June 1 2020

According to investigators on the phase 2 I-SPY 2 study, the addition durvalumab plus olaparib to treatment with neoadjuvant paclitaxel led to better pathologic complete response rates in patients with high-risk, HER2-negative stage II/III breast cancer compared with paclitaxel alone.

"Since 2008, 1748 community oncology clinics and/or practices have closed, been acquired by hospitals, undergone corporate mergers, or reported financial difficulties."

Broad adoption of testing methods that allow for assessing all possible actionable targets and diagnostic markers in advanced cancer is becoming more complex with greater availability of lifesaving targeted therapies.

A review of selected trials looking at frequencies of grade 3 irAEs suggests that renal and bone marrow toxicities occur more frequently with the use of PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors compared with agents blocking CTLA-4

With multiple treatment options available in the ovarian cancer landscape, experts are now looking for an answer to the challenging question of optimal sequencing.

In patients with advanced melanoma whose disease progressed on immunotherapy, the use of fecal microbiota transplant achieved objective responses, in a phase I study.

Experts say the combining intralesional therapies with immunotherapy is a strategy that has potential to expand into medical practices outside of the oncology realm.

In an interview with Targeted Therapies in Oncology, C. Ola Landgren, MD, PhD, discussed how the availability of daratumumab by subcutaneous administration will affect clinical practice going forward.

Treatment of glioblastoma has seen few advancements since the approval of temozolomide plus radiotherapy in 2005 for newly diagnosed disease. Recently, promising clinical data have reinvigorated hope for novel therapies in this tumor type.

Oncology practices like Northwest Medical Specialties are looking for ways to improve their patient care and are willing to transform their practice to do so.

“We are starting to see more and more patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, we’re treating them much more aggressively in the up-front setting, and we have to face PARP inhibitor resistance in the future.”

“We’ve seen remote data monitoring and remote data capturing. We are in a situation to continue moving forward, even in the midst of the pandemic, and, in fact, accelerate our position."

Management of treatment-associated dermatologic adverse events that commonly occur as a result of cytotoxic or targeted therapy is critical to prevent dose modifications or interruptions that could negatively affect clinical outcomes.

"In all, these 3 exciting trials combining PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibition with targeted therapy, chemotherapy, or immune cell therapy bode well for evolving advances with this tolerable class of agents."