Gastric Cancer

As the new coronavirus disease 2019 creates problems internationally, health-wise and economically, it is also becoming a cause for concern throughout the oncology community.

In February 2020, the FDA gave indications to multiple therapies meant for treatment of solid tumor and hematologic malignancies. FDA action included 10 Priority Reviews, 2 Breakthrough Therapy designations, and 2 Fast Track designations.

To help clinicians cope with an increasing number of geriatric patients with cancer, the Association of Community Cancer Centers is addressing this problem with a 2-pronged approach that focuses on the delivery of care and diagnostic assessment.

The FDA has granted Fast Track Designation to ALX148 for the first-line treatment of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and for the second-line treatment of patients with HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction carcinoma.

The HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate trastuzumab deruxtecan demonstrated promising activity and manageable safety profile in patients with HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer, meeting the primary end point of the study, according to a press release.

Joseph Chao, MD, discusses the importance of assessing the microsatellite instability (MSI) status in patients with advanced gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancer based on findings from a comparative analysis of KEYNOTE-059, KEYNOTE-061, and KEYNOTE-062.

Promising antitumor activity with durable responses were demonstrated with the combination of nivolumab and ramucirumab plus paclitaxel in a phase II study of patients with advanced gastric cancer, which wsa presented at the 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Among patients treated with the combination, the objective response rate was 37.2%, and all responders had a partial response.

Integrating a geriatric assessment into the care of older adults who are receiving cancer treatment in communi­ty oncology practices improves patient and caregiver satisfaction and encourages commu­nication about aging-related concerns, accord­ing to results of a clinical trial that enrolled 541 patients with advanced cancer.

The present and future benefits of telehealth in oncology can be observed through Tahoe For­est Cancer Center and its affiliation with the UC Davis Cancer Center, use of other remote clinics, and participation in virtual tumor boards. Even though there are roadblocks to telehealth reaching more locations and more patients, the potential benefit warrants the time needed to get over those hurdles.

In patients whose solid<strong> </strong>tumors harbor a mutation in <em>KRAS </em>G12C, therapy with MRTX849 has produced promising responses and acceptable toxicity across 3 tumors types, according to data presented at the 2019 American Association for Cancer Research&ndash;National Cancer Institute&ndash;European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics.

The combination of pegylated human hyaluronidase with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel failed to improve the median overall survival in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, missing the primary endpoint of the phase III HALO-301 trial, Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. reported in a press release.

The FDA has approved a supplemental New Drug Application for a single dose of aprepitant injectable emulsion for intravenous use in patients receiving moderately emetogenic chemotherapy. The approval expands the dose for aprepitant to include a 130 mg single-dose regimen for the prevention of acute and delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.<br /> &nbsp;

David H. Ilson, MD, PhD, discusses the current role of pembrolizumab in patients with gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma based on the results from the KEYNOTE-062 trial.

The addition of direct oral oral anticoagulants for the management of venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer is the latest change to previous guidelines issued by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Using a measure known as the growth modulation index, patients with TRK fusion&ndash;positive cancers who were treated with larotrectinib had a clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival compared with the time to progression on their prior treatment, an analysis of patients enrolled in 1 of 3 clinical trials has found.

Three clinical trials presented at the 2019 ESMO Congress show that the tropomyosin receptor kinase&nbsp;inhibitor larotrectinib continues to show anti-tumor activity, including long-lasting objective responses and low toxicity, according to results from an integrated analysis.

The approval of TAS-102 has been backed by the&nbsp;European Medicines Agency&#39;s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for the treatment of&nbsp;adult patients with metastatic gastric cancer, including adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction, in those previously treated with at least 2 prior systemic therapy regimens for advanced disease.