In the March issue of The Oncology Pharmacist (TOP), we feature the latest news and updates relevant to pharmacy professionals working in the field of oncology. We begin this issue with highlights from the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, where investigators presented key data on novel drugs and combination regimens aimed at improving outcomes for patients with gastrointestinal cancers.
In a poster presentation at this meeting, Tara Seery, MD, Co-Director, Cellular Therapy Research, and Medical Oncologist, Hoag Cancer Center, Newport Beach, CA, and colleagues discussed results from the phase 2 QUILT-88 clinical trial, demonstrating that the novel combination of aldoxorubicin, N-803 (an IL-15 superagonist), and PD-L1 natural killer cell therapy plus low-dose chemotherapy doubled overall survival compared with historical controls, in locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer (see here).
In a separate noteworthy session, Jiafu Ji, MD, PhD, FACS, President, Peking University Cancer Hospital, School of Oncology, Beijing, China, reported findings from a phase 1b/2 trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of chemotherapy plus AK104, a PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody, in patients with advanced gastric cancer. According to Dr Ji, this combination may represent a new first-line treatment option for these individuals (see here).
This issue of TOP also includes highlights from the 11th Annual Summit of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care in 2021, where stakeholders gathered to exchange their knowledge and real-world experience with the goal of making cancer care more affordable and accessible to patients. In an insightful session on biosimilars, a panel of experts discussed the gateway and watershed opportunities ahead for these agents in oncology (see here).
“We’re figuring out how we can make the provider and the payer aligned around the utilization of biosimilars. Unless we change the way we incentivize physicians, we’re not going to see drastic movement to the 90% adoption that we see in the European Union and other areas,” said Tesh Khullar, MBA, Co-Founder and President, HouseRX, San Francisco, CA, during the discussion.
We also provide readers with findings from clinical trials that were presented at other premiere oncology meetings, including the ASH 2021 Annual Meeting and Exposition, the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, and the 2021 European Society for Medical Oncology Congress.
As always, we hope you will enjoy this issue of TOP, and we invite you to visit www.TheOncologyPharmacist.com to share your feedback about this issue with us or send comments to