Latest Conference Articles

Kim Chi, MD, professor, University of British Columbia, discusses results of the phase III LATITUDE trial of androgen deprivation therapy with abiraterone acetate plus prednisone (Deltasone) or placebos in newly diagnosed high-risk metastatic hormone-naive prostate cancer.

The PARP inhibitor niraparib (Zejula) provided significant benefits in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer who had a partial response, with similar treatment effects in patients with or without germline <em>BRCA</em> mutations, according to a post-hoc analysis of data from the ENGOT-OV16/NOVA trial presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Reducing oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy by half could benefit patients with low-risk advanced colon cancer receiving chemotherapy after surgery. The 50% decrease would not notably increase their recurrence risk and would decrease the chances of developing neuropathy,&nbsp;according to findings presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Neoadjuvant and adjuvant dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus trametinib (Mekinist) increased the overall response rate (ORR) to 85% in patients with high-risk resectable <em>BRAF</em>-mutant metastatic melanoma. And interestingly, the pathologic complete response (pCR) rate with the combination was 58%, as demonstrated in findings presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

A 3-drug regimen for advanced melanoma led to objective responses in a majority of patients with advanced <em>BRAF</em>-mutant disease but also proved to be somewhat toxic, a small phase II study showed.

Georgina V. Long, BSc, PhD, MBBS,&nbsp;professor of medical melanoma oncology, Melanoma Institute Australia, discusses 5-year overall survival data from a phase II trial of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) in patients with <em>BRAF V600</em>-mutant unresectable or metastatic melanoma during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Progression-free survival (PFS) continues to be superior with the combination of cediranib maleate and olaparib (Lynparza) compared with olaparib alone in patients with recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer in a randomized open-label study with follow-up to December 2016.

Napabucasin, a first-in-class cancer stemness inhibitor, can be safely combined with full-dose weekly paclitaxel to treat patients with advanced, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Combining the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) with the HDAC inhibitor entinostat demonstrated promising clinical activity and acceptable safety in patients with melanoma who were refractory to immune checkpoint inhibitors.&nbsp;

Patients with recurrent, platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer and germline <em>BRCA</em> mutations had significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) with no decrement in health-related quality of life (hr-QoL) during maintenance therapy with olaparib (Lynparza), according to a review of patient-reported outcomes in a randomized trial.

Comprehensive genomic testing is not yet widespread, but a French study presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting suggested that DNA profiling can be of important value in advancing personalized medicine. Patients who received molecularly targeted agents based on genomic profiles had longer 3-year and 5-year overall survival than those who did not.

Mirvetuximab soravtansine (IMGN853), a folate receptor alpha-targeting antibody-drug conjugate, showed promising activity in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer who had received 1 to 3 prior lines of therapy.

The PARP inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) provides clinically significant, long-term treatment benefits in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed serous ovarian cancer, according to the protocol-specified final overall survival (OS) analysis of the phase II Study 19 trial presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Michael Birrer, MD, PhD, Director, University of Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses adverse event results of the phase III SOLO2 trial, which explored maintenance olaparib (Lynparza) tablets in patients with <em>BRCA</em>-mutated platinum-sensitive relapsed serous ovarian cancer.

A new, high-intensity genomic sequencing approach for circulating tumor DNA uncovered at least 1 genetic change in both the tumor DNA and the blood of 89% of patients, demonstrating a high rate of concordance between 2 approaches for detecting molecular aberrations, according to a study presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

The risk of disease progression or death was reduced by 45% with the addition of abemaciclib to fulvestrant compared with that of fulvestrant alone in patients with previously treated HR-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer, according to findings presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Earlier intervention with abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) lowered the risk of death by nearly 40% for men with high-risk advanced or metastatic prostate cancer who were newly diagnosed or had not yet received hormone therapy in findings from 2 clinical trials presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

A second cytoreductive surgery followed by platinum-based chemotherapy extended progression-free survival (PFS) compared with platinum-based chemotherapy alone in patients with relapsed ovarian cancer and a positive Arbeitsgemeinschaft Gyn&auml;kologische Onkologie (AGO) score.

David Hyman, MD, Chief of Early Drug Development, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses efficacy results for larotrectinib (LOXO-101), a selective tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) inhibitor, in adult and pediatric TRK fusion cancers.

A single course of radiation treatment could relieve the symptoms of a spinal cord compression and maintain mobility as effectively as a multifractional course of radiotherapy (RT) in patients with advanced cancer, according to the results of a large phase III trial.

Updated results from the phase III MONALEESA-2 trial presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting confirmed the benefit of frontline ribociclib (Kisqali) in combination with letrozole in patients with&nbsp;postmenopausal hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer. The combination showed a progression-free survival (PFS) benefit of 9.3 months compared with letrozole plus placebo.

Chronic health issues, including&nbsp;high blood pressure, diabetes, erectile dysfunction, anxiety, or depression were noted in nearly 40% of testicular cancer survivors with low testosterone levels compared with survivors who had normal levels of testosterone,&nbsp;according to findings from a study that were released at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD, discusses efficacy and biomarker results of the phase II SARC028 study, which explored pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in advanced soft tissue and bone sarcomas, during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Results from a recent study showed patients with stage III colorectal cancer experienced a 42% lower chance of death and a trend toward reduced cancer recurrence if they maintained a healthy body weight, engaged in regular physical activity, and adopted other healthy lifestyle behaviors.

Efficacy results for the&nbsp;human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine continue to be impressive, with newly reported findings showing it reduced&nbsp;the prevalence of high-risk oral HPV infections by 88% in young adults who had at least 1 dose of the vaccine.

More Stage I cancers were diagnosed after the passage of the Affordable Care Act within 5 screenable disease types (colorectal cancer, female breast cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, and prostate cancer) than were diagnosed before ACA implementation.

Eating tree nuts, like almonds, walnuts, and pecans can improve overall survival and reduce the risk of recurrence in patients with colon cancer, findings of a new prospective study suggest.

Overall survival was improved by 15 months for patients with macroscopically resected biliary tract cancer who were treated with adjuvant capecitabine compared with observation alone.

Christian G. Downs, JD, MHA, discusses&nbsp;his thoughts on how rebuilding the 340B program should be addressed, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission&rsquo;s Part B cost control proposals, and the potential for progress in tackling rising drug costs.

Keeping patients on their oral oncology medications involves a combination of active management, record keeping, and coordination among healthcare workers, pharmacy professionals explained during a panel discussion.