TOP - May 2019, Vol 12, No 2
The May issue of The Oncology Pharmacist (TOP) features presentations from national and international meetings, including the 2019 Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) Conference, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 2019 Conference, the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, the 2019 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium, and the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
A novel tumor metabolism-altering oral regimen that combines a tyrosine derivative (D,L-alpha-metyrosine) with 3 repurposed agents (sirolimus, phenytoin, and methoxsalen) has demonstrated promising activity in patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Sacituzumab, a Novel Antibody-Drug Conjugate, Shows Activity in Heavily Pretreated Urothelial Cancer
Sacituzumab govitecan, a novel antibody-drug conjugate directed against Trop-2, induced responses in nearly 33% of patients with heavily pretreated, relapsed or refractory metastatic urothelial cancer.
Ovarian cancers with BRCA mutations are less immunogenic than other DNA repair–deficient tumors. Targeting the DNA damage response using PARP inhibitors may help to improve the modest responses of ovarian cancer seen with single-agent immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Moving combination immunotherapy into the neoadjuvant setting for patients with stage III melanoma induces a higher rate of pathologic response than adjuvant therapy, said Christian U. Blank, MD, PhD, Division of Molecular Oncology & Immunology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, at the 2019 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium.
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.
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.
Tumor expression of PD-L1 has consistently predicted response and survival outcomes in non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), whereas the role of PD-L1 in immune cells is unclear, said Edward B. Garon, MD, Director, Thoracic Oncology Program, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, at the 2019 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium.
Moving PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors to an early line of therapy, immediately after chemoradiation, has improved survival for patients with unresectable, stage III non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is associated with unique adverse events that require vigilant monitoring, aggressive care, and specialized management. Marco L. Davila, MD, PhD, Medical Oncologist, Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy Program, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, provided an overview of this topic at the 2019 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium.
