Trending News on Targeted Oncology, Week of April 10, 2020

Following the FDA’s recent clearance for the immediate enrollment and initiation of a phase II clinical trial evaluating leronlimab in patients with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)9, positive findings were announced by CytoDyn for 7 patients who have been treated with the CCR5 antagonist. Another study also eluded to admission or recurrent visits to the hospital may put patients with cancer at higher risk for severe adult respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has been linked to COVID-19.

These updates and others were trending this week:

Updates Surrounding Leronlimab Use in Patients With COVID-19 Appear Promising

Blood samples from days 0, 3, and 7 demonstrated that leronlimab induced significant reductions in the cytokine storm among all 7 severely ill patients with COVID-19 under evaluation in the phase IIb/III study. The blood samples confirmed immunological benefit at day 3 and 7 in all patients.

FDA Approves Encorafenib Plus Cetuximab in BRAF V600E+ mCRC

The FDA approved encorafenib (Braftovi) in combination with cetuximab (Erbitux) for the treatment of patients with mCRC with aBRAFV600E mutation, as detected by an FDA-approved test, after prior therapy.

FDA Grants Pembrolizumab Priority Review for TMB-High Tumors

The FDA granted Priority Review to a supplemental Biologics License Application for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic solid tumors with tissue tumor mutational burden-high who have progressed following prior treatment and who have no satisfactory alternative treatment options.

FDA Grants Fast Track Designation to Sacituzumab Govitecan in Locally Advanced Metastatic Urothelial Cancer

Sacituzumab govitecan was granted a Fast Track designation by the FDA for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who have previously received a PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor and a platinum-containing chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant/adjuvant, locally advanced or metastatic setting, including patients who are platinum-ineligible and have previously received a PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor in the neoadjuvant/adjuvant, locally advanced, or metastatic setting.

Hospital Visits Increase Risk of Infection During COVID-19 Pandemic for Patients With Cancer

A single-institution study from Wuhan, Hubei, showed that admission or recurrent visits to the hospital put patients with cancer at risk for severe adult respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and patients with non—small cell lung cancer over the age of 60 had a higher incidence of COVID-19, which has been linked to SARS-CoV-2.

Acalabrutinib Appears Tolerable in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Jeff P. Sharman, MD, discussed the secondary

end points from the phase III ELEVATE-TN trial, which evaluated the role of acalabrutinib (Calquence), either as a single agent or in combination with obinutuzumab (Gazyva) in patients with treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Targeted Therapies in Oncology - April 2020

Several articles from the April edition ofTargeted Therapies in Oncologyhave been published online. Topics include pancreatic cancer, renal cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, and bladder cancer.

Co-Editor-in-Chief Arjun V. Balar, MD,shared his thoughts on how COVID-19 threatens the care of vulnerable patients with cancer.