ESMO Virtual Congress 2020
Expert Point of View: Kilian M. Gust, MD
Formal discussant Kilian M. Gust, MD, of the Medical University of Austria, Vienna, reminded listeners that JAVELIN Bladder 100 was designed at a time when no checkpoint inhibitor was approved for the...
Front-Line Avelumab Maintenance Improved Survival Across Subgroups With Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma
A strategy of front-line maintenance treatment with the PD-L1 inhibitor avelumab combined with best supportive care improved both progression-free and overall survival vs best supportive care alone ac...
After Surgery for Colorectal Cancer, Intensive Monitoring of Little Benefit: PRODIGE 13
Is intensive monitoring of patients after curative colorectal cancer resection warranted? Not necessarily, according to the findings of PRODIGE 13, reported at the European Society for Medical Oncolog...
Expert Point of View: Andreas du Bois, MD, PhD
The invited discussant of the phase III INOVATYON trial was Andreas du Bois, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Department of Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology at Kliniken Essen Mitte, Germany, and Chairman o...
INOVATYON: Platinum-Based Regimens Remain Standard of Care in Recurrent Platinum-Sensitive Ovarian Cancer
Yet another blow has been dealt for the alkylating agent trabectedin in advanced ovarian cancer. The international phase III INOVATYON study found no improvement in overall or progression-free surviva...
Expert Point of View: Richard Cathomas, MD
In his discussion of KEYNOTE-361 and the DANUBE trial, Richard Cathomas, MD, of Kantonsspital, Graubünden, Switzerland, said both studies yielded disappointing results. Overall, in these trials as wel...
Checkpoint Inhibitor and Chemotherapy Combinations Fail to Move Bar as First-Line Therapy for Advanced Urothelial Cancer
Two different phase III studies found that combining an anti–PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor (pembrolizumab in KEYNOTE-361) with platinum-based chemotherapy or with another checkpoint inhibitor (the a...
Expert Point of View: Ana Oaknin, MD, PhD
The innovaTV 204 trial’s invited discussant, Ana Oaknin, MD, PhD, Head of the Gynecologic Cancer Program at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, was encouraged by the study’s findings. “O...
Novel Treatments Show Activity in Advanced Cervical Cancer
The treatment of recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer has not changed much in recent years, but according to preliminary trials presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual...
SOLO-1 Trial: After 5 Years, Maintenance Olaparib Still Keeps Ovarian Cancer at Bay
The long-term results of the pivotal SOLO-1 trial have shown that maintenance olaparib more than doubles the 5-year disease-free survival time for patients who have newly diagnosed advanced ovarian ca...
Advanced Melanoma: Lenvatinib Plus Pembrolizumab After Disease Progression on Anti–PD-1 Therapy
Checkpoint inhibitors can be lifesaving for many patients with advanced melanoma, but those who experience disease progression currently have few treatment options. The combination of a tyrosine kinas...
First-Line Pembrolizumab Plus Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Esophageal Cancer
As first-line therapy for advanced esophageal cancer, pembrolizumab added to chemotherapy improved overall survival in the KEYNOTE-590 population. Not only did patients with high PD-L1 expression bene...
First-Line Pembrolizumab in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Quality of Life Also Improved
In KEYNOTE-177, the anti–PD-L1 antibody pembrolizumab reduced the risk of disease progression by 40% vs chemotherapy in a targeted subset of previously untreated patients with metastatic colorectal ca...
Ipatasertib/Abiraterone Combination Shows Potential in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer With PTEN Loss
Ipatasertib plus abiraterone plus prednisone achieved significantly superior radiographic progression–free survival and antitumor activity compared with placebo plus abiraterone plus prednisonein pati...
Olaparib Improves Outcomes in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer With BRCA1/2 Alterations
The PARP inhibitor olaparib reduced the risk of death by 31% compared with a second hormonal treatment (enzalutamide or abiraterone) in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer charact...
Early-Phase Study Reports Progress in Targeting KRAS-Mutated Tumors With Sotorasib
Although KRAS is one of the most frequently mutated oncogenes in human cancers, an almost 4-decade long search for drugs that hit this target has been elusive—until now. Sotorasib (formerly called AMG...
EMPOWER-Lung 1 Trial: Cemiplimab Improves Survival Over Chemotherapy in Advanced NSCLC
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020 presented several abstracts with good news for patients with lung cancer. Long-term follow-up of immunotherapies showed excellent...
