News

Eltrombopag (Promacta) was approved by the FDA for the treatment of pediatric patients with chronic ITP, following a lack of response to additional therapies or splenectomy.

Cabozantinib (Cometriq) was given a breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA for the treatment of patients who have advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), following one prior therapy.

The therapeutic palette for Hodgkin Lymphoma is growing, along with improvements in survival and cure rates.

Sonidegib (Odomzo) was approved by the EC for the treatment of patients who have locally advanced basal cell carcinoma (laBCC) and are not amenable to curative surgery or radiation therapy.

A recent study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology has helped to confirm the correlation between transplantation and increased risk of melanoma.1-3

It is well known that having multiple moles (ie, >50) is a risk factor for developing melanoma. A new study shows, however, that melanoma can also develop in people with fewer than 50 moles, and when it does, it typically has a more aggressive course.

Former US President Jimmy Carter announced that melanoma was found on four different spots of his brain, as well as on his liver.

Genetic testing may improve treatment for multiple myeloma by helping oncologists identify patients at risk for developing more aggressive disease.

Early detection of metastasis in patients with breast cancer, which is critical for designing effective targeted therapies, has unfortunate limitations with prevalent screening methods. A study published in Nature Communications has shown promise for extending the detection limit of the current clinical imaging technology

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has received priority review from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as frontline treatment for patients with advanced melanoma.

A publication in Scientific Reports has identified a novel biomarker, diaphanous-related formin-3 (DIAPH3), which may help predict response to taxane-based chemotherapies in patients with metastatic breast or prostate cancer.

Evidence is mounting for multigene panel testing in women with suspected familial breast and/or ovarian cancer.

The antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) was recently approved by the FDA as a consolidation therapy following autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in patients who have Hodgkin lymphoma and are at risk of relapse or progression.

The development of novel targeted drugs, such as brentuximab vedotin (Adcentris), against discrete cell surface proteins, such as CD30, has awakened a new way of thinking about targeted cancer biology

A Mayo Clinic Laboratory, which discovered that upregulation of ras homolog gene family member B (RhoB), in combination with paclitaxel results in enhanced antitumor activity, has uncovered the molecular mechanisms underlying combination therapy for anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC).

AstraZeneca’s MedImmune has entered into a licensing agreement and collaboration with Inovio Pharmaceuticals, whereby MedImmune was given exclusive rights to Inovio’s INO-3112 immunotherapy.

The review period for frontline nivolumab (Opdivo), in patients who have advanced melanoma, recently received an extension of three months by the FDA, in order to allow ample time for review of the additional data submitted by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS)

Venetoclax (ABT-199) monotherapy showed promising phase II results, which will be submitted to regulatory agencies for patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) harboring the 17p deletion.

Catherine Alix-Panabières, PhD, and her colleagues, demonstrate the expression of PD-L1 on CTCs in patients with HR+, HER2- metastatic breast cancer.

Rosemary Cress, MPH, PhD, and colleagues sought to identify long-term survival of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, as well as the epidemiological characteristics associated with such survival.

Combination therapy with birinapant and carboplatin may be more effective than either therapy alone for treatment of high-grade serous ovarian cancers (HGSCs) with high levels of cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein (cIAP) in their CA125-negative cells.

On November 7, 2015, some of the leading experts in oncology, together with other oncology healthcare professionals involved in the treatment and management of patients with lung cancer, will gather in Manhattan for the 10th Annual New York Lung Cancer Symposium®.

Almost 10 years following a study that proved intraperitoneal (IP), or abdominal, chemotherapy, along with intravenous (IV) therapy, may add 16 months or more to the lives of women with ovarian cancer, less than half of these patients at US hospitals receive this type of treatment

A fluorescent molecular contrast agent accurately identified 92% of lung adenocarcinomas during pulmonary surgery.

Updated findings from the KEYNOTE-012 trial have demonstrated promising antitumor activity with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.

While targeting HER2 mutations is mainly associated with breast cancer, there could be therapeutic potential with anti-HER2 agents in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Precision medicine with TKIs and immunotherapies is revolutionizing the treatment of patients with NSCLC. Paul A. Bunn, Jr, MD, head of the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado, discussed the current translational advances with these agents in a discussion held at this year’s International Lung Cancer Congress.

Clinical trial designs are experiencing a huge transformation geared toward the discovery and confirmation of new predictive biomarkers for patients who have non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as well as other types of solid tumors.

There has been a preponderance in the healthcare industry to overtreat early-stage, slow-progressing prostate cancer, often subjecting patients to unwarranted, life-altering treatments.

A new drug application (NDA) was recently submitted for rociletinib (CO-1686) as a treatment for patients who have EGFR T790M-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following previous administration of an EGFR TKI.