Latest Conference Articles

Mark Pegram, MD, shares some of the most recent developments in the HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer space, the research currently ongoing, and why it is such an exciting time for the field.

Joyce O’Shaughnessy, MD, provides an update on existing research in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, and novel agents on the horizon.

In an interview with <em>Targeted Oncology,&nbsp;</em>Arti Hurria, MD,&nbsp;shares the treatment considerations she makes when treating older patients with breast cancer, the unique challenges that come with treating this patient population, and the exciting future she envisions for this space.

Hope S. Rugo, MD,&nbsp;professor of medicine and director of the Breast Oncology Clinical Trials Program at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses extended adjuvant endocrine therapy for patients with HR+ breast cancer.

Adam M. Brufsky, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine, associate chief of Hematology/Oncology, co-director of the Comprehensive Breast Care Center, associate director of Clinical Investigation, University of Pittsburgh, discusses the utility of molecular signatures in managing early-stage breast cancer.

The combination regimen of ibrutinib, fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and obinutuzumab achieved a high rate of minimal residual disease-negative status in bone marrow as a first-line treatment in patients with <em>IGHV</em>-mutated chronic lymphocytic leukemia

The BTK inhibitor ibrutinib continued to demonstrate sustained progression-free survival and overall survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, regardless of patients&rsquo; high-risk cytogenetic status.

The combination of the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody obinutuzumab and bendamustine induced high rates of complete response and minimal residual disease negativity with no unexpected safety signals as a first-line therapy for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Javier Pinilla-Ibarz, MD, PhD, associate member, Malignant Hematology and Immunology Program at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses ongoing research with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.&nbsp;

Complete marrow clearance of leukemic cells was achieved in 8 of 9 evaluable patients with heavily pretreated or genetically high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia who received concurrent treatment with CTL-119 cell therapy and ibrutinib, results of a pilot study showed.

Ublituximab (TG-1101) in combination with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) met its primary endpoint of showing an improvement in objective response rate (ORR) compared with ibruitinib monotherapy in patients with previously treated high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In a presentation of findings from the phase III GENUINE trial during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting, data were reviewed demonstrating that the combination had an ORR of 78% in this patient population.&nbsp;

Lenalidomide consolidation therapy following induction with fludarabine and rituximab (Rituxan) was found to increase long-term survival over survival rates&nbsp;seen with FR or FR plus cyclophosphamide in an overall survival plateau that intrigued researchers when examined in&nbsp;patients with symptomatic, treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia without an 11q deletion.

Eytan M. Stein, MD, internist, hematologic oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the results of a phase I dose escalation and expansion study of enasidenib in mutant <em>IDH-2</em> relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Peter Kaufman, MD, associate professor of Medicine, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, discusses the significance of the MONARCH 2 trial, which explored abemaciclib in combination with fulvestrant in patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer who progressed on endocrine therapy during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.<br /> &nbsp;

Sunil Verma, MD, department head, Clinical Department of Oncology, Calgary Zone, medical director, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, discusses updated results of the phase III MONALEESA-2 trial of first-line ribociclib plus letrozole in hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Debu Tripathy, MD, chair of Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the phase II ABRAZO study of talazoparib following platinum or multiple cytotoxic regimens in advanced breast cancer patients with germline <em>BRCA</em> 1/2 mutations during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, associate director, clinical research, breast oncology, Susan F. Smith Center for Women&rsquo;s Cancers, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses interim results of a trial exploring abemaciclib for the treatment of brain metastases secondary to hormone receptor-positive HER2-negative breast cancer.

Denise Yardley, MD, senior investigator, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the APHINITY trial, which compared chemotherapy plus trastuzumab plus placebo versus chemotherapy plus trastuzumab plus pertuzumab as adjuvant therapy in patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer.

Treatment with&nbsp;chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells that target B-cell maturation protein (BMCA) achieved clinical remissions in 33 out of 35 patients (94%) with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma in early results from a Chinese study presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

When epacadostat, an IDO1 inhibitor, was combined with pembrolizumab (Keytruda), a PD-1 inhibitor, responses were seen in 35% of patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma, according to findings presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting. &nbsp;

Approximately 25% of patients with <em>BRCA</em> wild-type serous ovarian cancer may benefit from treatment with PARP inhibitors, along with 12.7% of patients with a non-serous histology, according to findings of genomic analyses in patients with ovarian cancer presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting that&nbsp;demonstrate that comprehensive genomic profiling is a valuable tool to integrate into routine ovarian cancer treatment decision making and clinical trial design.

Larotrectinib (LOXO-101), the novel pan-TRK inhibitor, induced responses in 3 out of 4 patients with a&nbsp;<em>TRK</em>&nbsp;fusion&ndash;positive solid tumor, according to findings presented in a press conference June 3 at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Jorge Cortes, MD, deputy chair of the Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses initial results from the BFORE trial, which is exploring bosutinib (Bosulif) versus imatinib (Gleevec) for newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia.

Paola A. Ascierto, MD, medical oncologist, director of Melanoma Cancer Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapy, Istituto Nazionale Tumori &ldquo;Fondazione G. Pascal,&rdquo; discusses results of a phase Ib/II dose-escalation study evaluating triple combination therapy with encorafenib, binimetiinib, and ribociclib (Kisquali) in patients with <em>BRAF V600</em> solid tumors and melanoma.

More than half of patients with immunotherapy-relapsed/refractory melanoma benefited from treatment with nivolumab and an anti-lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3) antibody, according to data from an early clinical study.

The experimental AKT inhibitor ipatasertib in combination with paclitaxel improved progression-free survival (PFS) as a first-line therapy for patients with locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer when compared with paclitaxel alone, according to initial findings of the LOTUS trial presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.<br /> &nbsp;

Second-generation ALK inhibitor alectinib (Alecensa) demonstrated a 15-month improvement in progression-free survival compared with crizotinib (Xalkori), the first-generation ALK inhibitor and standard of care, in patients with&nbsp;<em>ALK</em>-positive non&ndash;small cell lung cancer.

Dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus trametinib (Mekinist) achieved an intracranial response (IR) rate of 58% in melanoma that has metastasized to the brain. The median duration of overall response (OR) of 6.5 months was generally shorter than that observed in melanoma patients without brain metastases.&nbsp;These initial findings from the phase II COMBI-MB trial were presented during an oral abstract session at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Lurbinectedin (PM01183) shows activity as a single agent as well as in combination with doxorubicin or paclitaxel in patients with advanced endometrial cancer, according to findings presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

In updated findings from the KEYNOTE-059 trial of pembrolizumab in advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer, the PD-1 inhibitor maintained signs of its clinical benefit in this patient population, which is encouraging as the indication is currently under consideration for approval with the FDA.