April 2 2020

"This infectious disease would have likely wiped out many communities only decades ago. It is true that our highly connected and peripatetic society may have increased exposures across the world. Yet, we have risen to the occasion and implemented public health screening, testing, and treatment strategies."

“If we’re going to get patients to second-line treatment, we have to get them to front line. That has to do with transitioning patients from locoregional therapy appropriately."

Dose escalation may be beneficial for patients starting treatment regimens with a high incidence of toxicities that may lead to abrupt patient self-discontinuation.

"T-cell lymphomas are a heterogeneous group, and there is an opportunity to further educate the community oncologist on these specific issues."

“We can predict how a patient responds if PD-L1 levels are close to 100% or close to zero. But we cannot say [with certainty] that a patient with PD-L1 of 30% is going to have significantly different outcomes than a patient with PD-L1 of 40%.”

Expanded indications in the treatment of cancers with novel therapy biomarkers were a notable result of drug approvals in the past year. In order to facilitate the identification of these molecular markers, more targeted agents are being approved with associated companion diagnostics, made evident by 3 such tests approved in 2019.

From reprioritizing office visits to rescheduling surgical procedures and even delaying clinical trials, coronavirus disease 2019 has affected every facet of life on a global scale. Oncologists who are already challenged to keep their patients healthy from more run-off-the-mill infections must now contend with a new pathogen.

As the breast cancer setting quickly changes with each advancement, physicians who care for these patients will need to know how to apply these emerging treatments to the standards of care in their practice.

Combination therapy strategies involving immune checkpoint inhibitors and a secondary agent have shown promise across sarcoma subtypes, according to analysis of clinical trial data that were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Sarcoma & GIST Symposium 2020, held in Milan, Italy.

The combination of PD-L1 and VEGF inhibition suggests promise for the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, according to findings of the phase III IMbrave150 study.