News

The FDA has granted a fast track designation and an orphan drug designation to APR-246, a novel agent targeting p53 for the treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, recently discussed the treatment considerations and decisions he makes when treating patients with non–small cell lung cancer. Levy, the clinical director of medical oncology and associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital, revealed his treatment decisions to the group based on 2 case scenarios of patients with NSCLC that does not have a genetic driver.

Long-term follow-up findings from the BRIGHT study support the use of bendamustine plus rituximab as a first-line treatment option for patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma or mantle cell lymphoma.

Sequential therapy with sorafenib (Nexavar) followed by regorafenib (Stivarga) for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma demonstrated real-life benefit in a study of patients treated in a Japanese hospital.

In addition to confirming the utility of liquid biopsies to reliably detect guideline-recommended biomarkers in patients with stage IV NSCLC, findings from the NILE study also showed liquid biopsies have a quicker turnaround time compared with standard tissue-based assays, said senior study author Vassiliki A. Papadimitrakopoulou, MD.

Adding&nbsp;bevacizumab to erlotinib significantly improved&nbsp;progression-free survival compared with erlotinib&nbsp;alone in patients with <em>EGFR</em>-positive, advanced nonsquamous non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, suggesting the combination may have the potential to become standard of care for this patient population.

Besides standard-of-care chemotherapy in the frontline setting, definitive therapy selection in patients with cholangiocarcinoma in both the adjuvant and second-line settings require data from confirmatory clinical trials for further clarification, says Lorenza Rimassa, MD.

Final data from 2 phase I expansion studies confirmed the efficacy of frontline&nbsp;osimertinib (Tagrisso) in&nbsp;patients with <em>EGFR</em>-positive non&shy;&ndash;small cell lung cancer, investigators reported during the&nbsp;2019 European Lung Cancer Congress.

William G. Wierda, MD, PhD,&nbsp;discussed the emerging role of small molecule combinations and fixed-duration treatments in patients with relapsed/refractory CLL.

In an analysis comparing real-life outcomes, interferon-a demonstrated more profound hematologic responses compared with hydroxyurea in select patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms. Additionally, molecular responses to therapy were limited to those patients who received IFN-a.

A new phase III trial has demonstrated that a novel extended-release formulation of anagrelide (Thromboreductin) is noninferior to immediate-release anagrelide in reducing platelet counts in patients with essential thrombocythemia.

A new task force has been created by the American Society of Clinical Oncology to address the disparities that patients with cancer treated in a rural setting face. The &ldquo;Rural Cancer Care Task Force&rdquo; will work to close the gap of cancer care between academic and rural settings and improve the outcomes of patients and survivors living in a rural setting.

Alexander Drilon, MD,&nbsp;discussed updated findings with larotrectinib in <em>NTRK</em> fusion&ndash;positive tumors and entrectinib in <em>ROS1</em> fusion&ndash;positive NSCLC.<br /> &nbsp;

Erdafitinib (Balversa) has been granted an accelerated approval by the FDA as a treatment for&nbsp;adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic bladder cancer with an <em>FGFR3</em> or <em>FGFR2</em> alteration that has progressed on platinum-containing chemotherapy, making it the first targeted agent to receive approval for&nbsp;metastatic bladder cancer.

The approval for&nbsp;pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has been expanded to include the&nbsp;frontline treatment of patients with stage III non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, who are ineligible for surgery or definitive chemoradiation, or metastatic NSCLC, with a PD-L1 expression level of &ge;1% and do not harbor <em>EGFR</em> or <em>ALK</em> aberrations.

The FDA has granted tebentafusp (IMCgp100) a fast track designation for the treatment of patients with HLA-A*0201-positive previously untreated metastatic uveal melanoma, according to Immunocore Limited, the company developing the novel immunotherapy agent.

Richard M. Stone, MD,&nbsp;discusses the emerging agents for older patients with AML, as well as the importance of patient assessment and the identification of select mutations.

Leo I. Gordon, MD,&nbsp;discusses recent updates in Hodgkin lymphoma and NHL and pointed to research on the horizon.

Combining&nbsp;osimertinib with the MET inhibitor&nbsp;savolitinib demonstrated encouraging antitumor activity and an acceptable safety profile in&nbsp;patients with <em>EGFR</em>-mutant, <em>MET</em>-amplified non&ndash;small cell lung cancer who previously received EGFR TKIs, suggesting the regimen could be successful in overcoming <em>MET</em>-driven resistance.

Srdan Verstovsek, MD, PhD,&nbsp;discusses the use of interferon in MPNs, including&nbsp;essential thrombocythemia, polycythemia vera, and myelofibrosis.

Naval G. Daver, MD, discusses treatment options and the data these options are based off of for the management of acute myeloid leukemia, based on a case scenario of a patient with <em>FLT3 </em>internal tandem duplication &ndash;positive acute myeloid leukemia.

Although biomarker discovery has been a challenge in colorectal cancer, new findings suggest the presence of select polymorphisms may be promising in predicting treatment outcomes in patients with colorectal cancer.

Matthew S. Davids, MD, MMSc, discusses methods for choosing between frontline therapies for patients with newly diagnosed CLL and highlighted anticipated research in the field.

In the absence of biological or molecular predictive markers, tumor volume doubling time is a good indicator for predicting the growth rate of papillary thyroid carcinomas during active surveillance, according to findings from a single-center cohort study recently published in <em>Thyroid</em>.

Analyses from the phase III ARIEL3 trial presented during the 2019 Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual Meeting showed that rucaparib is safe and effective as a maintenance therapy across all subgroups of patients.

Before a community oncology practice considers getting involved in clinical trials research, there are many factorsto consider. Perhaps foremost is the fact that cancer clinical trials provide the evidence base for new advances in oncology.&nbsp;

Based on findings from 2 phase III studies, a&nbsp;supplemental biologics license application has been submitted to the FDA seeking the approval of&nbsp;luspatercept for the treatment of adult patients with anemias.

Artificial intelligence has made inroads in many industries&mdash;banking, finance, security&mdash;but its adoption in healthcare has been lagging and real-world clinical implementation has yet to become a reality. Nonetheless, proponents say it is only a matter of time and pilot programs are starting to yield some practical results.&nbsp;

The review period on the new drug application for quizartinib as a treatment for adult patients with&nbsp;relapsed/refractory <em>FLT3</em>-ITD&ndash;positive acute myeloid leukemia has been extended by the FDA by 3 months.&nbsp;This provides the FDA with additional time to review more data supplied by&nbsp;Daiichi Sankyo, the manufacturer of the FLT3 inhibitor.

In an interview with&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology, </em>David O&rsquo;Malley, MD, discussed the updates with bevacizumab and PARP inhibitors as a treatment and maintenance therapy option for patients with ovarian cancer and recurrent disease. He also discussed considerations for selecting the right agent for the right patient.