News

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Mark J. Levis, MD, PhD, discussed the findings from the follow-up analyses of the ADMIRAL trial that were presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. He explained what these findings mean for the patient and what questions future research will aim to answer.

Treatment with 3D conformal radiotherapy prior to hepatectomy significantly improved post-operative outcomes compared with surgery alone in patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma and portal vein tumor thrombus, according to the results of randomized study published in the&nbsp;<em>Journal of Clinical Oncology</em>.<br /> &nbsp;

A combined regimen of pazopanib and trametinib was tolerable at full single-agent doses in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer according to the results of a multicenter phase I trial expansion cohort. The expansion cohort showed that the combination has clinical activity in DTC but did not achieve the pre-specified response rate, according to a new report in&nbsp;<em>Clinical Cancer Research</em>.

Testosterone suppression with docetaxel, the standard of care for patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC), was combined with chemotherapy or enzalutamide (Xtandi) to assess the potential improvement in overall survival compared with non-steroidal anti-androgens like bicalutamide, nilutamide, and flutamide in the&nbsp;phase III ENZAMET trial.&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;

Jane Lowe Meisel, MD, reviewed systemic therapy options for treating patients with breast cancer with a group of physicians during a&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology&nbsp;</em>live case-based peer perspectives discussion. Meisel explained the treatment considerations she makes for treating patients with breast cancer during the dinner event in terms of 2 case studies.

A dose-escalation strategy for giving regorafenib improved the frequency of adverse events while still demonstrating similar efficacy to a standard-dose strategy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

The combination of erlotinib and ramucirumab showed better progression-free survival in patients with newly diagnosed&nbsp;<em>EGFR</em>-mutant metastatic non&ndash;small cell lung cancer compared with erlotinib plus placebo, based on findings from the RELAY trial presented during the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.&nbsp;

Biologics License Application for enfortumab vedotin has been submitted to the FDA for a potential accelerated approval for use as a treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who have previously received a PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor and platinum-containing chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant/adjuvant, locally advanced, or metastatic setting.

A single-arm, multicenter phase II trial held in China analyzed the Bruton&rsquo;s tyrosine kinase inhibitor zanubrutinib for treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma. Previously, the investigational BTK inhibitor gained a&nbsp;breakthrough&nbsp;designation&nbsp;from the&nbsp;FDA&nbsp;based on early results from the phase II trial that showed zanubrutinib to be highly active.<br /> &nbsp;

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, James Chih-Hsin Yang, MD discussed the updated findings from the FLAURA trial, which confirmed durable responses with frontline osimertinib in patients with&nbsp;EGFR-positive NSCLC. He highlighted what areas research will be focusing on in the coming years for patients harboring&nbsp;EGFR&nbsp;mutations.

The latest results from the CheckMate 032 trial have found that the combination of nivolumab plushigher-dose ipilimumab improved the objective response rate in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma compared with nivolumab monotherapy or a combined regimen with a lower dose ofipilimumab.

In the phase III PRIMA trial, niraparib demonstrated a benefit in progression-free survival compared with placebo when used as maintenance therapy following platinum-based chemotherapy for patients with ovarian cancer treated in the first line.&nbsp;The PFS benefit was found to be statistically significant, regardless of patients&rsquo; biomarker status, meeting the primary endpoint of the trial.&nbsp;

In an interview with&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>, Susan Branford, PhD discussed the current role of NGS testing in hematologic malignancies. Following her presentation at the 2019 EHA Congress, she addressed how NGS can be incorporated more into the community practice and what challenges must be overcome in order to make this happen.

A Biologics License Application was submitted to the FDA seeking approval for a new subcutaneous formulation of daratumumab in select patients with multiple myeloma.

The investigational agent SM-88 demonstrated promising survival in the phase II TYME-88-Panc study in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.^1,2&nbsp;The&nbsp;oral modified dysfunctional tyrosine induced a median overall survival of 6.4 months in patients.<br /> &nbsp;

The FDA has granted an orphan drug designation to durvalumab (Imfinzi) for the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC).<br /> &nbsp;

Catherine Frenette, MD, explained in a&nbsp;Targeted Oncology&nbsp;live case-based peer perspectives presentation how she treats patients with hepatocellular carcinoma across the course of disease.

The Association of Community Cancer Centers has launched the Barriers to Quality Care in Ovarian Cancer project, a collaboration with AstraZeneca, Merck, and partners including the Association for Molecular Pathology, the National Society of Genetic Counselors, and the Society of Gynecologic Oncology. The project aims to understand the key issues associated with ovarian cancer care and provide guidance to help cancer centers implement better care for patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer.&nbsp;

The FDA has accepted and is reviewing a Biologics License Application (BLA) for isatuximab as a potential treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. A target action date of April 30, 2020 has been set by the agency.¹<br /> &nbsp;

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, David Spigel, MD, discussed the updated findings from the PACIFIC trial and how these data will impact the treatment landscape for patients with stage III NSCLC, as well as those with earlier-stage disease. He also highlighted controversies that clinicians face with incorporating immunotherapy into their practice for patients.

The 4-drug regimen of daratumumab in combination with bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone induced a high percentage of stringent complete responses compared with VRd alone in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are eligible for high-dose chemotherapy and an autologous stem cell transplantation, according to topline results of the GRIFFIN trial. This met the primary endpoint of the phase II trial.

In an interview with&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>, Shlomo Koyfman, MD, the director of head and neck and skin cancer radiation at Cleveland Clinic, provides details about the current treatments for cSCC and how the new KEYNOTE-630 trial could improve practice for oncologists who treat cSCC.

The FDA has granted a fast track designation for CLR 131 as a potential treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The designation was based on data from the DLBCL cohort of the ongoing phase II CLOVER-1 trial which is investigating CLR 131 in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell lymphomas.

The FDA has accepted 6 supplemental Biologics License Applications (sBLAs) for review for a potential update to the dosing schedule for pembrolizumab across several indications.

Updated results from an interim analysis of the phase III BEACON CRC trial demonstrated a significant improvement in overall survival for the triplet regimen of encorafenib, binimetinib, and cetuximab compared with cetuximab and irinotecan-containing regimens in patients with previously treated&nbsp;<em>BRAF&nbsp;</em>V600E&ndash;mutant metastatic colorectal cancer.

Treatment with erlotinib significantly extended progression-free survival in patients with stage IIIA-N2&nbsp;<em>EGFR-</em>mutant non&ndash;small cell lung cancer compared with a combined chemotherapy regimen of gemcitabine plus cisplatin, according to clinical trial results published recently in the&nbsp;<em>Journal of Clinical Oncology</em>.

Aiwu Ruth He, MD, PhD, discusses treatment options in a&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology </em>live case-based peer perspectives discussion&nbsp;based on 2 case studies of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.&nbsp;

At 3 years of follow-up, the combination of acalabrutinib and obinutuzumab continued to show benefit in patients with both newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia and relapsed or refractory disease.

A new study shows comparability between liquid biopsy and tissue biopsy in both diagnostics and monitoring of non&ndash;small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, based on the results, liquid biopsies may be preferable to help oncologists make swifter decisions that help manage the disease.<br /> &nbsp;

Selinexor has received an accelerated approval from the FDA for use in combination with&nbsp;dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma who have received &ge;4 prior therapies and whose disease is refractory to &ge;2 proteasome inhibitors, &ge;2 immunomodulatory agents, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody.