Largest-Ever Liquid Biopsy Study Increases Favor for Mutation Testing Method
June 9th 2016The liquid biopsy testing method from a large genomic analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in blood samples from more than 15,000 patients, was found to be closely correlated with mutations described in databases, and often from tumor biopsies as well, according to research presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.
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First-in-class "Stemness" Inhibitor Napabucasin Shows Promise in Advanced Ovarian Cancer
June 9th 2016Napabucasin (BBI-608, BB608) is a first-in-class cancer "stemness" inhibitor that targets the STAT3 pathway, has acceptable toxicity, and shows some antitumor activity in combination with paclitaxel in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Results of an early phase trial were presented at a poster session at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.
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Heparan Sulfate-Like Drug Active in Pancreatic Cancer
June 9th 2016Half of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer had objective responses when treated with a novel inhibitor of heparin-binding growth factors in addition to conventional chemotherapy, a small preliminary clinical trial showed.
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Avelumab Shows Promise in Early Trial in Advanced Ovarian Cancer
June 9th 2016Avelumab (MSB0010718C), a fully human anti-PD-L1 (programmed death-1 receptor ligand) IgG1 antibody, showed activity in patients with heavily pretreated recurrent or refractory ovarian cancer with acceptable toxicity in the phase Ib JAVELIN Solid Tumor trial.
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Several Clinical Characteristics Linked to Improved PFS with Vemurafenib in Metastatic Melanoma
June 9th 2016Baseline LDH levels, ECOG performance status, and presence/absence of liver metastasis are clinical characteristics associated with favorable progression-free survival (PFS) in BRAF V600-mutated melanoma patients receiving vemurafenib (Zelboraf) monotherapy or combination cobimetinib (Cotellic) plus vemurafenib, according to an analysis presented at the ASCO 2016 Annual Meeting.
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Optimal Strategy Unknown for Identifying Non-Lynch Syndrome Mutations in CRC
June 9th 2016Updated results of the prevalence of germline cancer susceptibility gene mutations in a clinic-based series of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) were given in an oral presentation at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.
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Olaparib Extends OS in Relapsed Ovarian Cancer
June 8th 2016The PARP inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) significantly increased overall survival (OS) in women with platinum-sensitive relapsed serous ovarian cancer when given as maintenance monotherapy. These interim results, a third updated survival analysis, come from an extension of the Study 19 phase II trial and were presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.
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Minimal Harm Associated with Multiplex Gene Testing for Inherited Cancer Risk
June 8th 2016Interim analysis of a clinical trial of multiplex gene testing for inherited cancer risk suggests that fears of unnecessary surgery or adverse psychological effects associated with testing may be unwarranted.
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Durvalumab Combos Tested in Women's Cancers, and to be Tested in Basket Trial
June 8th 2016Durvalumab, an investigational PD-L1 targeting drug, is the subject of a unique ongoing basket trial being conducted by the National Institutes of Health, and was part of a single arm phase I combination therapy study of the drug in 19 patients with cervical cancer, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), ovarian cancer, or uterine leiomyosarcoma.
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Black Women Less Likely to Pursue BRCA Testing and Cancer Risk Reduction Measures
June 8th 2016Findings from a population-based study reported at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting revealed that young black women with breast cancer are much less likely to undergo testing for the BRCA gene or to get risk reducing prophylactic mastectomy or salpingo-oophorectomy than other women.
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Biosimilar of Trastuzumab is Comparable in Both Safety and Efficacy
June 8th 2016Herceptin, a biosimilar version of trastuzumab, produced comparable efficacy rates and safety profile as trastuzumab in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, according to research presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.
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Novel TKI Examined in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients with HER2 Mutation
June 8th 2016Neratinib, an experimental TKI being developed for breast cancer, achieved a 36% clinical benefit rate in a phase II trial, according to a poster presented June 5, 2016 at the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago.
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Abemaciclib Demonstrates Notable Response in HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer
June 8th 2016When tested in heavily pretreated patients with refractory, hormone-receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, abemaciclib, a CDK4/6 inhibitor, produced a positive response rate of approximately 20%.
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Targeting Molecular Abnormalities with Off-Label Indications
June 8th 2016An ongoing phase IIa basket study is evaluating treating patients who have molecular abnormalities with agents that target the HER2, BRAF, Hedgehog, or EGFR pathways, regardless of the patient's tumor type and the drug's original indication.
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Cobimetinib/Atezolizumab Combo Achieves Response in Advanced Colorectal Cancer
June 8th 2016The combination of cobimetinib (Cotellic) and atezolizumab (Tecentriq) is safe and clinically active in advanced colorectal cancer and resulted in a higher clinical response rate in patients with microsatellite stable (MSS) colorectal cancer patients than either agent alone.
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Third-Generation EGFR TKI Shows Preliminary Efficacy for Leptomeningeal Disease in NSCLC
June 8th 2016The third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) osimertinib (Tagrisso) demonstrated promising activity in a phase I study of heavily pretreated patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and leptomeningeal disease who harbor activating EGFR mutations.
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Nivolumab Monotherapy Achieves Positive Responses in Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma
June 7th 2016A majority of patients (66%) with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) who had progressed after receiving autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) and brentuximab vedotin (adcetris) experienced a response to nivolumab (Opdivo) monotherapy, findings from the phase II CheckMate-205 trial showed when presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.
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More CNS Adverse Events Associated With Enzalutamide Than Abiraterone/Prednisone Combo
June 7th 2016Patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who were treated with enzalutamide (Xtandi) were more likely to experience central nervous system (CNS) events or fatigue than patients treated with the combination of abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) and prednisone.
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Atezolizumab Could be Future First-Line Therapy for Bladder Cancer
June 7th 2016The immunotherapy agent atezolizumab (Tecentriq) reduced the size of tumors by 24% in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC), according to phase II clinical trial results presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.
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Combination Nivolumab/Ipilimumab Shows Increased PFS Compared with Monotherapy
June 7th 2016Combination therapy nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) resulted in reduced disease progression risk of 58% when compared with ipilimumab alone in patients with advanced melanoma. Additionally, nivolumab monotherapy showed greater risk reduction (45%) compared with ipilimumab single-agent treatment.
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Safety Data Confirmed in Abiraterone, Low-Dose Prednisone Combo Trial
June 7th 2016Men with nmCRPC demonstrated a median time to PSA progression of 28.7 months and a median time to radiographic progression of 41.4 months, according to updated safety and efficacy data involving abiraterone acetate and low-dose prednisone.
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Sustained Survival Shown in Updated Nivolumab Results in NSCLC
June 7th 2016Updated findings from the phase III CheckMate-057 and -017 trials showed sustained improvements in overall survival (OS) data of nivolumab (Opdivo) treatment in pretreated patients with nonsquamous or squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
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Tumor Treating Fields Safe as Frontline Therapy in Unresectable Pancreatic Cancer
June 7th 2016A preliminary safety and efficacy trial of a device using tumor treating fields (TTF) administered to unresectable pancreatic cancer patients found that the treatment was tolerable and safe when combined with gemcitabine.
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Rovalpituzumab Tesirine Single-Agent Activity and Safety Profile Prove Positive in SCLC
June 7th 2016Treatment with the delta-like protein 3 (DLL3)-targeted antibody-drug conjugate rovalpituzumab tesirine demonstrated single-agent activity and a manageable safety profile for patients with recurrent/refractory SCLC.
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