News

The combination of&nbsp;dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) has gained approval from the European Commission for the adjuvant treatment of patients with&nbsp;<em>BRAF&nbsp;</em>V600&ndash;positive stage III melanoma following complete resection.

Sai-Hong Ignatius Ou, MD, PhD,&nbsp;discusses the ALK inhibitors that are currently available for the treatment of <em>ALK</em>-positive NSCLC, as well as ongoing research in this space. He also sheds light on optimal sequencing strategies with these available agents.<br /> &nbsp;

Blinatumomab (Blincyto) has been approved by the European&nbsp;Commission for the treatment of&nbsp;pediatric patients with Philadelphia chromosome&ndash;negative, CD19-positive B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia that is refractory or in relapse after receiving at least 2 prior therapies or in relapse after receiving prior allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Noopur Raje, MD, discusses&nbsp;the latest treatment advances in multiple myeloma, including the promising results&nbsp;seen with&nbsp;the anti-BCMA CAR T-cell therapy bb2121 in patients with relapsed/refractory disease.

New guidelines issued by the&nbsp;US Preventive Services Task Force recommend that women aged 30 to 65 years who are at average risk for cervical cancer can choose to receive a Pap smear alone every 3 years&nbsp;or screening with the high-risk human papillomavirus test alone or cotesting every 5 years.

Axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta) has been approved by the European Commission as a treatment for&nbsp;adult patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma, following at least 2 lines of systemic therapy.&nbsp;

FDA approval is being sought for a&nbsp;once-weekly dosing option of carfilzomib for use in combination with dexamethasone as a treatment for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.&nbsp;Amgen, the manufacturer of the proteasome inhibitor, announced the submission of a&nbsp;supplemental new drug application seeking this approval today.

In an interview with&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology&nbsp;</em>during the2nd Annual Live Medical Crossfire: Hematologic Malignancies meeting, Alexander M. Lesokhin, MD, assistant attending physician in the Department of Medicine and Myeloma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discussed the current treatment landscape of multiple myeloma and where he predicts the field will be in the next decade. He also shared his thoughts on the current research in CAR T-cell therapy.

Tisagenlecleucel has gained approval from the European Commission as a treatment for adult&nbsp;patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that is relapsed or refractory after 2 or more lines of systemic therapy, or patients up to 25 years of age with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia that is refractory, in relapse posttransplant, or in second or later relapse.

Based on findings from the phase III iNNOVATE trial, ibrutinib has been approved by the FDA in combination with rituximab for patients with Waldenstr&ouml;m macroglobulinemia across all lines of therapy.<br /> &nbsp;

The primary endpoint for the&nbsp;phase III SOLAR-1 trial has been met, with&nbsp;improved progression-free survival seen with the&nbsp;combination of&nbsp;alpelisib and&nbsp;fulvestrant compared with&nbsp;fulvestrant alone in postmenopausal women and men with HR-positive, HER2-negative,&nbsp;<em>PIK3CA</em>-mutant advanced or metastatic breast cancer that had progressed after aromatase inhibitor treatment with or without a CDK4/6 inhibitor.

Checkpoint inhibitors have provided practice-changing therapeutic targets for clinicians by regulating host immune response. The treatment landscape in colorectal cancer has significantly changed as a result, but more research is necessary for certain subtypes, particularly the microsatellite stable patient population.

H. Jack West, MD, recently discussed the treatment options and considerations he makes when treating patients with stage III and IV non&ndash;small cell lung cancer. West, medical director of the Thoracic Oncology Program, Swedish Cancer Institute, explained the nuances that go into his treatment decisions when discussing 2 case scenarios during a&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology&nbsp;</em>live case-based peer perspective presentation.

The presence of biomarkers including SDF-1, VEGF-A, and sVEGFR1 and 2 at baseline were associated with poorer progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with sunitinib prior to nephrectomy.

Lenvatinib (Lenvima) has been approved by the European Commission as a first-line treatment for&nbsp;adults with advanced or unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma,&nbsp;based on data from the phase III REFLECT trial.

A supplemental biologics license application for elotuzumab<em>&nbsp;</em>has been granted a priority review by the FDA&nbsp;for use in combination with pomalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone as a treatment for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma following 2 or more prior therapies, including lenalidomide and a proteasome inhibitor.<br /> &nbsp;

Mutations of <em>TP53</em> and <em>WHSC1 </em>predicted poorer overall survival in patients with mantle cell lymphoma, according to results from next-generation whole-exome sequencing of 16 Chinese patients.&nbsp;The presence of these mutations may provide physicians with an important biomarker in this patient population.

In an interview with <em>Targeted Oncology</em><em>,</em> Levy discusses the agents currently being investigated for patients with <em>ROS1</em>- or <em>TRK</em>-rearranged lung cancer. He also highlights the challenges physicians will need to overcome to best treat their patients based on these new findings.

Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, lead author of the&nbsp;phase II QUADRA trial, discusses the activity and tolerability of niraparib in patients with heavily pretreated&nbsp;homologous recombinant deficiency-positive ovarian cancer, and other recent data in ovarian cancer.

Pembrolizumab has been granted a full approval by the FDA in combination with standard chemotherapy for patients with&nbsp;metastatic nonsquamous non&ndash;small cell lung cancer. The approval is based on results from the phase III KEYNOTE-189 trial.

An accelerated approval has been granted by the FDA to single-agent nivolumab for the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer with disease progression following a platinum-based chemotherapy and 1 other prior line of therapy.

Lenvatinib (Lenvima) has been granted approval by the FDA&nbsp;as a first-line treatment for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma,&nbsp;based on data from the phase III REFLECT trial.

Joseph Stilwill, MD,&nbsp;addresses recent advancements in melanoma and the focus of research moving forward.

Timothy M. Kuzel, MD, recently spoke on the treatment decisions and consideration he makes when treating patients with renal cell carcinoma. Kuzel, chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, deputy director of Rush Cancer Center, Rush University Medical Center, explained his treatment decisions based on 2 case scenarios during a <em>Targeted Oncology </em>live case-based peer perspectives presentation.

Kartik Konduri, MD, recently spoke on the treatment considerations and decisions he makes when treating patients with non&ndash;small cell lung cancer. Konduri, medical director of the Chest Cancer Research and Treatment Center, Baylor University Medical Center, explained his treatment decisions based on 2 case scenarios during a <em>Targeted Oncology</em> live case-based peer perspectives presentation.

Sanjiv S. Agarwala, MD, discusses the promising activity seen with the combination of pembrolizumab and entinostat in patients with advanced melanoma, according to initial results from the ongoing ENCORE 601 trial.

Treatment with pembrolizumab and bevacizumab proved to be a promising combination regimen for&nbsp;patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to phase Ib/II data presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Susan Halabi, PhD, discusses an analysis that found&nbsp;that the risk of death from&nbsp;metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer was nearly 20% lower in African-American men than in Caucasian men.

Brad Kahl, MD,&nbsp;discusses the exciting new advancements on the horizon for the treatment of patients with MCL.

A biologics license application for SL-401 (tagraxofusp, Elzonris) has been granted a priority review by the FDA as a treatment for patients with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm,&nbsp; Stemline Therapeutics,&nbsp;the developer of the novel stemness inhibitor, has announced.