Jul 10th, 2020 - Tumor mutational burden is considered a hallmark indicator of a tumor’s potential for response to immunotherapy. PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck) and nivolumab (Opdivo, Bristol-Myers Squibb) have been shown to be more effective in treating tumors with high mutational burden. However, despite having only a moderate number of mutations, advanced clear cell ren...

Jul 9th, 2020 - In updated results of the pilot study, presented during the ASCO2020 Virtual Scientific Program, researchers showed that lisocabtagene maraleucel induced durable response as a second-line treatment in large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Jul 8th, 2020 - In a small sample, retreatment of patients with large B-cell lymphoma showed good response, notably in patients who had complete response on initial treatment, according to a poster presented at ASCO 2020 Virtual Scientific Program.

Jul 7th, 2020 - A study presented during the ASCO2020 Virtual Scientific Program showed ‘impressive’ use of immunotherapy for gestational trophoblastic disease, Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, told Healio.

Jul 7th, 2020 - Overall survival results from SOLO-2 showed patients with recurrent ovarian cancer and germline BRCA mutations added a year of life when treated with olaparib only, Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, told Healio.

Jul 7th, 2020 - Studies presented during the ASCO2020 Virtual Scientific Program showed the benefit of validated selection tools in pursuing surgical measures for ovarian cancer relapse, Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, told Healio.

Jul 7th, 2020 - This essential study (Abstract 2003) highlights that health policy impacts cancer survival. It showed that age-adjusted mortality from cancer is worse in states that have not expanded access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. There were 758 fewer cancer deaths in expansion states in 2017, and Hispanic populations had the greatest decrease in mortality under Medicaid expansion. This stud...

Jul 6th, 2020 - A novel CAR T-cell therapy targeting both CD19 and CD22 showed less toxicities than current CAR T-cell therapies while producing complete response with accepted regimens, according to a study presented at ASCO2020 Virtual Scientific Program.

Jul 6th, 2020 - The JAVELIN Bladder 100 study (LBA1) investigated the efficacy of maintenance avelumab following platinum-based chemotherapy compared to best supportive care for patients with metastatic urothelial cancer. In the trial, avelumab improved median overall survival by 21.4 months compared to 14.3 months with best supportive care. These data are practice changing, and the degree of benefit to this a...

Jul 3rd, 2020 - Head and neck cancers account for approximately 4% of all cancers in the United States1 and are the eighth most common cancer affecting men in the United States.2 The diagnosis of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC) carries a poor prognosis, with an overall survival (OS) of approximately 1 year.

Jul 3rd, 2020 - DESKTOP III (Abstract 6000) is a prospective, multicenter, randomized phase III study of > 400 patients with platinum-sensitive, recurrent ovarian cancer that demonstrated a clinically meaningful 7.7 month improvement in median overall survival with secondary cytoreductive surgery (53.7 months) compared with no surgery (46 months).

Jul 3rd, 2020 - The phase III HERO trial (Abstract 5602) investigated the results of relugolix, an orally bioavailable GnRH receptor antagonist, for patients with advanced prostate cancer. Treatment with relugolix resulted in superiority over leuprolide in achieving sustained testosterone suppression. Additionally, treatment was associated with faster testosterone recovery and decreased major adverse cardiovas...

Jul 2nd, 2020 - Donafenib, a deuterated derivative of sorafenib, was tested against sorafenib in the frontline setting in hepatitis B– associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a large, multi-institutional study in China (Abstract 4506).

Jul 2nd, 2020 - CAR T-cell therapy with BCMA-targeting idecabtagene-vicleucel (ide-cel) has emerged to be a game-changer as shown by this first pivotal phase II trial of CAR T-cell therapy in multiple myeloma (MM). Ide-cel is a first-in-class BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy, with 4-1BB costimulatory domain and CD3Z T-cell activation domain.

Jun 27th, 2020 - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused significant morbidity and mortality for patients and stressed healthcare systems worldwide. The clinical features and outcomes of COVID-19 among immunosuppressed patients, who are at presumed risk for more severe disease but who may also have decreased detrimental inflammatory responses, are no...

Jun 25th, 2020 - There used to be a paucity of options for managing advanced renal cell cancer (RCC) with a high toxicity profile including traditional chemotherapy, interferon, and interleukins. With the advent of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in 2007 followed by immunotherapy over the past few years, a paradigm shift emerged in managing this increasingly prevalent disease with its associated high morbidit...

Jun 25th, 2020 - Although the ASCO Annual Meeting felt much different this year given the virtual format, the quality of research presented at the meeting was undiminished, particularly in the field of lung cancer. ASCO Daily News Expert Panel member Jared Weiss, MD, of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, reviewed the most influential lung cancer research presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Sci...

Jun 25th, 2020 - The ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program featured a variety of important and innovative breast cancer research. The following are some of the studies with potential to significantly impact clinical practice and patient outcomes, as selected by ASCO Daily News Expert Panel member Arielle Heeke, MD, of the Levine Cancer Institute.

Jun 24th, 2020 - The report on ADAURA during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program Plenary Session surprised many, first because the initial data readout for the phase III trial was not planned until 2022 and second because of the strength of the disclosed data (Abstract LBA5). Early unblinding of the results revealed an 83% reduction in the risk of disease recurrence or death with use of adjuvant osimertinib c...

Jun 24th, 2020 - Awaited results of the ENDURANCE trial showed equivalency between a regimen of carfilzomib plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone (KRd) and bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (VRd) as an initial therapy for patients with standard- or intermediate-risk multiple myeloma (Abstract LBA3). KRd failed to improve progression-free survival compared with VRd, according to data presented by Shaji K...