News

Michael Diaz, MD, was recently elected president of the Community Oncology Alliance and began his 1-year term on January 1, 2019. Diaz, a medical oncologist at Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, is a long-time board member and volunteer with COA.

In a merger agreement announced today, Bristol-Myers Squibb will be acquiring Celgene Corporation in a $74 billion deal to be paid with a combination of cash and stocks.

Joseph A. Sparano, MD, explains the current role of liquid biopsies in the breast cancer space and how this role will evolve over time.

At a planned interim analysis of the phase III JAVELIN Ovarian 100 study evaluating frontline avelumab in ovarian cancer, an independent panel determined the study would not meet its primary endpoint of progression-free survival. The co-developers of the PD-L1 inhibitor have announced they will terminate the trial on this basis.

Findings of a recent study suggest surgical choices in women with breast cancer may have long-term impacts on their quality of life. Investigators found that younger patients with breast cancer who underwent lumpectomy had better QOL outcomes than patients who had a mastectomy.

Dasatinib (Sprycel) tablets has been approved by the FDA to be used in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of pediatric patients &ge;1 year of age with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia.<br /> &nbsp;

A telephone-based lifestyle intervention program led to weight loss and higher rates of disease-free survival in early-stage breast cancer survivors, according to findings of a recent study.

A look back at all the&nbsp;FDA news&nbsp;that happened in the month of&nbsp;December 2018, including several new approvals, an accelerated approval, and a priority review.

In an updated analysis of the phase III TAILORx trial in patients with breast cancer, investigators found that chemotherapy resulted in significantly&nbsp;more acute symptoms compared with&nbsp;endocrine therapy, however, the adverse events associated with endocrine therapy increased over time.

David S. Hong, MD,&nbsp;discusses the use of larotrectinib in patients with thyroid cancer, as well as what is on the horizon with this agent and other TRK inhibitors.

Minimizing dose interruptions of lenvantinib improved progression-free survival in patients with radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (RR-DTC), according to an exploratory post-hoc analysis from a phase III randomized trial.

Promising efficacy was seen with anlotinib therapy in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer in the form of durable antitumor responses, according to the results of a Chinese phase II study recently published in the journal <em>Thyroid</em>.

A randomized phase II trial found that both fluorouracil plus cisplatin and twice-daily radiation and gemcitabine plus once-daily radiation achieved freedom from distant metastasis at 3 years in at least 75% of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Thomas Powles, MBBS, MRCP, MD,&nbsp;discusses recent changes to the frontline landscape of bladder cancer and where research should focus moving forward.

During a <em>Targeted Oncology</em> live case-based peer perspectives presentation, Jonathon B. Cohen, MD, MS, recently discussed the treatment considerations and decisions he makes when treating patients with classical Hodgkin Lymphoma

A new pooled analysis concluded that the leading cause of death in patients with follicular lymphoma continues to be lymphoma, despite the widespread improvements in overall survival demonstrated with rituximab.

Nikhil I. Khushalani, MD,&nbsp;discusses the role of adjuvant therapy in patients with melanoma across various subtypes, and also highlights melanoma trials ongoing at Moffitt Cancer Center.<br /> &nbsp;

Ravulizumab-cwvz has been approved by the FDA as an injection treatment for&nbsp;adults with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, a rare blood disorder that leads to hemolysis.

Jeffrey Weber, MD, PhD, discussed the data in support of discontinuing treatment in melanoma and how to properly follow these patients after they go off treatment.<br /> &nbsp;

Robert Andtbacka, MD,&nbsp;discusses the current use of T-VEC in melanoma and future directions with this type of treatment.

Jonathon B. Cohen, MD, MS, recently discussed treatment considerations and decisions in the case of a patient with follicular lymphoma.&nbsp;Cohen discussed the case scenario during a&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>&nbsp;live case-based peer perspectives dinner.

The review period for&nbsp;a supplemental biologics license application for first-line treatment with pembrolizumab monotherapy for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous or squamous non&ndash;small cell lung cancer with PD-L1 expression (tumor proportion score) of &ge;1% and no&nbsp;<em>EGFR&nbsp;</em>or&nbsp;<em>ALK&nbsp;</em>genomic tumor aberrations has been extended by the FDA, according to a press release by Merck,&nbsp;the manufacturer of pembrolizumab.

Several oncology experts discuss the FDA approvals they found most significant in 2018.

During a <em>Targeted Oncology </em>case-based peer perspectives program, Keith Stewart, MB, ChB, discussed his clinical considerations for the management of multiple myeloma, especially in light of new data from the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting that could be reaching the clinic soon.

Stephen Oh, MD, PhD,&nbsp;discusses the use of ruxolitinib in patients with myelofibrosis and PV, and emerging agents and next steps in the field of MPNs.

Kevin Staveley-O&rsquo;Carroll, MD, PhD,&nbsp;discusses how the field of HCC has advanced over the last few years and how a mouse model at the University of&nbsp;Missouri is being used to further investigate immunotherapy treatment options.<br /> &nbsp;

A longer-acting version of calaspargase pegol-mknl has been approved by the FDA&nbsp;as a component of a multiagent chemotherapy regimen for pediatric and young adult patients aged 1 month to 21 years with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Tagraxofusp-erzs infusion has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients, aged &ge;2 years, with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm.

Treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab demonstrated dose-limiting toxicities when combined with the tyrosine kinase inhibitors sunitinib or pazopanib to treat advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to the results of a phase I parallel cohort dose escalation trial. However, both combinations showed encouraging preliminary antitumor activity.

Paul R. Eber, MD,&nbsp; discusses how the findings from the phase III CARMENA trial impact mRCC treatment and what challenges remain.<br /> &nbsp;