News

Over the last decade, immunotherapeutic options have led to impressive clinical responses in patients with various cancer types and this has increased expectations for successful treatment of the disease. Despite immunotherapy results leading to clinical trials in melanoma, renal cell carcinoma and non–small cell lung cancer, the percentage of patients who respond to immunotherapy remains low; this highlights the need to identify the patient population that will best respond to these approaches.

The FDA has approved acalabrutinib for the treatment of adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma as either an initial or subsequent therapy.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Bianca D. Santomasso, MD, PhD, discussed the challenges with treating patients who develop neurotoxicity following treatment with new CAR T cells following her talk at the 2019 SOHO Annual Meeting. She also highlighted how the CAR T cells are changing the treatment landscape for patients with lymphomas.

Five-year outcomes data from the S1106 phase II trial in patients with newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphoma found that the RB regimen was equally effective but less toxic than the RH regimen.&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Davis S. Snyder, MD, discussed the treatment approaches for patients with MF who are candidates for SCT, as well as prognostic scoring systems that can help determine a patient&rsquo;s likelihood of response to transplant.

The combination of nivolumab with ipilimumab showed no statistically significant benefit in patients with stage IIIB/C/D or stage IV melanoma compared with nivolumab alone in the phase III CheckMate 915 study, missing the co-primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival&nbsp; in patients with &lt;1% PD-L1 expression in their tumor cells, according to a press release from Bristol-Myers Squibb.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology at the 2019 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, Richard R.&nbsp; Furman, MD, reviewed his presentation on prognostic markers and their importance in the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The phase III B-MIND study of the investigational humanized Fc-engineered monoclonal antibody, tafasitamab plus bendamustine versus rituximab plus bendamustine for treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, has passed the pre-planned, event-driven interim analysis for futility, resulting in a recommendation to increase the number of study participants from 330 to 450, according to a press release from MorphoSys.

Joyce A. O&rsquo;Shaughnessy, MD, led a group of physicians at a recent Targeted Oncology live case-based peer perspective event in discussion on emerging data that could affect treatment options for patients with triple-negative breast cancer in the future.

The FDA has accepted a Biologics License Application (BLA) for SB8, a biosimilar candidate to reference bevacizumab that was submitted by Samsung Bioepis in September 2019, according to a press release from the company.

Male patients with advanced prostate cancer had a 97% response rate to relugolix, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor antagonist, in the phase III HERO study, meeting the primary end point of the study. The trial also met all 6 of its key secondary end points, according to a press release from Myovant Sciences.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Mark Yarchoan, MD, discussed the treatment options available for patients with liver-only HCC who are not eligible for surgery or transplant. He also highlighted the different treatment options that are under investigation now for patients with HCC in the first- and second-line settings.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Kathleen Moore, MD,&nbsp;discussed the data surrounding mirvetuximab soravtansine in this patient population and the plans to reevaluate the ADC following the results from the FORWARD I/GOG 3011 clinical trial. She also highlighted other areas of investigation for women with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Patients with untreated advanced EGFR-mutant non&ndash;small cell lung cancer showed an improvement in progression-free survival with the combination of gefitinib, a TKI that targets EGFR, with carboplatin plus pemetrexed compared with gefitinib alone, according to the results of the NEJ009 study.

This year&rsquo;s Hot Topic Symposium during Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer&rsquo;s 34th Annual Meeting, co-chaired by Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, and Jennifer Mcquade, MD, MS, MA, focused on modifiable factors that can affect tumor response to treatment.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to zanubrutinib for the treatment of adult patients with mantle cell lymphoma who have received at least 1 prior therapy.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Jeffrey S.Weber, MD, PhD, discussed the 3-year efficacy and biomarker results from the phase III CheckMate 238 trial, which he presented at the 2019 European Society of Medical Oncology Congress.

A New Drug Application has been accepted and granted priority review by the FDA to the investigational agent selumetinib for the treatment of patients &ge;3 years old with neurofibromatosis type 1 and symptomatic, inoperable plexiform neurofibromas, according to a press release from AstraZeneca and Merck.

Although immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy has represented a paradigm shift in the treatment of multiple types of cancer, many patients&rsquo; cancers do not respond at all to these therapies or develop resistance after an initial period of response, according to Julie R. Brahmer, MD.&nbsp;

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Scott T. Tagawa, MD, discussed the findings from the TROPHY-U-O1 trial presented at the 2019 ESMO Congress and shared his thoughts on the next steps for sacituzumab govitecan.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, John Simmons, PhD, discussed the potential role of liquid biopsy assays in predicting response to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for patients with cancer. He also highlighted other liquid biopsy assays that are in development for detecting MSI.

The advent of immunotherapy has delivered unprecedented and durable anti-tumor responses as well as long-lasting survival benefits in some patients. Yet many clinicians may not be familiar with managing the unique toxicities that accompany these emerging cancer treatments.

A supplemental New Drug Application for the combination of ibrutinib and rituximab has been submitted to the FDA for the first-line treatment of patients aged 70 years or younger with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma, according to a press release from ibrutinib developer, AbbVie.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Eytan M. Stein, MD,&nbsp;reviews the current treatment landscape of acute myeloid leukemia, underscores the importance of molecular monitoring, and highlights where the field is headed.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology during the 2019 Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference, James L. Mohler, MD, explained the reasons for changes to the NCCN guidelines on genetic testing and counseling in prostate cancer. He also discussed what needs to be addressed in the future to further increase knowledge of genetic testing and improve its use.

A supplemental Biologics License Application for the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab for the treatment of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma previously treated with sorafenib has been accepted by the FDA and given Priority Review status. The supplemental Biologics License Applicationwas given a Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date of March 10, 2020, according to a press release from Bristol-Myers Squibb.<br /> &nbsp;

Apalutamide plus androgen deprivation therapy maintained health-related quality of life in patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer in addition to showing positive overall survival and radiographic progression-free survival outcomes in the phase III TITAN trial, said Neeraj Agarwal, MD.

Although the use of PD-1 and CTLA-4 pathway blockade in non&ndash;small cell lung cancer has had mixed results in the past, the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab has demonstrated positive benefit in overall survival and adverse event profile compared with chemotherapy. Research suggests that anti&ndash;CTLA-4 helps induce T-cell responses and anti&ndash;PD-1 aids to restore anti-tumor T cell function.

The combination of bemcentinib, a first in class selective AXL inhibitor, and pembrolizumab is well-tolerated in patients with composite AXL-positive non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, according to updated data presented at Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer&rsquo;s 34th Annual Meeting.

The use of CMP-001, an intratumoral toll-like receptor 9 agonist, is capable of triggering durable responses when used in combination with pembrolizumab for patients with PD-1 resistant metastatic melanoma according to results from a phase Ib study presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer&rsquo;s 34th Annual Meeting.