News

ClearLLab multicolor reagents (T1, T2, B1, B2, M) has been approved by the FDA for the detection of chronic leukemia, acute leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndrome, and myeloproliferative neoplasms.

Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, a renowned expert in immunotherapy and a specialist in head and neck cancer, has been named director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Hillman Cancer Center. His new position will start July 1.

Solange Peters, MD, PhD, has been elected the president of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) for the 2020-2021 term.

Ceritinib has been approved by the European Union (EU)&nbsp;for the first-line treatment of patients with <em>ALK</em>-positive advanced non&shy;&ndash;small cell lung cancer.

According to findings from a small phase I study, all patients with multiple myeloma showed a response following treatment with an active dose of bb2121, an investigational anti&ndash;B-cell maturation antigen chimeric antigen receptor T-cell construct.

Patients with newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma who did not elect to undergo stem cell transplant but remained on single agent ixazomib maintenance fared as well as those who received SCT.

In patients with heavily pretreated metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, pembrolizumab showed durable antitumor activity, according to findings from cohort A of the phase II KEYNOTE-086 trial.

A retrospective analysis suggests that treatment with a MET tyrosine kinase inhibitor can prolong survival in patients with advanced non&ndash;small cell lung cancer with a <em>MET</em>&nbsp;exon 14 mutation.

Psychological intervention can substantially lower fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) in survivors, improving their quality of life, anxiety, and cancer-specific distress.

More than one-fourth of patients with advanced <em>BRAF </em>V600-mutant melanoma remained alive at 5 years after treatment with the combination of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist), long-term follow-up from a randomized trial showed.

Immunotherapy combinations with PARP inhibitors or checkpoint inhibitors may represent the future of treatment for patients with ovarian cancer, said Samir N. Khleif, MD, during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Ribociclib has been recommended for approval by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, a part of the European Medicines Agency, for use in combination with an aromatase inhibitor as a first-line treatment for postmenopausal women with HR-positive /HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.<br /> &nbsp;

Barbara L. McAneny, MD, FASCO, MACP, has been elected president-elect of the American Medical Association. Following a year-long term as president-elect, McAneny will assume the role of AMA president in June 2018.

A healthcare bill has been introduced by the Senate Republicans that would revise many of the changes imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, cutting federal support for Medicaid and repealing the individual and employer mandates for having and providing insurance.

The combination of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with <em>BRAF</em> V600&ndash;positive advanced or metastatic non&ndash;small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Treatment with lenvatinib in the first-line setting of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma improved progression-free survival by 3.7 months and was noninferior for overall survival (OS) compared with sorafenib.

Subcutaneous rituximab has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of adults with previously untreated and relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma, previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and previously untreated and previously treated CLL.

The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to its EZH2-inhibitor tazemetostat for the treatment of adults with INI1-negative epithelioid sarcoma,&nbsp;Epizyme has announced.

Ruben A. Mesa, MD, has been named director of the UT Health Cancer Center.

The risk of disease progression was reduced by more than 40% and there was an average 6.5-month improvement in response duration with the second-generation EGFR inhibitor dacomitinib&nbsp;compared with gefitinib as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced, <em>EGFR</em>-mutant non&ndash;small cell lung cancer.

The antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan was well-tolerated and produced a median duration of response of 6.0 months in previously treated patients with metastatic non&ndash;small cell lung cancer.

Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, discusses the KEYNOTE-045 study results and the next steps with pembrolizumab in urothelial carcinoma.

A supplemental biologics license application for the use of denosumab for the prevention of skeletal-related events in patients with multiple myeloma has been accepted by the FDA.

Daratumumab has been approved by the FDA for use in combination with pomalidomide and dexamethasone for patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least 2 prior therapies, including a proteasome inhibitor and lenalidomide.

Michael J. Birrer, MD, PhD, has been named director of the University of Alabama (UAB) at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center. His position will take effect August 1.

Patients receiving treatment for metastatic cancer who used a web-based tool to report their symptoms either while at home or during clinic visits lived on average 5 months longer than their counterparts who had standard symptom monitoring.

Treatment with nintedanib plus pemetrexed and cisplatin improved progression-free survival (PFS) in the frontline setting by 3.7 months for chemotherapy-naive patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

A study presented at the 2017 American Urological Association Annual Meeting demonstrated that a split-dose of gemcitabine and cisplatin as a neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen for treating muscle-invasive bladder cancer has a good pathologic response with a high safety profile.

Combining the IDO inhibitor epacadostat with nivolumab demonstrated promising signs of activity for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and those with melanoma.

The combination of the PD-L1 inhibitor avelumab with the VEGF inhibitor axitinib as a frontline regimen for advanced renal cell carcinoma induced a response rate of 58.2% in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.