News

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy has generated new excitment in select hematologic malignancies. Despite recent advances, more research is necessary in order to both move these treatments to earlier settings and drive costs down, Brian Till, MD, noted.

Patients with advanced alveolar soft part sarcoma demonstrated durable responses that occurred early following the initiation of atezolizumab, according to phase II trial findings presented at the 2018 CTOS Annual Meeting. Atezolizumab was also well tolerated and demonstrated a favorable safety profile.

Glasdegib (Daurismo) has been granted FDA approval for combination use with low-dose cytarabine for the treatment of patients with newly-diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia who are aged 75 years or older or who are ineligible for intensive chemotherapy.

Venetoclax (Venclexta) has been granted an accelerated approval by the FDA for combined use with azacitidine or decitabine or low-dose cytarabine as a treatment for adult patients with newly-diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia who are aged 75 years or older, or who have comorbidities that preclude use of intensive induction chemotherapy.

<br /> Mary-Beth Percival, MD, discusses the ongoing development of FLT3 inhibitors and other current research in patients with AML.

Using the VR-CAP regimen instead of R-CHOP significantly improved median overall survival in previously untreated newly diagnosed patients with mantle cell lymphoma who were not eligible for transplant, according to results from the long-term follow-up phase of a randomized, open-label, phase III trial.

During a <em>Targeted Oncology </em>live case-based peer perspective presentation, Ajai Chari, MD, spoke on the treatment options and considerations he makes when treating patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Mutations in 8 high-risk genes are associated with an acute myeloid leukemia (AML) diagnosis, according to a deep sequencing analysis. Hetty Carraway, MD, said that these findings lay the ground work for upcoming research on early detection and novel treatment strategies.

Patients with acute myeloid leukemia now have more treatment options available than ever, due to some major changes to the field over the last year. With 2 drugs already approved for patients with <em>IDH</em> mutations and 4 new drugs expected to receive approval in the next year, it is a more hopeful time than ever for this patient population.

During a <em>Targeted Oncology </em>case-based peer perspectives program, Ryan Gentzler, MD, reviewed with other physicians his clinical considerations for the management of non&ndash;small cell lung cancer.

According to the findings from phase III JAVELIN Ovarian 200 trial, avelumab either alone or in combination with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin did not induce a statistically significant improvement in overall survival or progression-free survival in patients with platinum&ndash;resistant/refractory ovarian cancer&nbsp;compared to PLD monotherapy.

During a <em>Targeted Oncology </em>live case-based peer perspectives presentation, Ravi Vij, MD, MBA, reviewed with other healthcare professionals the treatment options and considerations he makes when treating patients with multiple myeloma.

According to Robert Dean, MD, BTK inhibitors and CAR T cells may fulfill an unmet need in patients with mantle cell lymphoma. Experts have been hard-pressed to find long-lasting treatments like these that have the potential to impact this patient population.

Blinatumomab has received support from the European Medicines Agency&rsquo;s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use. The agent has been recommended for approval as a treatment of adult patients with&nbsp;B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia who are in remission but still have minimal residual disease of at least 0.1%.

CheckMate-032 investigator Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD, discusses extended follow-up findings from the trial,&nbsp;as well as the future of immunotherapy in urothelial carcinoma.

Petros Grivas, MD, PhD, discusses recent immunotherapy advancements in bladder cancer and ongoing research in the field.

Nivolumab in combination with low-dose ipilimumab has been recommended by the European Medicines Agency&rsquo;s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use as treatment for patients with intermediate- and poor-risk advanced renal cell carcinoma in the frontline setting, according to Bristol-Meyers Squibb, the developer of both immunotherapy agents.

The approval of&nbsp;eltrombopag (Promacta) in combination with standard immunosuppressive therapy has been expanded by the FDA to include&nbsp;newly diagnosed adult and pediatric patients 2 years and older with severe aplastic anemia, according to Novartis, the manufacturer of eltrombopag.^&nbsp;Eltrombopag was also granted a breakthrough therapy designation&nbsp;as a counter measure for hematopoietic sub-syndrome of acute radiation syndrome.

Using durvalumab&nbsp;(Imfinzi) combined with&nbsp;tremelimumab for the frontline treatment of patients with metastatic non&ndash;small cell lung cancer did not result in a&nbsp;statistically significant improvement in overall survival compared to standard chemotherapy, according to a press release from AstraZeneca.

Brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) has been granted FDA approval for&nbsp;use in combination with chemotherapy for the frontline treatment of patients with CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphoma, based on findings from the phase III ECHELON-2 trial.

Results from the phase I/II CheckMate 040 study demonstrated that single-agent nivolumab showed promising clinical activity in patients with Child-Pugh B advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, a population often excluded from advanced HCC trials.

Hussein A. Tawbi, MD,&nbsp;discusses the expansion of the treatment armamentarium for adjuvant melanoma and the next steps with research in this patient population.<br /> &nbsp;

After decades of being considered the &ldquo;graveyard of drug development,&rdquo; melanoma has now become one of the hottest fields in oncologic research. In response to this rapid change in the treatment landscape, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer has issued updated consensus guidelines to help clinicians stratify patients, choose optimal treatment regimens, and manage immune-related adverse events in patients with stage II to IV disease.

Ronald de Wit, MD, PhD, discusses&nbsp;the clinical implications of pembrolizumab in patients with&nbsp;nonmuscle&ndash;invasive bladder cancer.

Alexander E. Drilon, MD, discusses&nbsp;developing markers in the non&ndash;small cell lung cancer paradigm.

Alectinib (Alecensa) was found to be superior to&nbsp;crizotinib (Xalkori) as frontline therapy in Asian patients with&nbsp;untreated <em>ALK</em>-positive advanced non&ndash;small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to findings reported at the 2018 ESMO Congress.

Distinct subgroups of patients with renal cell carcinoma defined by gene expression signatures were correlated with improved progression-free survival with immunotherapy or a targeted agent, an analysis of the phase II&nbsp;IMmotion151 trial showed.<br /> &nbsp;

The side effect profile of olaparib tablets and the low rate of treatment discontinuation make it suitable for maintenance treatment for patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer, according to safety assessments from the SOLO-2 trial.

According to findings from the first neoadjuvant study to test ipilimumab (Yervoy) plus nivolumab&nbsp;(Opdivo) in early-stage mismatch repair deficient tumors and MMR proficient colon cancers, the combination induced major pathologic responses from all 7 patients with dMMR tumors.&nbsp;

In a presentation at the 33^rd Annual Meeting &amp; Pre-Conference Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cance, Dr. Galon discussed the definition of the immune contexture of Immunoscore, its international validation for the risk-classification of stage I-III colon cancer, and the potential value of Immunoscore in stage IV metastatic disease.