Balar Shares Perspective on Key Findings From His Presentation at the 2019 GU Cancers Symposium
April 19th 2019Arjun V. Balar, MD, discusses key findings from updated data from the interim analysis of KEYNOTE-057, a phase II single-arm trial of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in Bacillus Calmette-Guérin-unresponsive, high-risk nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer, which he presented during the the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
Immunotherapy and TKI Combinations Are Emerging as Standard of Care in Advanced RCC
April 18th 2019The results of several studies presented at the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium confirmed that the combination of PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors with tyrosine kinase inhibitors of the VEGF pathway was superior to VEGF inhibitors alone in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma, which accounts for about 70% of patients with kidney cancer.
Existing Drugs May Offer Treatment Opportunities in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
April 16th 2019Findings from a study of tumor samples collected from patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma revealed that 17% of tumors harbored a known genomic alteration for which targeted therapies have already been developed, conferring feasibility to implementing precision medicine in a disease that has seen little progress in the development of effective therapeutic agents.
Sipuleucel-T Shows Potential With New Trial Data, But Questions Regarding Clinical Relevance Remain
April 15th 2019Since the approval of sipuleucel-T for the treatment of minimally symptomatic metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in 2010, barriers to administration and the approval of competing drugs has tampered wide adoption of its use.
Interim Analysis of KEYNOTE-057 Shows Encouraging Antitumor Activity in NMIBC
April 13th 2019The immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab continued to demonstrate encouraging antitumor activity in an interim analysis of KEYNOTE-057, which involved a subset of 102 patients with nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer.
Data Suggest Site of Facility Plays Significant Role in Racial Differences in Quality of Care
April 12th 2019A recent retrospective cohort study found that site of care may be a significant factor associated with racial and ethnic differences in the receipt of palliative care, according to results published in <em>JAMA Network Open.</em>
Coverage Concerns Temper Enthusiasm Surrounding CAR T-Cell Treatment
April 12th 2019A discussion between regulators and special interest groups has cooled some of the excitement generated by the emergence of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for treating hematologic cancers.