News

"Today’s news is very welcome as we continue to evaluate the potential of Enhertu to help patients with this devastating type of lung cancer. Targeted treatments and immunotherapies are demonstrating tremendous advancements, but there remains an unmet medical need for patients with HER2 mutations who are not benefiting from such therapies or for those whose cancer continues to progress."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Peter Schmid, MD, PhD, discussed the findings from the interim analysis for the phase III KEYNOTE-522 study, which added pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer.

Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia face uncertain futures, as clinicians can have a difficult time predicting whether and when a patient will need treatment. New research suggests tumor mutational load could be a helpful prognostic tool.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Steve A. Soper, PhD, discussed microfluidic platforms for use in isolating circulating leukemia cells and plasma cells in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.

"Today’s approval of Qinlock establishes a new standard of care for patients who have received three prior therapies."

Targeted Oncology reviews trending news online for the week of May 15, 2020, including recent updates from studies of COVID-19 and the latest oncology news.

"Rucaparib’s approval could have a profound impact on patients with BRCA2 and BRCA1 mutations, who have no other targeted treatment option available to them based on this mutation."

The combination of the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab is now approved by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic or recurrent non–small cell lung cancer with PD-L1 expression greater than 1%...

Pomalidomide is now FDA approved for treatment of Kaposi sarcoma under multiple indications.

The New Drug Application for avapritinib as treatment of unresectable or metastatic fourth-line gastrointestinal stromal tumor was refused by the FDA, according to a recently issued complete response letter.

A significant improvement in overall survival was observed with darolutamide plus androgen deprivation therapy compared with androgen deprivation therapy alone in men with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treated in the phase III ARAMIS trial.

"...These results leave us increasingly confident that ADXS-503 has the potential to restore or enhance sensitivity to checkpoint inhibitors..."

“Our results raise a number of questions for future research and patient care. It will be important in future studies to explore whether lowering insulin levels or targeting IR signaling will improve breast cancer disparities."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Andrea Price, APN, discussed the importance of integrating the electronic medical record team into the clinical care team for the treatment of patients with cancer receiving CAR T-cell therapy.

“In the final SOLO2 analysis, maintenance olaparib provided a clinically meaningful improvement of 12.9 months [in] median overall survival. These results demonstrate that olaparib maintenance monotherapy not only delays disease progression but also improves overall survival in women with platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation.”

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Yujin Hoshida, MD, PhD, discussed the next steps for improving upon the current understanding of hepatocellular carcinoma subtypes to improve responses and outcomes in patients.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Verstovsek, medical oncologist and professor, Department of Leukemia, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discussed mutational profiling for myelofibrosis and how the information obtained can be valuable for clinical management of the disease.

"Accelerating the investigation of safe and effective therapies that could benefit people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the FDA’s highest priorities. We are committed to maximizing our regulatory flexibility and using every tool at our disposal to speed the development and availability of these medical products and believe these new guidance will help innovators and researchers do just that.”

The review of the Biologics License Application for idecabtagene vicleucel has been put on hold. The FDA issued a Refusal to File letter due to the need for additional data from the developer of the drug.

"Targeting PD-1/PD-L1 may provide a much-needed treatment option for patients with PDL1–positive advanced ATC."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Scott Haake, MD, discussed the current understandings of SETD2 mutations in clear cell renal cell carcinoma and the findings presented at the 2019 International Kidney Cancer Symposium.

“Our study demonstrates that venetoclax is a potential salvage therapy in multiply relapsed patients with MCL. The majority (92%) patients in this study were exposed to BTKi, 66% were BTKi refractory, and these patients exhibited poor outcomes."

"These results have the potential to substantially move the field forward and represent an important step toward making stem cell transplantation more accessible and more successful for patients with lethal blood cancers. Shortening the time to engraftment is clinically meaningful, as it can reduce a patient’s time in the hospital and decrease likelihood of infection."

"This is the second positive phase 3 trial for Sarclisa, further supporting the potential our medicine has to improve outcomes for patients struggling with relapsed multiple myeloma.”

“We’ve had to quickly shift gears and adapt to a new COVID-19 world. Our practices have taken every possible step to continue providing quality cancer care, safely. Because cancer does not stop for even a global pandemic, and neither does the need of cancer patients to get treated.”

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Erica Mayer, MD, discussed advances in the treatment landscape of HR-positive, HER2-negative breast, primarily with endocrine therapy and CDK4/6 inhibition.

"Current guidelines for the management of nausea and vomiting in patients with advanced cancer have not specifically indicated that one drug looks substantially better than a variety of other drugs. However, we believe the present results may be viewed as a best practice for treating nausea and vomiting in patients with advanced cancer-associated nausea and vomiting."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Toni K. Choueiri, MD, discussed the findings from the phase I/II study of the oral HIF-2 α inhibitor MK-6482 in patients with advanced clear cell RCC, which were presented at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Trastuzumab deruxtecan received Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma who have received two or more prior regimens including trastuzumab.

Patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia who received a higher dose of CAR T cells, achieved complete responses, regardless of cell dose, which was highly correlated with long-term survival.