ASCO Annual Meeting

Cemiplimab demonstrated substantial antitumor activity and induced durable responses in patients with locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma who were enrolled in the pivotal EMPOWER-CSCC-1 phase II study, and these results were similar to previously reported data in patients with metastatic CSCC enrolled in the same study.

Racial disparities in time to cancer treatment are nearly eliminated since the expansion of Medicaid, according to the results from a study presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. Analysis on the impact of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion showed Medicaid was associated with a 6.1 percentage point improvement in timely access to cancer care treatment for African American patients versus 2.1 in white patients.

After passage of the Affordable Care Act, women with ovarian cancer who were pre-medicare-aged were more likely to be diagnosed at an early stage and receive treatment within 30 days of diagnosis compared to prior to the ACA, according to findings presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Single-agent lurbinectedin induced an overall response rate of 35.2% in the second-line setting for the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer in a phase II basket trial, presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Details on a prototype system were released during the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting by a consortium of cancer care institutions that was designed to use electronic health record systems to provide real-world patient data that could guide research and improve cancer treatment.

According to a study authors performed to call attention to the need to address socioeconomic disparities that influence treatment outcomes, higher incomes and having private insurance were associated with a significantly greater probability of survival for patients with multiple myeloma.

Survival was increased with the treatment of enzalutamide plus standard of care compared with the use of other non-steroidal anti-androgens plus SOC for patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. Results from an interim analysis of the phase III ENZAMET trial presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting showed that 80% of men with mHSPC were alive after 3 years with enzalutamide treatment compared with 72%. 

The PARP inhibitor olaparib significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with germline BRCA-mutated metastatic pancreatic cancer compared to placebo when used as maintenance therapy in the phase III POLO trial, presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Karim Fizazi, MD, PhD, professor and head of the GARD Inpatient Unit, at Institut Gustave Roussy, discusses the impact of darolutamide (ODM-201) on pain and quality of life in patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. 

Updated data from the phase III EORTC 18071 study showed that patients with surgically resected high-risk, stage III melanoma experienced a 25% reduction in the risk of recurrence or death with adjuvant ipilimumab compared with placebo.

Patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who received&nbsp;apalutamide plus androgen deprivation therapy had a 33% reduced risk of death compared with patients taking androgen deprivation therapy alone in the phase III TITAN trial. Topline results from the trial were&nbsp;presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting and simultaneously published in the <em>New England Journal of Medicine.</em>

Overall survival from the KEYNOTE-001 trial in patients with advanced non&ndash;small cell lung cancer showed treatment with pembrolizumab monotherapy produced more favorable rates of response at 5 years when compared with historical, pre-immunotherapy standard-of-care regimens.&nbsp;

According to findings from the phase III MONALEESA-7 trial, peri and premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer treated with ribociclib plus endocrine therapy demonstrated an estimated overall survival rate of 70.2% at 42 months compared with 46% for placebo and endocrine therapy.

Patients with PD-L1&ndash;positive,&nbsp;HER2-negative, advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer had non-inferior overall survival with frontline pembrolizumab compared with standard chemotherapy,&nbsp;according to results from the phase III KEYNOTE-062 trial.

Toni Choueiri, MD, director, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, director, Kidney Cancer Center, senior physician, at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Jerome and Nancy Kohlberg Chair and professor of medicine, at Harvard Medical School, highlights key trials in kidney cancer presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Ahead of the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, the American Society of Clinical Oncology announced leaders in the field of oncology who will be recognized during the upcoming annual meeting. The winners of ASCO&rsquo;s Special Awards and Conquer Cancer&rsquo;s Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Awards will be acknowledged for their work toward transforming cancer care around the world.

In an interview with&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>, experts in gynecology, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, lung, and breast cancers spoke to the significance of the abstracts they are most looking forward to at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

One-hundred percent of pediatric patients with CNS and solid tumors harboring&nbsp;<em>NTRK1/2/3</em>, <em>ROS1</em>, or <em>ALK</em> gene fusions or mutations achieved objective responses with entrectinib, according to the phase I/Ib STARTRK-NG trial data presented in a press cast ahead of the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, MD, professor of genitourinary medical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the results presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting from a phase II cohort investigating erdafitinib in previously treated patients with urothelial cancer. Erdafitinib is a fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor that targets FGFR 1 through 4 and has previously shown promising activity.&nbsp;

According to a preliminary prospective study presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, half of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer achieved disease control with a treatment combination of a poly polymerase inhibitor and an anti&ndash;PD-1 agent.

Upfront treatment with the combination of bevacizumab (Avastin) and erlotinib (Tarceva) is superior to erlotinib alone as for patients with non&ndash;small cell lung cancer harboring<em> EGFR</em> mutations, according to results of a preplanned interim analysis of the phase III study known as NEJ026.

Results from a phase II trial demonstrated that&nbsp;cemiplimab, a PD-1 inhibitor, induced an overall response rate (ORR) of 47.5% in patients with metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

According to updated data from the phase I/II PIVOT-02 trial presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, the combination of NKTR-214 plus the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab demonstrated promising antitumor activity in patients with advanced solid tumors, particularly in PD-L1&ndash;negative patients.

Patients with relapsed, advanced, high-grade ovarian cancer achieved durable responses with the PARP inhibitor niraparib (Zejula) as fourth-line therapy and beyond, the phase II QUADRA trial showed.

According to phase III findings presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, a 4-drug chemotherapy combination, modified FOLFIRINOX, dramatically improved survival compared to standard gemcitabine in the postoperative setting for patients with resected pancreatic cancer. This major advance may set a new standard of care in a challenging disease.

According to updated findings from the phase III ASPECT trial presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, a combination of 2 over-the-counter drugs can reduce the risk for high-grade dysplasia or esophageal cancer in patients with&nbsp;Barrett&rsquo;s esophagus if taken for at least 7 years.&nbsp;These results also demonstrated that high-dose esomeprazole in combination with a low-dose aspirin was associated with delaying all-cause mortality.

According to preliminary findings from the phase III PREOPANC-1 trial, preoperative treatment with chemotherapy and radiation improved overall survival for patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer compared to immediate surgery. These data, presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, demonstrated the potential role for neoadjuvant treatment in the pancreatic cancer treatment paradigm.

Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, director, Gynecologic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses results from the phase II open-label, single-arm QUADRA study evaluating niraparib in patients with relapsed ovarian cancer who have received&nbsp;&ge;3 prior chemotherapy regimens during the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Durable complete remissions were seen in 46% of patients with&nbsp;high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with the CAR T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel at 6 months.&nbsp;These results come from the updated findings from the phase I, multicenter TRANSCEND trial that were presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Keith T. Flaherty, MD, professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, director of Clinical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses overall survival results from the phase III COLUMBUS trial investigating encorafenib plus binimetinib versus vemurafenib (Zelboraf) or encorafenib in BRAF-mutant melanoma during the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.