Brian I. Rini, MD, on RCC: Pembrolizumab Plus Axitinib vs Sunitinib as First-Line Therapy
2021 ASCO Annual Meeting
Brian I. Rini, MD, of Vanderbilt University, discusses findings from KEYNOTE-426, the longest follow-up of a checkpoint inhibitor (pembrolizumab) combined with a VEGF/VEGFR inhibitor (axitinib) for first-line clear cell renal cell carcinoma. The trial results continue to support this combination as a standard of care for patients with previously untreated disease (Abstract 4500).
The ASCO Post Staff
Evan J. Lipson, MD, of Johns Hopkins University, discusses primary phase III results from the RELATIVITY-047 study, which showed that relatlimab plus nivolumab as a fixed-dose combination may improve progression-free survival compared with nivolumab monotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma. This is the first study to demonstrate a benefit from dual inhibition of the LAG-3 and PD-1 pathways.
The ASCO Post Staff
Nicholas J. Short, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses early results from a phase II study which showed that combining ponatinib and blinatumomab in patients with Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia may prove to be an effective chemotherapy-free regimen that might reduce the need for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (Abstract 7001).
The ASCO Post Staff
Ingrid A. Mayer, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, discusses phase III results from a trial that showed patients with triple-negative breast cancer who had residual invasive disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy had lower-than-expected invasive disease–free survival, regardless of study treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy or capecitabine (Abstract 605).
The ASCO Post Staff
Bijal D. Shah, MD, of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses phase II results of the ZUMA-3 study, which evaluated brexucabtagene autoleucel (KTE-X19), an anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy, in adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Abstract 7002).
The ASCO Post Staff
Ian Chau, MD, of Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, discusses first results of the CheckMate 648 study, which showed that nivolumab plus chemotherapy and nivolumab plus ipilimumab both demonstrated superior overall survival vs chemotherapy alone in patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. These regimens may represent potential new first-line treatment options (Abstract 4001).
