Jul 10th, 2021 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) has announced its inaugural National Black Family Cancer Awareness Week, which is taking place from June 17 through June 23, 2021. Throughout the week, the agency’s social media platforms will serve as the hub for this historic initiative as participants at health-care centers, nonprofit associations, and communit...

Jul 10th, 2021 - The combination of fixed-duration, first-line treatment with ibrutinib plus venetoclax achieved complete responses in more than half of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL), based on the primary analysis of the fixed-dose cohort of the phase II CAPTIVATE study.1 Similarly high rates of overall survival and progression-free survival, secondary endpoin...

Jul 10th, 2021 - Albert Einstein Cancer Center (AECC), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Montefiore Health System have announced that cancer biologist Julio Aguirre-Ghiso, PhD, has been named founding Director of the Cancer Dormancy and Tumor Microenvironment Institute (CDTMI), Director of the Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center, and Co-Leader of the AECC Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis Program. He wi...

Jul 10th, 2021 - Despite the fact that we have made significant progress in metastatic melanoma with immune checkpoint inhibitors—now the standard of care—most patients experience disease progression and are left without approved treatments. There is a need for newer treatments with clinical benefit. Lifileucel, an adoptive cell therapy harnessing the power of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), is emerging ...

Jul 10th, 2021 - In the treatment of borderline resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the Alliance A021501 trial established neoadjuvant treatment with modified FOLFIRINOX (fluorouracil [5-FU], leucovorin, irinotecan, oxaliplatin) as a new benchmark. However, it failed to show the benefit of adding hypofractionated radiation therapy, according to Matthew H.G. Katz, MD, FASCO, of The University of Texas M...

Jul 10th, 2021 - On May 20, 2021, nivolumab was approved for adjuvant treatment of patients with completely resected esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer with residual pathologic disease after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings from the double-blind, phase III CheckMate 577 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02743494).2,3 In the trial, ...

Jul 10th, 2021 - Heather Wakelee, MD Heather Wakelee, MD, will assume the role of President of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) at the upcoming IASLC 2021 World Conference on Lung Cancer Denver, Worldwide Virtual Event (WCLC 2021) on September 8 to 14, 2021. Dr. Wakelee has been President-Elect of the organization since 2019. Commenting on leading IASLC, Dr. Wakelee said: “My i...

Jul 10th, 2021 - The novel, selective BCL2 inhibitor lisaftoclax (APG-2575) has shown activity in the treatment of relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in a phase I study reported at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 Preliminary data suggest that lisaftoclax stands out for its favorable safety profile and rapid time to response. “APG-2575 is well tolerated in doses up to 1,200 mg/d, with infre...

Jul 10th, 2021 - “Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.”                                                              –Kahlil Gibran To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel targeted therapie...

Jul 10th, 2021 - With several pivotal trials providing evidence for the escalation and de-escalation of anti-HER2 therapy in certain early breast cancer scenarios, personalized treatment is possible. How can clinicians optimize treatment by applying the studies’ findings? Debu Tripathy, MD, Professor and Chair of Breast Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, shared his t...

Jul 10th, 2021 - In a prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet, the GlobalSurg Collaborative found that 30-day mortality after surgery for colorectal and gastric cancers, but not breast cancer, was higher in low- or middle-income countries vs high-income countries.1 Among all patients, mortality rates following major complications were significantly higher in low- or middle-income countries vs high-incom...

Jul 10th, 2021 - Edward Kim, MD, PhD The University of California (UC) Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center has named Edward Kim, MD, PhD, as Medical Director for the Office of Clinical Research. Dr. Kim is a UC Davis Health oncologist and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine who specializes in treating gastrointestinal malignancies, including pancreatic, liver, bile duct, esophageal, stomach, and colorectal c...

Jul 10th, 2021 - A Conversation With Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, FASCO Although we are just halfway through 2021, the outlook for improvements in global cancer trends looks grim. According to new estimates by the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s Global Cancer Observatory, the global cancer burden rose to 19.3 million cases and 10 million deaths in 2020 and is predicted to increase to more than 30 milli...

Jul 10th, 2021 - India has witnessed a major paradigm shift in the field of breast cancer and its management over the past 4 decades. The discipline of medical oncology has evolved exponentially over this period—a growth that few other scientific disciplines have experienced. Interventions at the individual, institutional, and health-care delivery levels have significantly contributed to many accomplishments to...

Jul 10th, 2021 - A Conversation With Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, FASCO Although we are just halfway through 2021, the outlook for improvements in global cancer trends looks grim. According to new estimates by the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s Global Cancer Observatory, the global cancer burden rose to 19.3 million cases and 10 million deaths in 2020 and is predicted to increase to more than 30 milli...

Jul 10th, 2021 - In an analysis from the phase III IMbrave150 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Peter R. Galle, MD, and colleagues found that patients receiving atezolizumab plus bevacizumab had better patient-reported outcomes vs those receiving sorafenib for advanced unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma not previously treated with systemic therapy. As previously reported, the trial showed ...

Jul 10th, 2021 - Despite new and effective treatments for melanoma with checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies, patients with metastatic melanoma who progress on frontline treatment generally do very poorly. “We really need to make sure we give these patients access to drugs that we know have some efficacy,” Jason J. Luke, MD, said in an interview with The ASCO Post. Dr. Luke is corresponding author of a ...

Jul 10th, 2021 - Scott T. Tagawa, MD, MS In a cohort of the phase II TROPHY-U-01 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Scott T. Tagawa, MD, MS, of Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, and colleagues, found that the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy produced durable responses in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma progressing after platinum-based chemotherapy and PD-1 or PD-...

Jul 10th, 2021 - In a single-institution study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ellen K. Chang, MD, of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and colleagues found that atrial fibrillation occurs in a substantial proportion of patients who have undergone allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and may be associated with poor outcomes.1 Ellen K. Chang, MD St...

Jul 10th, 2021 - Sarah Cannon, the Cancer Institute of HCA Healthcare, announced that Navneet Majhail, MD, MS, FASTCT, has been named Deputy Physician-in-Chief of Blood Cancers for the Sarah Cannon Transplant and Cellular Therapy Network (formerly the Sarah Cannon Blood Cancer Network). In his role, Dr. Majhail will focus on the continued expansion of the Sarah Cannon Transplant and Cellular Therapy Network Cen...