News

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Tania Jain,&nbsp;<a>MBBS,</a>&nbsp;discussed the role of transplant as treatment of patients with myelofibrosis and the challenges that remain in this space. She also spoke to the treatment options for patients with graft-versus-host-disease.

The mortality rate for cutaneous melanoma was significantly reduced between 2013 to 2016 as a result of new targeted therapies for metastatic disease, according to a recent report in the American Journal of Public Health.&nbsp;It is the largest death decline ever recorded for skin cancer.

Despite demonstrating improvement in overall survival as treatment of patients with advanced inoperable metastatic colorectal cancer, cetuximab plus chemotherapy led to significantly worse survival for patients with operable colorectal liver metastases in the perioperative setting, according to findings from randomized phase III clinical trial.

The FDA has approved a new 420-mg multi-dose vial of Ontruzant a biosimilar of trastuzumab, according to a press release from Samsung Bioepis.

In an open letter to the President of the United States, the Community Oncology Alliance brings attention to the critical needs of patients with cancer. Community Oncology Alliance requests all private health insurance companies immediately waive all &ldquo;prior authorization&rdquo; requirements for cancer treatments, which pose threat to cancer treatment, particularly in patients who are elderly and among the most vulnerable in the United States to contract COVID-19.

A significant percentage of younger men with high-risk prostate cancer who display minimal comorbidities continue to receive&nbsp;nondefinitive therapy (NDT), despite research that has demonstrated local therapy is more beneficial in this patient population, according to findings from a study published in&nbsp;<em>JAMA Oncology</em>&nbsp;show. A number of reasons for this have been identified, including&nbsp;&nbsp;insurance status and race/ethnicity.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Kashyap Patel, MD, discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of new precautions in his practice as the number of COVID-19 infected persons rises in the state.<br /> &nbsp;

Oncologists have unanswered questions about how to deal with resistance mechanisms for multikinase inhibitors and selective RET inhibitors, and how efficacy is impacted when they combine 2 or more such drugs into a treatment regimen for RET-positive lung cancer. In a paper, researchers led by Vivek Subbiah, et al review the existing data.

Venetoclax in combination with azacytidine demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in overall survival and achieved a satisfactory composite complete remission rate in previously untreated patients with acute myeloid leukemia, meeting the co-primary end points of the phase III VIALE-A study. Genentech, the developer of venetoclax, announced the positive news in a press release, also noting that safety profiles of both drugs were consistent with prior reports.

The addition of 6 months of oral daily enzalutamide to standard salvage radiation and hormone therapy is safe and may improve prostate cancer remission rates at 2 and 3 years postoperatively among patients with high-risk disease, according to a recent paper in European Urology Oncology.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Massimo Lazzari, MD, discussed the findings from the analysis of microbiota in patients with bladder cancer. He highlighted how these findings can impact the treatment paradigm and exploration of new therapeutic agents in this space.

Oncology Venture has met with the FDA to discuss a potential path forward for the approval of dovitinib as a treatment for patients with renal cell carcinoma, according to a press release from the company.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology,&nbsp;Randall A. Oyer, MD, discussed&nbsp;how his institution is handling the pandemic while still accommodating patients who are already on clinical trials and making sure everyone stays safe.

Treatment with pembrolizumab demonstrated antitumor activity along with tolerable toxicity in patients with 4 different rare and hard-to-treat malignancies, according to results from a phase II study led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers and published in the&nbsp;Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.

As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, healthcare providers in the oncology realm are faced with a number of unforeseen challenges requiring immediate attention and swift changes in policies. Experts at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance shared their insights and advice with the public in a recent article to demonstrate how they have adapted to provide the most optimal care for patients with cancer in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.

GEN-1 immunotherapy demonstrated dose-dependent efficacy results in newly diagnosed patients with advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer when treated in combination with the standard of care, according to results from the OVATION 2 study. Based on positive data in the phase I portion, the study is moving on to phase II with enrollment expected to begin in the second half of the year.

Treatment with SGX301 led to statistically significant responses in patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, according to preliminary top-line results from the pivotal phase III FLASH trial released by Soligenix.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, discussed how COVID-19 is impacting the oncology practice as a whole, as well as in the RWJ Barnabas Health system. He highlights the importance of telemedicine at this time and the precautions that are necessary to ensure the safety of all patients with cancer, as well as healthcare providers.

The FDA has issued a guidance regarding clinical trials during the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in recognition of the challenges that may impact standard clinical trial procedures. The guidance acts as a set of recommendations to maintain the safety of patients enrolled onto trials and the trial&rsquo;s integrity.&nbsp;

A report from the Canadian Myeloproliferative Neoplasm Group has outlined different patterns of treatment failure from JAK inhibitor therapy in patients with myelofibrosis. The report, published in JCO Oncology Practice, suggests management practices for each pattern of response.

Nelipepimut-S in combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor demonstrated doubling of the difference in the increase in antigen-specific CD8 cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in patients with ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast who were HLA-A2-positive or A3-positive, express HER2 at immunohistochemistry1+, 2+, or 3+ levels, and are pre- or post-menopausal, according to preliminary results from the phase II VADIS study.

Bendamustine debulking followed by ofatumumab and ibrutinib demonstrated an overall response rate of 92% in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, meeting the primary end point of the phase II CLL2-BIO trial, and was well-tolerated with no new safety signals. Results from the study were published in&nbsp;Haematologica.

Circulating free DNA in the blood may be a more effective way to measure disease in patients with breast cancer and track the progression of the disease, according to a study from researchers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Andre Goy, MD, discussed the evolving role of Bruton&rsquo;s tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma, as well as where this field is headed based on ongoing clinical trials in this space.

The FDA has granted 2 orphan drug designations to ALPN-101 for both the prevention and treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease, according to a press release from Alpine Immune Sciences.

Ruxolitinib was found to be safe and effective for long-term treatment of patients with polycythemia vera who are resistant to or intolerant of hydroxyurea, according to the 5-year follow-up data from the phase III RESPONSE trial, recently published in&nbsp;The Lancet Haematology.&nbsp;

Adjuvant ipilimumab at a dose of 3 mg/kg demonstrated a survival benefit in patients with resected high-risk melanoma compared with high-dose interferon alfa-2b, according to the findings for a phase III E1609 clinical trial from the North American Intergroup.

Ropeginterferon alfa-2b improved responses overtime in patients with polycythemia vera who presented predominantly without splenomegaly compared with hydroxyurea, according to findings from the phase III PROUD-PV clinical trial and its extension study, CONTINUATION-PV.

As business slows down in most sectors&nbsp;worldwide&nbsp;due to the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),&nbsp;the&nbsp;biopharmaceutical&nbsp;industry&nbsp;is&nbsp;doubling&nbsp;its&nbsp;efforts&nbsp;in order to develop life-saving vaccines and&nbsp;diagnostic tools for&nbsp;use by clinicians across medical specialties.&nbsp;Swift actions&nbsp;by&nbsp;the FDA and other&nbsp;public&nbsp;health organizations&nbsp;are being taken to ensure the health care industry has the tools it needs&nbsp;to care for&nbsp;patients who may be affected by the virus.

The addition of tremelimumab to frontline durvalumab and the standard of care, platinum-based chemotherapy, did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in overall survival in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer, missing the co-primary end point of the phase III CASPIAN trial, according to high-level results from the final analysis of the trial.