what is reported with pembrolizumab monotherapy, Read More ›

Enzalutamide did not increase the rate of seizures in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who had potential risk factors for seizure, according to results of the phase 4 UPWARD trial. Read More ›

Washington, DC—The combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab improved survival compared with ipilimumab alone in patients with previously untreated advanced melanoma, according to updated results of the phase 3 CheckMate-067 clinical trial presented at the 2017 meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. A descriptive analysis suggested that the combination was superior to nivolumab monotherapy, although that was not a prespecified end point of the study. Read More ›

As new drugs are introduced into the clinic, an active area of research is the identification of biomarkers for response that would inform oncologists about which patients are likely to respond. Read More ›

Abemaciclib, a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)4/6 inhibitor, achieved an objective response in 1 of 5 heavily pretreated patients with metastatic hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative (HR+/HER2–) breast cancer. Read More ›

Real-world experience at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, showed that the most frequent immune-related adverse events leading to emergency department visits for patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors were diarrhea, colitis, pneumonitis, and dermatitis. Read More ›

The current practice in the treatment of advanced kidney cancer and some other cancers is to continue treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors until disease progression, and sometimes even longer. Read More ›

The CALGB/Alliance 50303 clinical trial failed to show that dose-adjusted treatment with the EPOCH-R (etoposide, phosphate, prednisone, vincristine sulfate, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin hydrochloride, and rituximab) regimen was superior to standard therapy with R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin hydrochloride, vincristine sulfate, and prednisone) in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Both treatment regimens were equally effective for event-free survival and overall survival (OS), but dose-adjusted Read More ›

Although tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), including imatinib (Gleevec), nilotinib (Tasigna), and dasatinib (Sprycel), have dramatically improved outcomes in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the costs of these drugs have spiraled out of control, causing some patients to stop treatment or cut their dosage because of financial toxicity. Data presented at the 2016 American Society of Hematology meeting show that it is possible for some patients with CML to reduce their TKI dose by 50% and maintain remission, perhaps even stop treatment altogether once deep and durable remission has been achieved after approximately 5 years of treatment. Read More ›

Duloxetine relieved musculoskeletal symptoms in a significant proportion of postmenopausal patients with breast cancer receiving treatment with aromatase inhibitors (AIs) in a randomized trial (SWOG S1202). Read More ›

Chicago, IL—A novel compound called CPX-351 that combines 2 older drugs (cytarabine and daunorubicin) in a new drug-delivery platform improved survival among older patients with newly diagnosed, high-risk (secondary) acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to results of a phase 3 trial presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2016 Annual Meeting.

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A collaborative international pilot study found large differences in retail prices for 23 cancer drugs, showing highest retail prices in the United States and lowest prices in India and South Africa. Lower prices, however, did not necessarily mean the drugs were more affordable. Read More ›

Results from the large, randomized PIVOT clinical trial that were published in 2012 initially showed that at a median follow-up of 19 years, radical prostatectomy neither improved overall survival nor reduced death related to prostate cancer compared with “watchful waiting” in men with low-risk disease. Read More ›

With the surge in new immunotherapies becoming available for the treatment of melanoma, non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), bladder cancer, and other solid tumors, it is important to know how to assess response patterns that differ from those of chemotherapy, manage the unique side effects, and understand the mechanisms of action of these drugs. Read More ›

Initial results of the ASSURE study prove surprising and disappointing. Read More ›

The results of a phase 1b study of the combination of venetoclax plus rituximab (Rituxan) showed encouraging safety and excellent activity in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Read More ›

Cancer-related cachexia is a debilitating condition that has had no effective treatment thus far. Its symptoms include loss of lean body mass, as well as muscle wasting and loss of appetite. Read More ›

Early posttransplant consolidation with brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) compared with placebo in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma who are at risk for disease progression in the placebo-controlled phase 3 AETHERA trial. Read More ›

Preliminary results suggest that an investigational antibody-drug conjugate called DEDN6526A has activity against melanoma, including cutaneous, mucosal, and ocular melanoma, which is considered difficult to treat. The new drug comes on the heels of trastuzumab emtansine, the first antibody-drug conjugate approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of breast cancer. The conjugate links an antibody to a toxic chemotherapy that remains inactive until the antibody recognizes a protein on the surface of cancer cells and releases its toxic “payload” into the cancer cells. Read More ›

Combination therapy with a BRAF inhibitor and an MEK inhibitor improves outcomes in advanced BRAF-positive melanoma, according to two phase 3 studies presented at the 2014 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). These studies support the hypothesis that inhibition of both BRAF and MEK will improve survival in melanoma by overcoming the mechanism of acquired resistance to vemurafenib, which is thought to be reactivation of cell growth through MEK. Read More ›

Enzalutamide prolonged survival and delayed radiographic progression of disease in men who had not received chemotherapy for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), according to complete results from the phase 3 PREVAIL trial. Read More ›

Use of angiotensin system inhibitors (ASIs) improved survival in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) by 9 months compared with patients not taking any of these agents... Read More ›

Studies have suggested that musculoskeletal toxicity associated with aromatase inhibitor therapy can lead to noncompliance in up to one-third of women with breast cancer. Read More ›

The use of proton beam radiation therapy (PBRT) for the treatment of prostate cancer is increasing across the United States, but there is no evidence from randomized controlled trials to suggest that PBRT is more effective than intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), which is the current standard of care. Read More ›