ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline Update: Systemic Therapy for Patients With Advanced HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Sharon H. Giordano, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline update on systemic therapy for patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer. The guideline update was informed by an expert panel targeted systematic literature review that identified 622 relevant articles. The expert panel was co-chaired by Dr. Giordano and Nancy E. Davidson, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington.
KEYNOTE-407: Pembrolizumab Plus Chemotherapy Benefits Response, Survival in Squamous NSCLC
The combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) plus platinum-based chemotherapy improved overall survival, response rates, and duration of response in patients with advanced squamous cell non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with chemotherapy alone irrespective of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) status, according to the results of the phase III KEYNOTE-407 trial, reported at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting. In addition, progression-free survival and objective response rates were more favorable and durable with the combination therapy than with chemotherapy alone, the investigators reported. The frequency and severity of adverse events were mostly similar between the two treatments.
CAR T-Cell Therapy: Updated Data Remain Favorable in Heavily Pretreated Patients With Myeloma
In an update of a phase I trial, a heavily pretreated population of patients with multiple myeloma continued to respond to the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy bb2121. The results presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting confirmed previous findings for bb2121 in the dose-escalation cohort of the CRB-401 study. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted bb2121 Breakthrough Therapy designation in November 2017.
Expensive Cancer Drugs Don’t Work if Patients Can’t Afford Them
Eight years ago, I was having a series of colds I couldn’t shake and pain that radiated throughout my back. Still, my symptoms weren’t concerning until, on Halloween morning in 2010, I stepped out of bed and fell to the floor in excruciating pain, unable to move. A visit to the emergency room and a series of imaging scans later showed that I had a compression fracture of my 11th vertebra. Additional blood tests and a bone marrow biopsy confirmed that I have multiple myeloma, which is currently associated with an average life expectancy of 5 years, according to Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data. I believe novel therapies are producing a better outlook, but this year, nearly 13,000 people will die of multiple myeloma.
AR-V7 as Marker for Taxane vs Androgen Receptor Inhibitor Treatment in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Scher and colleagues found that the presence of nuclear-localized androgen receptor splice variant 7 (AR-V7) protein in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) may predict better survival with taxane therapy vs androgen receptor signaling (ARS) inhibitor treatment in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
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Study of PI3K Inhibitor Added to Fulvestrant in Advanced Breast Cancer Affirms Proof-of-Principle
IN PATIENTS with advanced breast cancer harboring a PIK3CA mutation, the addition of the PI3 kinase (PI3K) inhibitor taselisib to endocrine therapy with fulvestrant (Faslodex) significantly improved progression-free survival compared with fulvestrant alone, in the international phase III SANDPIPER...
FDA Approves Enzalutamide for Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
On July 13, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved enzalutamide (Xtandi) for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). This approval broadens the indicated patient population to include patients with either nonmetastatic CRPC or metastatic CRPC. Enzalutamide was ...
Three Cancer Researchers Share Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science
The 2018 Tang prize in Biopharmaceutical Science is being shared by three cancer researchers, including targeted cancer therapy researcher John Mendelsohn, MD, former President of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Tony Hunter, PhD, Professor of Biology at the Salk Institute;...
Pooled Study Analysis Explores the Use of CDK4/6 Inhibitors in Metastatic Breast Cancer
RESEARCH TO DATE has not been able to identify a subgroup of patients with estrogen receptor–positive HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer who do not derive benefit from the addition of inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases 4/6 (CDK4/6) to endocrine therapy, according to a study by the U.S. Food ...
NCI and VA Launch NAVIGATE to Boost Veterans’ Access to Cancer Clinical Trials
Veterans with cancer who receive treatment from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will now have easier access to clinical trials of novel cancer treatments, thanks to an agreement between the VA and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The NCI...
Expensive Cancer Drugs Don’t Work if Patients Can’t Afford Them
Eight years ago, I was having a series of colds I couldn’t shake and pain that radiated throughout my back. Still, my symptoms weren’t concerning until, on Halloween morning in 2010, I stepped out of bed and fell to the floor in excruciating pain, unable to move. A visit to the emergency room and a ...
Palliative Care Preferences in Male Patients With Cancer
Men with advanced cancer are 30% less likely than women to consider palliative care, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) study. Researchers believe the findings reflect social norms about gender roles, as well as widespread messages in the media and society about...
Andrew D. Seidman, MD, and Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, on Metastatic Breast Cancer: Findings on an Antibody-Drug Conjugate
