IMMUNOTHERAPY

The first patient has been dosed in the phase III FIGHT trial investigating bemarituzumab (FPA144) combined with chemotherapy in patients with previously untreated advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer, according to Five Prime Therapeutics, the developer of the isoform-selective FGF receptor 2b antibody.

Peter O’Donnell, MD, discusses the integration of immunotherapy in the treatment paradigm of advanced bladder cancer and its potential role as combination therapy.

Hassane M. Zarour, MD, discusses the addition of antibiotics to immunotherapy treatment in patients with melanoma. 

Immune checkpoint inhibitor-related toxic events led to deaths in 0.3% to 1.3% of patients, a rate that compares favorably with other treatment modalities, according to results from a retrospective analysis of data collected in Vigilyze, the World Health Organization’s pharmacovigilance database.

Bruno Sangro, MD, discusses the current landscape for systemic therapies, new directions with immunotherapy, and the need for greater research into combination therapies for HCC.

James P. Allison, PhD, and Tasuku Honjo, MD, PhD, have been awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their pioneering research that led to the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of cancer. The award was announced in a statement from the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet on Monday.

Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, discusses the promise of nivolumab in patients with high-risk resected stage III/IV melanoma and gives a general overview of the melanoma treatment landscape.

Enhanced clinical benefit may be derived from the combination of entinostat and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in a subgroup of patients with PD-1/PD-L1–refractory non–small cell lung cancer who have high levels of peripheral blood monocytes, ongoing analyses suggest. 

Matthew Powell, MD, discusses the promise of immunotherapy in ovarian cancer, despite its challenges.

The FDA now requires use of an approved companion diagnostic test to determine PD-L1 levels in the tumor tissue of cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer prescribed treatment with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) or atezolizumab (Tecentriq).

In an interview with <em>Targeted Oncology</em><em>,</em> Levy discusses the agents currently being investigated for patients with <em>ROS1</em>- or <em>TRK</em>-rearranged lung cancer. He also highlights the challenges physicians will need to overcome to best treat their patients based on these new findings.

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, clinical director of Medical Oncology at John Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital, discusses the unique adverse events with immunotherapy agents and how physicians can work together to overcome these challenges.

Checkpoint inhibitors are revolutionizing the treatment of patients with both squamous and nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer, and are quickly assuming a predominant role, especially in the frontline setting, due to recent exciting results from large trials.<br /> &nbsp;

The use of checkpoint inhibition in patients with locally advanced non&ndash;small cell lung cancer in combination with chemoradiation, and specifically durvalumab from the PACIFIC trial, has shown the first significant survival benefits in almost 25 years, according to Corey J. Langer, MD.

Combinations with immunotherapy agents have surged ahead with new regimens showing great potential for the treatment of patients with lung cancer, Corey Langer, MD, said during a presentation at the&nbsp;<em>19th Annual </em>International Lung Cancer Congress (ILCC). Knowledge about a growing number of biomarkers are helping to guide treatment decisions with these combination options, he said, but the one standard of care has not yet been determined.

Several biomarkers are beginning to emerge for immunotherapy in non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, and the collection of these markers, when used together, could further help to predict which patients are likely to respond to these therapies alone or in combination, according to a presentation by Giorgio Scagliotti, MD, PhD, at the <em>19th Annual</em> International Lung Cancer Congress.

David G. Maloney, MD, PhD, medical director of immunotherapy at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and member of Fred Hutchinson Research Center, discusses the clinical trials that are currently investigating chimeric antigen receptor T cells at the Bezos Family Immunotherapy Clinic at Fred Hutchinson.

A novel immunotherapy agent has demonstrated significant survival rates for patients with metastatic uveal melanoma, according to updated results released at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors, alone or in combination, are associated with increased incidence of some cardiovascular toxicities in patients with cancer, according to results from a cross-trial pooled analysis presented in a poster at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

In patients with metastatic or unresectable locally advanced triple-negative breast cancer, frontline treatment with&nbsp;atezolizumab (Tecentriq) plus nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane)&nbsp;significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death compared with nab-paclitaxel, according to topline results from the phase III IMpassion130 study.&nbsp;

Immunotherapy may provide an opportunity to change the treatment paradigm of small cell lung cancer as new clinical trials report out in the next year, says&nbsp;Anne Chiang, MD, PhD.&nbsp;Recent results with immunotherapy agents in the second-line setting have already influenced guidelines.

A&nbsp;supplemental biologics license application has been accepted by the FDA seeking approval for&nbsp;the combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab for the frontline treatment of patients with advanced non&ndash;small cell lung cancer with tumor mutational burden&nbsp; &ge;10 mutations per megabase, according to Bristol-Myers Squibb, the manufacturer of both immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Charles G. Drake, MD, PhD, director of Genitourinary Oncology at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, discusses his thoughts on whether sunitinib would be more successful as a treatment for patients with renal cell carcinoma if used in the neoadjuvant setting.