BRAIN CANCER

General Cancer

The FDA has approved Zirabev, a biosimilar to bevacizumab for 5 indications. Zirabev has been approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer; unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic non-squamous non–small cell lung cancer; recurrent glioblastoma; metastatic renal cell carcinoma; and persistent, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer.

The American Cancer Society, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Baptist Cancer Center, and the Mayo Clinic report that treatment patterns varied markedly by cancer type and care facility setting for patients with de novo metastatic disease who died within 1 month after diagnosis, based on an analysis of data from 100,848 patients collected from the National Cancer Database, a hospital-based cancer registry that captures 70% of patients in the United States with a new diagnosis.

The FDA recently released 5 new draft guidance documents that promote broader patient eligibility for cancer clinical trials. The policies encourage inclusion of certain individuals who were previously disqualified due to medical conditions or biological factors, including brain metastases, organ dysfunction, prior or concurrent malignancies, chronic infections, and age.

A cohort of cancer centers was selected to serve as models for identifying key strategies for racial and ethnic minority group engagement in clinical trials. On the basis of several qualifying criteria, such as sustained accrual of minorities into clinical cancer research, an established minority population ≥10% in the overall catchment, an established clinical trial infrastructure, and a formal community outreach program, the investigators identified 8 cancer centers for participation.

In a case-based-style discussion, Tanios S. Bekaii-Saab, MD, and Wells Messersmith, MD, reviewed the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer whose tumors express rare gene mutations or molecular signatures, such as <em>NTRK</em> fusions.

Larotrectinib demonstrated efficacy across analyses for both pediatric patients and those with brain metastases or primary central nervous system tumors, whether pediatric or adult, with TRK fusions.

Final results from the phase III CheckMate 498 trial demonstrated that nivolumab in combination with radiation failed to demonstrate a significant improvement in overall survival compared with temozolomide and radiation in patients with newly diagnosed <em>MGMT</em>-unmethylated glioblastoma multiforme.

Before a community oncology practice considers getting involved in clinical trials research, there are many factorsto consider. Perhaps foremost is the fact that cancer clinical trials provide the evidence base for new advances in oncology.&nbsp;

Artificial intelligence has made inroads in many industries&mdash;banking, finance, security&mdash;but its adoption in healthcare has been lagging and real-world clinical implementation has yet to become a reality. Nonetheless, proponents say it is only a matter of time and pilot programs are starting to yield some practical results.&nbsp;

The healthcare community is still awaiting a response from the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services to the opposition of the agency&rsquo;s proposal to substantially revise the Medicare Part D protected drug classes.

Overtreating men 70 years or older with prostate cancer cost Medicare more than $1.2 billion from 2004 to 2007, according to the results of a retrospective study using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results&ndash;Medicare linked database.

Despite encouraging results in other cancers, the use of immunotherapy to treat glioblastoma, which appeared promising in early-phase trials, has not panned out as well in larger, phase III trials. However, researchers continue to search and are optimistic about immunotherapy&rsquo;s prospects.

General Cancer

Failed clinical trials in glioblastoma are hampering the path toward novel treatment regimens in this difficult-to-treat malignancy and old approaches to clinical trial design are reducing the appetite for involvement, according to Erik P. Sulman, MD, PhD.

A peptide-based personalized vaccine demonstrated encouraging signals of efficacy and was well tolerated in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma, according to the results of the phase I GAPVAC-101 trial.