TOP - July 2022 Vol 15, No 4

Dostarlimab (Jemperli), an anti–PD-1 monoclonal antibody, demonstrated a 100% clinical complete response rate among 14 patients with mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) locally advanced rectal cancer, according to the results of a recent clinical trial.

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.

Patients with cancer and immunoglobulin deficiency have compromised immune systems–based response to COVID-19 vaccines.

Telehealth is playing a larger role in the delivery of cancer care, but there is more work that needs to be done to permanently increase access, according to a panel of experts during a plenary session at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 2022 Annual Conference.

In the July issue of The Oncology Pharmacist (TOP), we feature the latest news and updates relevant to pharmacy professionals working in the field of oncology.

Treatment with acalabrutinib (Calquence) elicited a complete or partial response in more than 50% of patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), according to interim results of a phase 2 study presented by L. Elizabeth Budde, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA, at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

Once-daily ibrutinib (Imbruvica) combined with bendamustine (Bendeka) and rituximab (Rituxan; BR) significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) compared with placebo plus BR in patients aged ≥65 years with newly diagnosed mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL), according to data from the phase 3 SHINE trial.

The number of cancer survivors continues to increase in the United States, which can be attributed to a growing and aging population, as well as recent advances in diagnosis and treatment. The Institute of Medicine advises that every cancer survivor receive a survivorship care plan summarizing his or her diagnosis, treatment, and recommendations regarding follow-up care.

The use of a polygenic score (PGS) based on noncancer genetic variations in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) values helped to refine PSA screening in a large group of men without prostate cancer at baseline.

Adjuvant pembrolizumab (Keytruda) continued to provide a disease-free survival (DFS) benefit in patients with renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) at intermediate-high or high risk of recurrence after nephrectomy, according to 30-month follow-up data from the KEYNOTE-564 trial presented at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.