News

Masatoshi Kudo, MD, PhD, discusses the results from the REFLECT trial and an analysis presented at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, as well as other research currently ongoing for this patient population.

Based on data from the phase III TAGS trial, TAS-102 has been approved by the FDA as a treatment for adult patients with metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma previously treated with at least 2 prior lines of chemotherapy that included a fluoropyrimidine, a platinum, either a taxane or irinotecan, and if appropriate, HER2/neu-targeted therapy.

The FDA has granted an orphan drug designation to the investigational agent etoposide toniribate for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory biliary tract cancer, according to Imbrium Therapeutics, the company developing the topoisomerase II inhibitor.

Daneng Li, MD, sheds light on some of the currently available regimens and ongoing research efforts being conducted in HCC and NETs.

Adding ibrutinib to CAR T-cell therapy led to improved responses in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, according to preliminary findings presented at the 2019 Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Meetings.

Ruben A. Mesa, MD, discusses the evolving role of interferon in the treatment of patients with MPNs, highlights recent treatment advances, and shares insight on the future of treatment for these patients.

Reduced-dose rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone had a similar complete response rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival compared with standard-dose R-CHOP or previous dose-adjusted R-CHOP chemotherapy in elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Neelima Denduluri, MD, discusses each CDK4/6 inhibitor as potential first-line and second-line therapies based on the data from the PALOMA-2, MONALEESA-2 and -7, and MONARCH 3 trials, which led to their approvals.

In findings from a final PFS analysis of the phase III TOURMALINE-MM3 trial presented during the 2019 Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Meetings, 2-year maintenance therapy with the oral proteasome inhibitor ixazomib following autologous stem cell transplantation improved progression-free survival in patients with multiple myeloma.

A supplemental new drug application for ivosidenib has been granted a priority review designation by the FDA&nbsp;for the frontline treatment of patients <em>IDH1</em>-mutant acute myeloid leukemia who are ineligible for standard chemotherapy, according to&nbsp;Agios, the manufacturer of ivosidenib.

Merck,&nbsp;the developer of pembrolizumab, has announced that the coprimary endpoints of the&nbsp;KEYNOTE-240 trial were not met, as adding the agent&nbsp;to best supportive care failed&nbsp;to improve&nbsp;progression-free or overall survival in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who were previously treated with systemic therapy.

Pembrolizumab has been granted a priority review designation by the FDA for the treatment of patients with advanced small cell lung cancer whose disease has progressed following &ge;2 prior lines of therapy.

Nina Shah, MD,&nbsp;discusses the promise of the CAR T-cell therapy bb21217 in the complex treatment paradigm of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Entrectinib has been granted a priority review designation by the FDA as a therapy for&nbsp;select adult and pediatric patients with <em>NTRK</em> fusion&ndash;positive locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors, as well as patients with metastatic <em>ROS1</em>-positive non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, according to Genentech, the developer of the multikinase inhibitor.

The treatment regimen of rituximab, bendamustine, bortezomib, and dexamethasone demonstrated activity and a manageable safety profile as a first-line therapy for patients with mantle cell lymphoma aged 65 years or older, according to findings from a prospective, multicenter phase II study.

Polatuzumab vedotin, an&nbsp;antibody-drug conjugate that has demonstrated a 40% complete response rate in patients with&nbsp;relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, has been granted a&nbsp;priority review designation by the FDA in combination with&nbsp;bendamustine and rituximab for the treatment of these patients,&nbsp;according to Genentech, the manufacturer of the agent.

To date, there is no national Medicare policy in place to provide coverage for&nbsp;CAR T-cell therapies, which have been proven to be a successful treatment for&nbsp;certain patients with relapsed/refractory cancers. Now, the&nbsp;Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services has proposed to cover CAR T-cell therapies approved by the FDA under&nbsp;&ldquo;Coverage with Evidence Development.&quot;

The PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab has gained FDA approval as an adjuvant therapy for patients with&nbsp;high-risk stage III melanoma with lymph node involvement following complete resection.

Bempegaldesleukin, a novel interleukin-2 therapy, showed promising activity when combined with&nbsp;nivolumab in&nbsp;patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma who were cisplatin ineligible or refused standard therapy, according to&nbsp;preliminary data from the PIVOT-02 study.

The combination of ibrutinib and palbociclib appeared to be a feasible and active treatment regimen in patients with previously treated mantle cell lymphoma, according to findings from a phase I dose-finding study recently published in <em>Blood</em>.

According to findings from an open-label, single-arm phase I/II basket study presented during the&nbsp;2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, 14 of 45 patients with relapsed/refractory metastatic urothelial cancer demonstrated an objective response to&nbsp;sacituzumab govitecan, for an objective response rate of 31.1%.

David S. Siegel, MD, PhD, discusses a trial in which patients with multiple myeloma who progressed on lenalidomide were treated with a pomalidomide-based regimen.

According to&nbsp;the final analysis of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial,&nbsp;finasteride, an&nbsp;agent commonly used to treat lower urinary tract problems and baldness in men, was safe and effective in reducing the risk of prostate cancer.

A supplemental biologics license application for the combination of pembrolizumab and axitinib has received a priority review designation from the FDA&nbsp;as a frontline treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, primarily based on data from the phase III KEYNOTE-426 study.

The Community Oncology Alliance recently released its 2018 Year in Review report, evaluating the successes and highlights from the organization&rsquo;s many initiatives over the past year.&nbsp;

The first attempt to quantify therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia in the era of widespread platinum-based chemotherapy has found that tMDS/AML risks were statistically significantly elevated after chemotherapy for 22 of 23 solid cancers, according to a new study in <em>JAMA Oncology.</em>

Maintenance therapy with lenalidomide (Revlimid) significantly improved progression-free survival compared with observation alone in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma and the benefit was seen in both transplant-eligible and -ineligible groups.

Massimo Cristofanilli, MD,&nbsp;discusses the clinical utility of liquid biopsies&mdash;specifically focusing on CTCs and cfDNA&mdash;and highlights ongoing research in the space.

Lenvatinib demonstrated promising antitumor activity and a manageable toxicity profile in 3 main subtypes of thyroid cancer, according to findings recently published in <em>Future Oncology.</em>

A novel agent demonstrated efficacy in treating patients with early recurrent or refractory acute myeloid leukemia when administered via continuous intravenous infusion, according to results from a phase I/II trial recently published in <em>Cancer. </em>The agent was also well tolerated among patients.