Novel IAP Blocker Plus Chemoradiotherapy Improved Outcomes in Head and Neck Cancer Trial
Xevinapant, an investigational inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAP) blocker, prolonged overall survival when added to standard chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carci...
Sacituzumab Govitecan Yields Survival Benefit as Third-Line Treatment in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: ASCENT Trial
Based on results from a phase I/II clinical trial, the antibody drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan was recently granted accelerated approval in the treatment of patients with advanced triple-negativ...
Lorlatinib Improves Outcomes Over Crizotinib in First-Line Setting of ALK-Positive NSCLC: CROWN Trial
Lorlatinib significantly improved progression-free survival compared with crizotinib in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to...
Long-Term Benefit of Adjuvant Immunotherapy Sustained in Stage III or IV Melanoma
The benefit of anti–PD-1 antibodies in the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III or stage IV melanoma continues to be observed at around 4 years for both pembrolizumab and nivolumab, according...
COMBI-i Trial: No Statistical Benefit to Adding Spartalizumab to Dabrafenib/Trametinib in Melanoma
Patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma harboring BRAF V600 mutations did not benefit from the addition of the anti–PD-1 antibody spartalizumab to dabrafenib and trametinib in the COMBI-i tr...
Expert Point of View: Elizabeth Smyth, MD
The overall survival benefit for PD-L1 CPS ≥ 5 tumors in CheckMate 649 is a game-changer. An oxaliplatin doublet plus chemotherapy should become a standard of care for these patients,” according to El...
Nivolumab Plus Chemotherapy: New Standard of Care in Advanced Gastric Cancer?
As first-line treatment for advanced gastric cancer, nivolumab plus chemotherapy leads to significantly improved progression-free and overall survival over chemotherapy alone, investigators reported d...
Expert Point of View: Johan Vansteenkiste, MD
Formal study discussant Johan Vansteenkiste, MD, of the University Hospitals KU Leuven, Belgium, commented on the ADAURA trial findings: “This is an impressive effect on disease-free survival [with os...
Impact of Adjuvant Osimertinib on CNS Recurrence of NSCLC: ADAURA Trial
Osimertinib significantly prolonged disease-free survival compared with placebo in patients with completely resected stage II to IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to the results of th...
Expert Point of View: Rafal Dziadziuszko, MD
Commenting on the Lung ART study, Rafal Dziadziuszko, MD, a radiation oncologist from the Medical University of Gdansk, Poland, said: “Congratulations on this study to resolve the longest ongoing deba...
Study Questions Role of Routine Postoperative Radiotherapy in NSCLC With Mediastinal Nodes
The Lung ART trial was designed to demonstrate whether there is any benefit to the routine use of modern mediastinal postoperative radiotherapy in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) stag...
Expert Point of View: Camillo Porta, MD
Acknowledging there are now expanded therapeutic choices in the first-line setting for advanced renal cell carcinoma, formal study discussant Camillo Porta, MD, of the University of Bari Aldo Moro, It...
First-Line Nivolumab Plus Cabozantinib Improves Outcomes vs Sunitinib in Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma
The combination of nivolumab plus cabozantinib was found to be superior to the former standard, sunitinib, in the first-line treatment of advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to the ...
Expert Point of View: George W. Sledge, Jr, MD
The results of monarchE were discussed by George W. Sledge, Jr, MD, Professor of Medicine and Chief of Oncology at Stanford University Medical Center, who offered some possibilities as to why its resu...
Addition of Abemaciclib to Endocrine Therapy Reduces Recurrence in Early Breast Cancer
For the first time, an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) has reduced the risk of invasive disease recurrence in patients with early breast cancer when combined with standard endoc...
Andreas du Bois, MD, PhD, on Ovarian Cancer: Niraparib, Trabectedin Plus Doxorubicin, Platinum, and Carboplatin
Andreas du Bois, MD, PhD, of Kliniken Essen Mitte, discusses the NORA and INOVATYON studies of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, detailing the findings for women in China with platinum-sensitive...
Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, on Melanoma: Adjuvant Nivolumab vs Ipilimumab
Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, of the Perlmutter Cancer Center, NYU Langone, discusses the 4-year recurrence-free and overall survival results from the CheckMate 238 study, which showed adjuvant nivoluma...
