Latest Conference Articles

Judith A. Paice, PhD, RN, discusses the best way to approach pain management in breast cancer.

Robert Orlowski, MD, PhD, Florence Maude Thomas Cancer Research professor and chair, ad interim, Department of Lymphoma & Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses remaining questions with multiple myeloma treatment.

Updated findings from the registration trial of the first FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy showed that 83% of patients with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma achieved complete remission with complete or incomplete hematologic recovery, as reported at the 2017 Society of Hematologic Oncology Annual Meeting.<br /> &nbsp;

Guillermo Garcia-Manero, MD, discusses&nbsp;the potential impact of harnessing immunotherapeutics in MDS.

After a median follow-up of 2.8 years, the 3-year relapse-free survival rate in patients with <em>BRAF</em>-mutant stage III melanoma&nbsp;who were treated with adjuvant dabrafenib and trametinib was 58% compared with 39% for placebo,&nbsp;according to findings&nbsp;from the phase III COMBI-AD study.

There was no overall survival improvement seen by expanding surveillance from chest x-ray to follow-up with PET-CT scan after surgery for patients with&nbsp;early-stage non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, according to data reported during the 2017 ESMO Congress.

According to findings presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress,&nbsp;nab-paclitaxel monotherapy demonstrated efficacy in patients with pretreated advanced nonsquamous&nbsp;non&ndash;small cell lung cancer that is not improved by the addition of CC-486.&nbsp;

In patients with previously treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer,&nbsp;^&nbsp;superior progression-free survival was induced with continuous treatment with nivolumab until disease progression compared with a 1-year fixed duration treatment.

Median overall survival findings from treatment with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) were significantly longer compared with chemotherapy in patients with recurrent, advanced urothelial carcinoma, according to mature results from the phase III KEYNOTE-045 study.&nbsp;

Joshua Bauml, MD, assistant professor, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, discusses the randomized phase III FLAURA study of frontline osimertinib (Tagrisso) in patients with EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer.

When abemaciclib was added to a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor in treatment-naive patients with HER2-negative, HR-positive advanced breast cancer, the combination reduced the risk of progression of disease or death by 46% compared with either anastrozole or letrozole alone, according to findings from the phase III MONARCH 3 trial.

Andrea Apolo, MD, medical oncologist at the National Cancer Institute and chief of the bladder cancer section of the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, discusses the recent updates presented at the 2017 ESMO Annual Congress regarding avelumab (Bavencio) monotherapy for patients with urothelial carcinoma.&nbsp;

The combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and bevacizumab (Avastin) demonstrated greater progression-free survival in patients with untreated metatatic renal cell carcinoma compared with standard sunitinib (Sutent), according to findings presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress held in Madrid, Spain.&nbsp;

Celeste Lebb&eacute;, MD, from the H&ocirc;pital Saint Louis, in Paris, France, discusses avelumab treatment in chemotherapy-naive patients with distant metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma during the 2017 ESMO Annual Congress.

In findings reported at the 2017 ESMO Annual congress in Madrid, a majority of patients with advanced melanoma responded to the combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and the investigational IDO1 inhibitor epacadostat.

In patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer, turning a nonimmunogenic (&ldquo;cold&rdquo;) tumor into an immunogenic (&ldquo;hot&rdquo;) tumor appears to be feasible, thereby improving sensitivity to immune therapy with nivolumab.

According to a retrospective analysis of a randomized study presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress, a liquid biopsy&nbsp;that measures tumor mutational burden showed promise for predicting benefit in patients with non&ndash;small cell lung cancer treated with a checkpoint inhibitor.&nbsp;

For patients with <em>BRAF</em>-mutant advanced melanoma, the&nbsp;BRAF inhibitor encorafenib combined with the MEK inhibitor binimetinib demonstrated significant improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) compared with single-agent vemurafenib or encorafenib, according to updated findings from the phase III COLUMBUS trial presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress.

Treatment with the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab (Imfinzi) improved median PFS by 11.2 months compared with placebo for patients with locally advanced, unresectable stage III non&ndash;small cell lung cancer who had not progressed following chemoradiotherapy, according to phase III results from the PACIFIC trial presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress.

In results from the phase III FLAURA study of frontline osimertinib (Tagrisso) in patients with <em>EGFR</em>-mutant non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, osimertinib demonstrated a progression-free survival &nbsp;rate of 18.9 months (95% CI, 12.5-21.4), which was significantly improved over standard therapy.&nbsp;

Jason J. Luke, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, The University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the combination of epacadostat and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of melanoma during the 2017 ESMO Annual Congress.

According to findings from the phase III ALUR and ALEX studies announced ahead of the 2017 ESMO Congress,^&nbsp;Alectinib demonstrated promising efficacy for patients with <em>ALK</em>-translocated non&ndash;small cell lung cancer with central nervous system metastases in both the first- and second-line setting.

The combination of taselisib and standard letrozole improved the objective response rate compared to letrozole with a placebo in postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive and HER2-negative early breast cancer, according to findings from the LORELEI study presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress in Madrid, Spain.

The PARP inhibitor Rucaparib (Rubraca) improved median progression-free survival by 11.2 months compared with placebo as a maintenance treatment for patients with <em>BRCA</em>-mutant platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer, according to findings from the phase III ARIEL3 trial presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress.&nbsp;

Jonathan Ledermann, MD, professor of medical oncology in the University College London Cancer Institute and director of Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre, discusses the toxicities associated with rucaparib (Rubraca) for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

The 2017 ESMO Annual Congress, taking place September 8 to 12 in Madrid, Spain, will feature several late-breaking abstracts that are poised to change the future of treatment for patients with lung cancer, pending their results, including the&nbsp;phase III PACIFIC and FLAURA studies.

Omid Hamid, MD, shares&nbsp;the top melanoma abstracts to look out for at the 2017 ESMO Annual Congress, which is taking place September 8 to 12 in Madrid, Spain, as well as some background on the promising phase I/II results he will be presenting for the combination of epacadostat plus pembrolizumab in patients with advanced melanoma.

The challenge of precision medicine in metastatic breast cancer is to develop well-tolerated therapies based on key actionable, accessible, and validated biomarkers, said Francisco J. Esteva, MD, PhD, during an explanation of the current understanding of the molecular landscape of metastatic breast cancer at the <em>16th Annual </em>International Congress on the Future of Breast Cancer East.

In the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings of treating patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, trastuzumab (Herceptin) remains a standard of care. The question has become whether combination regimens with additional HER2-directed therapies or alternative therapies could improve responses in this patient population without added toxicities, according to Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH.

Checkpoint inhibitors against PD-1 and PD-L1 have demonstrated promising efficacy as monotherapies and in combination with chemotherapy for patients with triple-negative breast cancer, with phase III data on the horizon