Danielle Ternyila

Treatment with&nbsp;<a>STP705</a>&nbsp;led to the achievement of complete histological clearance of squamous cell carcinoma&nbsp;<em>in situ</em>&nbsp;in a large proportion of patients, meeting the primary end point of the study, according to an interim analysis of the first 3 cohorts in an ongoing phase II clinical trial in patients with non-melanoma skin cancer announced by Sirnaomics Inc.

Blood samples from&nbsp;<a>days 0, 3, and 7</a>&nbsp;demonstrated that leronlimab induced significant reductions in the cytokine storm among all 7 severely ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 under evaluation in the phase IIb/III study. The blood samples confirmed immunological benefit at day 3 and 7 in all patients, according to a press release from CytoDyn, Inc.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Vincent Picozzi, MD, discussed the findings that were presented at the 2020 GI Cancers Symposium for patients with pancreatic cancer and how the results could impact the treatment of this patient population. He also highlighted observations from other pancreatic cancer clinical trials and the evolution of the GI cancer landscape as a whole.&nbsp;

The addition of pemetrexed and carboplatin chemotherapy to gefitinib doubled progression-free survival and significantly improved overall survival in patients with non&ndash;small cell lung cancer harboring an&nbsp;EGFR&nbsp;mutation compared with gefitinib alone, according to results from a randomized phase III clinical&nbsp;<a>trial</a>.

Paxalisib had a strong signal of clinical efficacy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma, according to the interim analysis of a phase II clinical trial. Survival was compared to previous data on the FDA-approved standard of care, temozolomide, from another study. Although the comparison of different studies is not precise, the magnitude of numerical difference in survival provides evidence that this agent may extend life in patients with glioblastoma, Kazia Therapeutics announced in a press release.&nbsp;

Low-dose selinexor will be evaluated in a global randomized clinical trial for hospitalized patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019. This oral selective inhibitor has previously been approved at higher doses by the FDA for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. The plans to initiate this clinical trial were announced in a press release from Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc, developer of the drug.

A single-institution study from Wuhan, Hubei, showed that admission or recurrent visits to the hospital put patients with cancer at risk for severe adult respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, and patients with non&ndash;small cell lung cancer over the age of 60 had a higher incidence of coronavirus disease 2019.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Maria Reig, MD, PhD, discussed the results from the retrospective analysis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with nivolumab in the real-life setting in Spain.

The first liquid biopsy assay, a blood test, to detect over 50 types of cancer has been developed and is able to identify in which part of the body that the cancer originated in, based on findings from a prospective multicenter case-control observational trial, the CCGA study published in&nbsp;Annals of Oncology.&nbsp;The test also identified cancer prior to symptoms in most patients, according to a press release.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Richard D. Carvajal, MD, discussed the challenges of conducting clinical trials for the treatment of patients with uveal melanoma, as well as the excitement surrounding 2 potential therapies in this space.

Targeted Oncology reviews trending news and videos online for the week of April 3, 2020, including recent updates on the impact of COVID-19 in oncology practice and other FDA news.

Despite unprecedented challenges during the month of March 2020 due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the FDA continued to push forward with several new approved indications for the treatment of cancer, as well as other designations that could further advance the treatment landscape.

Cabozantinib demonstrated antitumor activity as treatment of patients with advanced Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma, warranting further investigation for a potential new therapeutic option for this patient population, according to findings from phase II CABONE study.

Although fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab may be efficient in inducing remission for the treatment of patients with Binet A high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia, recent data published in&nbsp;Leukemia&nbsp;suggest there is no evidence that this would be better than the current standard of care, which is the &ldquo;watch and wait&rdquo; approach.

A rolling New Drug Application has been submitted for pralsetinib as treatment of patients with RET fusion–positive non–small cell lung cancer, according to a press release from Blueprint Medicines Corporation.

A New Drug Application has been submitted to the FDA for the vascular endothelial growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitor tivozanib for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory renal cell carcinoma, according to a press release from AVEO Oncology.

In honor of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month,&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>&nbsp;was joined by Pashtoon M. Kasi, MD, MBBS, MS, in a tweet chat. The 3 featured cases highlighted a variety of subsets of CRC, including patients with NTRK fusions,&nbsp;<em>BRAF</em>&nbsp;mutations, and HER2 amplifications.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology,&nbsp;Prasad S. Adusumilli, MD, FACS, discussed the expansion of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell research in the solid tumor space and the challenges researchers will need to overcome in order to make this therapy effective for patients outside of the hematologic treatment landscape.

A statistically significant improvement in the total pathologic complete response rate, the primary end point of the study, was observed with neoadjuvant treatment of pertuzumab, trastuzumab and docetaxel compared with placebo, trastuzumab, and docetaxel in Asian patients with&nbsp;<a><em>ERBB2</em></a>&nbsp;-positive early or locally advanced breast cancer, according to the phase III PEONY trial.

COA conducted a webinar on the impact of COVID-19 on oncology practices and introduced several experts across the nation to share how their institutions have adjusted during this time to accommodate patients.

An association was found between a lower risk of grade 3 or higher chemotherapy toxicity with higher body mass indexes and normal albumin, a protein made in the liver, levels in older adult patients with solid tumors, according to an analysis of a prospective, multicenter study.

At the Annual Education Summit of the Medical Oncology Association of Southern California, Tanya Dorff, MD, discussed evolving practices in prostate and urothelial cancers as well as highlighted controversies in the treatment landscape such as the role of combination therapy in prostate cancer.

Targeted Oncology reviews trending news and videos online for the week of March 27, 2020, including recent updates on the impact of COVID-19 in oncology practice and a clinical trial on breast cancer.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, James L. Ferrara, MD, discussed the prognosis of patients with graft-versus-host-disease and the current treatment strategies. He also highlighted his experience with ruxolitinib and the remaining challenges in this space.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Gurbakhah Kaur, MD, discussed the evolution of the multiple myeloma treatment landscape. She also highlighted other agents that are being evaluated in this patient population, both with BCMA targets and different targets.

Patients with early-stage breast cancer who received pelareorep demonstrated consistent data with safety run-in data and had a favorable toxicity profile, according to an cohort analysis from the window-of-opportunity study, AWARE-1.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology,&nbsp;Patrick Brown, MD, discussed the results from the randomized phase III study evaluating blinatumomab in patients with B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 concerns, the American Society of Clinical Oncology Board has made the decision to deliver the latest science virtually during the timeframe of the scheduled Annual Meeting, which would have been held in Chicago, IL, May 29 to June 2, 2020.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Tania Jain,&nbsp;<a>MBBS,</a>&nbsp;discussed the role of transplant as treatment of patients with myelofibrosis and the challenges that remain in this space. She also spoke to the treatment options for patients with graft-versus-host-disease.

Despite demonstrating improvement in overall survival as treatment of patients with advanced inoperable metastatic colorectal cancer, cetuximab plus chemotherapy led to significantly worse survival for patients with operable colorectal liver metastases in the perioperative setting, according to findings from randomized phase III clinical trial.