April 2018

A herpes zoster subunit vaccine effectively prevented episodes of HZ and other related complications among patients who had recently underwent autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant, according to the results of the phase III ZOE-HSCT trial presented at the 2018 BMT Tandem Meetings.

When findings of larotrectinib, a pan-TRK inhibitor co-developed by Bayer and Loxo Oncology, that generated significant excitement for the treatment of both adult and pediatric patients with TRK fusion cancers, were presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting, the small molecule was lauded as a future standard of care for patients with advanced solid tumors harboring a TRK fusion.

Two poster presentations at the 2018 BMT Tandem Meetings of the Center for International Blood & Marrow Transplant Research and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, provided a compelling extension of the recent phase III clinical trial that demonstrated the efficacy of prophylactic therapy with letermovir (Prevymis) for the prevention of cytomeg alovirus (CMV) infection in patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).

A novel bromodomain and extra terminal protein inhibitor demonstrated promising early activity and a manageable safety profile in the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoma in the results of a first-in-human phase I trial.

Arjun V. Balar, MD, joins <em>Targeted Therapies in Oncology&trade;</em>&nbsp;to cover the latest developments in cancer therapies that will span new and emerging agents and classes including targeted therapies, immunotherapies, biologics, and cytotoxics, as well as continue to focus on efforts to improve patient selection using biomarkers.

The combination of CC-122, an investigational pleiotropic pathway modulator, and the second-generation anti-CD20 antibody obinutuzumab induced strong responses in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma.

Cabozantinib, a promising multikinase inhibitor, demonstrated encouraging antitumor activity for the treatment of radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid carcinoma in the first-line setting, according to the results of a phase II study that were presented at the 2018 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Adoptive immunotherapy has shown promising outcomes in early-stage trials for many cancers, but successful approaches in head and neck cancers will require addressing several challenges that are inherent in many solid tumors, such as creating the right homing mechanisms, achieving adequate T-cell infiltration into the tumor, and finding an antigen that will not produce off-tumor effects.

Durvalumab&nbsp;showed encouraging antitumor activity both alone and in combination with tremelimumab for patients with PD-L1&ndash;low or &ndash;negative recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell&nbsp;carcinoma,&nbsp;according to results of the CONDOR trial presented at the 2018 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Scottsdale, Arizona.

It is truly an exciting time in cancer research and drug development and it&rsquo;s a privilege to be able to join Targeted Therapies in Oncology&trade; and assist an outstanding team of editors and writers to disseminate the most up-to-date, timely and clinically relevant information in this fast-paced era.