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Nivolumab monotherapy administered after surgery demonstrated a significant improvement in disease-free survival compared with placebo in patients with high-risk, muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma, for all patients randomized in the phase 3 CheckMate-274 trial and those with PD-L1 ≥1% in their tumors, meeting the primary end point of the study.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Tanja Gruber, MD, PhD, discussed the advances she has observed in recent years for the treatment of pediatric patients, including the evolving role of CAR T-cell therapy.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, David Roberge, MD, discussed the role of radiation treatment in patients with brain metastases and the clinical trial evaluating treatment approaches for patients with more than 5 brain metastases.

Some of the most exciting new data at this year’s congress included advancements in lung cancer, breast cancer, genitourinary cancers, and gastrointestinal cancers. Several experts spoke with Targeted Oncology to share their thoughts on some of the most impactful abstracts from the 2020 ESMO Congress.

The Association of Community Cancer Centers National Oncology Conference each year helps community oncologists approach both unique and typical challenges with innovative strategies. This year, one of the challenges addressed that has been increasingly raised throughout the year was the topic of disparities in the medical field.

Targeted Oncology reviews trending news online for the week of September 25, 2020, including updates in oncology and new information regarding COVID-19.

The impetus for taking a closer look at cancer drug spending starts with their costs. But the other side of the equation, the revenue coming in, can also be a factor that requires adjusting.

During the 2020 Association of Community Cancer Centers Virtual National Oncology Conference, a cardio-oncologist and nurse navigator explained the importance of identifying cardiotoxicities in patients with cancer and how to implement a program to help these patients have improved care coordination and experience through employing a nurse navigator

Raajit K. Rampal, MD, PhD, discussed the role of genomics in the treatment landscape of myelofibrosis and the remaining challenges that need to be addressed in order to use this information more effectively to treat patients and improve outcomes.

A Biologics License Application was submitted to the FDA for loncastuximab tesirine, an antibody-drug conjugate, as treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

The FDA granted a Priority Review designation to idecabtagene vicleucel as treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least 3 prior therapies, including an immunomodulatory drug, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 antibody.

“Dual targeting of HER2-positive tumors with [trastuzumab] and [lapatinib] is beneficial because of differing mechanisms of action and because of the well-characterized synergistic interaction between them in HER2 [breast cancer] models."

The use of molecularly-directed frontline therapy enriched responses in patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma, demonstrating clinical evidence to support further use, according to findings from the noncomparative, phase 2, biomarker-driven BIONIKK trial.

Enfortumab vedotin monotherapy demonstrated significant long-term results in updated findings from the EV-201 trial presented at the 2020 ESMO Virtual Congress.

Patients with medullary thyroid cancer harboring abberations in RET who were treated with pralsetinib across therapy lines exhibited potent and durable clinical activity, according to results presented at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 from the phase 1/2 ARROW clinical trial.

In preclinical models of triple-mutated EGFR-positive non–small cell lung cancer, the investigational agent, BLU-945 induced robust antitumor responses, according to results presented at the 2020 European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress.

In a phase 2 clinical trial, promising clinical activity was observed with cemiplimab in patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma who progress on or are intolerant to hedgehog inhibitors, regardless of PD-L1 expression, according to findings presented at the 2020 ESMO Virtual Congress.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Naveen Pemmaraju, MD, discussed recent advances for the treatment of patients with MPNs and shared his thoughts on recent hematologic meetings and the growing role of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patients with newly diagnosed, advanced BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer who experienced complete or partial response following platinum-based chemotherapy continued to exhibit benefit in progression-free survival when receiving olaparib at long-term follow up versus placebo as first-line maintenance.

The global phase 3 EV-301 study of enfortumab vedotin-ejfv in adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who received prior platinum-based chemotherapy and a PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor met its primary end point of overall survival compared with chemotherapy.

Targeted Oncology reviews trending news online for the week of September 18, 2020, including updates in oncology, and new information regarding COVID-19.

The incidence of disease progression in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis was not significantly lower when patients were treated with eflornithine plus sulindac compared with either drug alone.

Enzastaurin is on track to serve an unmet medical need in the treatment landscape of glioblastoma. Neuro-oncologists are waiting on the launch of an important clinical trial to further demonstrate the efficacy of the drug.

The 2020 SOHO Annual Meeting held true to the theme of “Molecular Classification and Precision Therapy” with emphasis on novel therapeutic approaches in hematologic malignancies.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, reviewed the 4 currently approved treatment options for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer and discussed how physicians could use the data to make treatment decisions in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant setting.

Real-world trial results demonstrated nivolumab had comparable overall survival results with those observed in the phase 3 CheckMate 025 study as treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who received 1 or more prior lines of therapy.

“In sum, these data show that T300+D regimen provides the best benefit-to-risk profile across arms,” Robin Kate Kelley, MD, said of Study 22 in hepatocellular carcinoma.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Thomas M. Habermann, MD, reflects on the advancements he has observed in the treatment paradigm for lymphomas.

The FDA has granted a Breakthrough Therapy designation to magrolimab as treatment of patients with newly diagnosed myelodysplastic syndrome.

During a presentation at the 2020 Society of Hematologic Oncology Virtual Annual Meeting, Andrzej Jakubowiak, MD, PhD, reviewed clinical trials of CAR T-cell therapy in multiple myeloma and the emergence of CAR T cells against SMALF7, GPRC5D, and CD229.