Interviews

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, discusses the results from the phase III BEACON CRC study; investigators evaluated the efficacy and safety of triplet encorafenib, binimetinib, and cetuximab in patients with BRAF V600E–mutant metastatic colorectal cancer who previously received up to 2 lines of prior therapy.

The American Oncology Network is helping community oncology practices to flourish. As CEO, Bradley Prechtl, MBA, was instrumental in the organizations formation in 2017 when the need for improvement in community oncology across the United States had become evident.

Paul K. Paik, MD, discusses the benefits to using liquid biopsy compared to a tissue biopsy, particularly in the phase II VISION trial in which patients with non–small cell lung cancer harboring MET alterations were treated with tepotinib. Patients were divided into 2 cohorts based on whether they were enrolled with either a liquid biopsy or tumor biopsy.

David Spigel, MD, chief scientific officer of Sarah Cannon Research Institute, gives a recap on the phase III PACIFIC study, with facts and perceptions surrounding the latest data that study researchers reported during the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

David J. Straus, MD, discusses the toxicities associated with the combination of brentuximab vedotin plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine in patients with stage III/IV classical Hodgkin lymphoma, according to data from the 3-year update of the ECHELON-1 trial presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

David Spigel, MD, chief scientific officer, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discussed with&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting how the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) is the change agent for helping physicians provide their patients with quality care.&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;

Marina C. Garassino, MD, medical consultant, Thoracic Unit, Fondazione IRCCS &ndash; Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy, discusses the results from the randomized phase III RELAY trial, in which the combination of ramucirumab plus erlotinib was compared to erlotinib plus placebo in patients with EGFR-mutated non&ndash;small cell lung cancer. These data were presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Jorge E. Cortes, MD, discusses the results from the ENESTFreedom study, which evaluated the use of nilotinib as a treatment for patients with BCR-ABL1&ndash;positive chronic myeloid leukemia in the chronic phase.<br /> &nbsp;

Josep M. Llovet, MD, PhD, discusses the evolution of treatment options for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Andrew L. Pecora, MD, FACP, CPE, discusses the biggest areas of research in the field of multiple myeloma. Pecora says that there has been a surprising number of advances in the field, with current research mostly focused on 1 of 3 areas.

Timothy F. Burns, MD, PhD, discusses the value of conducting next-generation sequencing in-house for patients with lung cancer compared with sending out to an external laboratory for molecular profiling results. Burns says he conducts NGS testing on all patients with metastatic and nonsquamous lung cancers. This includes patients that are both smokers and non-smokers.

Eric Pujade-Lauraine, MD, PhD, discusses the exploratory findings from the phase III JAVELIN Ovarian 200 trial, which investigated the use of combination avelumab plus pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in patients with platinum-resistant, refractory ovarian cancer.

Eric Harris, DO, hematologist/oncologist, Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, gives Targeted Oncology an insiders perspective on the current state of community oncology in Florida and some ways the Florida Society of Clinical Oncology (FLASCO) aids in improving patient care by helping physicians.

Matthew S. Davids, MD, MMSc, discusses the significance of the findings from TRANSCEND CLL 004, a phase I/II trial investigating the CAR T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Shilpa Gupta, MD, discusses the current role of immunotherapy in treating patients with bladder cancer and how biomarkers have become an unmet need.

Jae H. Park, MD, discusses the current role and challenges in using CAR T-cell therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. The 2 challenges now in this area are target selection and patient selection.

Alexander Drilon, MD, clinical director, Early Drug Development Service, and associate professor of the Thoracic Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the data examining the role of entrectinib in patients with non&ndash;small cell lung cancer who are na&iuml;ve to treatment with a ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

Ross Mudgway, BS, explains how a multidisciplinary approach as well as open discussions with the patient can help determine the best course of action for patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Robyn M. Scherber, MD, MPH, discusses her advice for treating patients with myelofibrosis that become refractory or resistant to ruxolitinib.

Rozita Yarmand, PhD,&nbsp;discusses the take home message from the current research&nbsp;in medullary thyroid cancer.

Jeremie Calais, MD, discusses the results from a preliminary analysis of a phase II trial investigating 177 lutetium prostate-specific membrane antigen-617 in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Ahmed Omar Kaseb, MD, discusses the current treatment landscape for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, discusses the evolution of liquid biopsies in all solid tumors, especially in non&ndash;small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) where they are used routinely.

Bassel El-Rayes, MD, discusses the key points physicians should consider when treating a patient with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Noopur Raje, MD, discusses the current treatment options for patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma. At this time, a number of FDA-approved drugs and different combinations are available.

Floor J. Backes, MD, discusses the side effects associated with the combination lenvatinib plus paclitaxel in patients with recurrent endometrial and platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer.

Myung-Ju Ahn, MD, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea, discusses the findings from the AURA LM study, which compared an 80 mg dose of osimertinib with a 160 mg dose in patients with <em>EGFR</em>-positive advanced non&ndash;small cell lung cancer with leptomeningeal metastases.

William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, discusses the take home message from the phase III MURANO trial that identified venetoclax plus rituximab as a new treatment option for patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Andre Goy, MD, discusses the role of rituximab and bendamustine plus cytarabine as a treatment for patients with mantle cell lymphoma.

Tony Mok, MD, discusses the next steps for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as a treatment option for patients with non-small cell lung cancer after the phase III KEYNOTE-042 trial.