IMpassion131: No Benefit for Atezolizumab Plus Paclitaxel in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Based on some unexpected negative results, oncologists using atezolizumab for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer should pair it with nab-paclitaxel, not paclitaxel. In contrast to the overall su...
Monika K. Krzyzanowska, MD, MPH, on Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Ambulatory Toxicity Management in the AToM Study
Monika K. Krzyzanowska, MD, MPH, of the Princess Margaret University Health Network, discusses study findings on remote proactive telephone-based toxicity management for patients with breast cancer re...
Lisa A. Carey, MD, on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Paclitaxel, Nab-paclitaxel, and Atezolizumab in IMpassion Trials
Lisa A. Carey, MD, of the University of North Carolina, discusses phase III results from two IMpassion trials, 130 and 131, which explored, respectively, atezolizumab plus nab-paclitaxel vs placebo pl...
First-in-Class Human IgG4 Monoclonal Antibody Shows Activity Alone and Combined With Pembrolizumab in Advanced Solid Tumors
MK-4830—a novel, first-in-class human IgG4 monoclonal antibody targeting the myeloid-specific anti–immunoglobulin-like transcript 4 (ILT4) receptor—administered either as a single agent or in combinat...
Is ctDNA Effective in Detecting Genomic Alterations in Patients With Metastatic Kidney Cancer?
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis is a minimally invasive genomic assessment tool utilizing targeted next-generation sequencing of peripheral blood. At the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020, Zengin et a...
Alexander M. Eggermont, MD, PhD, on Melanoma: Pembrolizumab vs Placebo After Complete Resection
Alexander M. Eggermont, MD, PhD, of the Princess Maxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, discusses final results of the phase III EORTC 1325-MG/Keynote 054 trial, which confirmed a sustained recurrence-...
Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Sacituzumab Govitecan vs Treatment of Physician’s Choice
Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, discusses results from the phase III ASCENT trial, which showed the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy improved...
Malnutrition Among Patients With Cancer Admitted to the Hospital May Increase the Risk for Infection
Upon hospital admission for cancer, many patients already demonstrated a high prevalence of malnutrition per Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria, which was associated with the...
Does Pembrolizumab Monotherapy Demonstrate Benefit in Rare Sarcomas?
Pembrolizumab monotherapy induced responses in patients with rare sarcomas that varied by histotype, according to findings presented by Jean-Yves Blay, MD, at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 (Abstract ...
Pralsetinib in RET-Mutated Medullary Thyroid Cancer
Pralsetinib (also known as BLU-667) showed activity in patients with advanced RET mutation–positive medullary thyroid cancer, including high rates of durable response, disease control, and 18-month pr...
Erica L. Mayer, MD, MPH, on Early Breast Cancer: Palbociclib With Endocrine Therapy vs Endocrine Therapy Alone
Erica L. Mayer, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses an initial analysis of phase III findings from the PALLAS trial, which suggested the benefits observed in the metastatic setting wit...
Meta-analyses of Quality of Life in Patients Treated With Checkpoint Inhibitors
Findings from two meta-analyses designed to summarize quality-of-life data on patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for cancer were presented at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 (Abstra...
Elderly Patients With Advanced Colorectal Cancer Treated With Adjuvant Oxaliplatin Plus Fluoropyrimidines: Tolerability and Benefit
Among patients with stage III colon cancer, patients aged 70 or older were less tolerant of adjuvant oxaliplatin/flouropyrimidine therapy, in addition to having poorer relapse-free interval rates on t...
Nivolumab Shows Activity in edPOLE-Mutated, MMR-Proficient Advanced Cancers
Nivolumab monotherapy showed high response and disease control rates in patients with pathogenic exonuclease domain POLE (edPOLE)-mutated, mismatch repair (MMR)-proficient advanced tumors containing c...
Adjuvant Nivolumab vs Ipilimumab in Resected Advanced Melanoma: Long-Term Follow-up of CheckMate 238
Long-term findings from the phase III CheckMate 238 study showed that nivolumab improved 4-year recurrence-free survival compared with ipilimumab in patients with resected stage IIIB to C or IV melano...
Does Radical Hysterectomy Improve Survival in Patients With Cervical Cancer and Intraoperative Detection of Positive Lymph Nodes?
No significant difference was observed in the risk of recurrence, local recurrence, or death between patients with cervical cancer in whom a radical uterine procedure (mostly radical hysterectomy) was...
