Jason Harris

Results from the MRTX-500 trial show that sitravatinib administered in combination with nivolumab can elicit durable response and lead to robust survival outcomes for patients with non-small cell lung cancer who progressed after deriving benefit from treatment with a checkpoint inhibitor and/or platinum doublet chemotherapy.

A phase 3 study is underway to evaluate the potential superiority of TAR-200 in combination with cetrelimab to chemoradiotherapy for the treatment of muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Controlling infection in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who have an increased risk for infection, may be key for improving survival rates.

Patients with inoperable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma have demonstrated tendency to live longer when elective internal radiation therapy with Y90 is added to chemotherapy.

With further follow-up from the phase 3 CLL14 trial, the median progression-free survival was still reached with the fixed-dose regimen of venetoclax and obinutuzumab in patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Sustained efficacy and durable responses was seen with Ciltacabtagene autoleucel, an investigational B-cell maturation antigen-directed CAR T-cell therapy, in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Investigators in the PALOMA-3 trial have concluded that Palbociclib plus fulvestrant maintains a clinically meaningful long-term overall survival benefit for patients with either HR+ or HER2 negative breast cancer.

The combination of tafasitamab-cxix and lenalidomide in patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma showed sustainable responses at 3-year follow-up of the phase 2 L-MIND trial.

Patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor after receiving fourth-line therapy had extended progression-free survival when given an intra-patient dose escalation of ripretinib to 150 mg twice a day following progression.

The addition of the oral hypoxia-inducible factor 2α inhibitor belzutifan to cabozantinib led to disease control in a majority of patients with previously treated advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma, according to preliminary results from a phase 2 trial presented at the 2021 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Results from the phase 3 CheckMate-274 trial showed that nivolumab following surgery improved disease-free survival compared with placebo for patients with muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma, according a presentation given during the 2021 ASCO Genitourinary Cancer Symposium.

Following neoadjuvant chemotherapy with or without pembrolizumab in patients with high-risk early-stage breast cancer, the presence of ctDNA was a biomarker for response and distant recurrence-free survival.

Treatment with IGM-2323, a bispecific IgM antibody, resulted in tumor shrinkage in 9 of 14 patients with CD20-positive relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma in a phase 1 study.

Patients with intermediate- or high-risk myelofibrosis in the phase 3 SIMPLIFY-1 and SIMPLIFY-2 trials experienced improved overall survival and sustained efficacy outcomes with momelitinib.

Over the years, cancer treatments that have improved patients outcomes have come out of clinical trial research. These studies have greatly contributed to the decline in cancer mortality in the United States since 1975, as well as the global cancer burden and mortality rate. During a presentation for the 38th Annual Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium (CFS), Clifford A. Hudis, MD, explained the need for monetary investment in research initiatives.

Outcomes for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome range from a median of 5.3 years in the lower-risk population to 8.4 months among patient with very high-risk disease. These outcomes are changing as novel therapies for the lower-risk population enter the treatment landscape.

In patients with early-stage EGFR mutated non–small cell lung cancer following complete tumor resection, treatment with osimertinib reduced the risk for central nervous system death or progression by 82%, findings presented during the EMSO Virtual Congress 2020.

As compared with placebo, regorafenib induced favorable progression-free survival rates at 24 weeks versus placebo in patients with Ewing sarcoma in the phase 2 REGOBONE study. Despite this, the trial failed to meet its primary end point of non-progression at 8 weeks, according to findings presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

Patients with urothelial carcinoma who progress after platinum-containing chemotherapy may receive benefit with the combination regimen of cabozantinib and atezolizumab, according to new data from the COSMIC-021 study.

Overall, these data support the use of pembrolizumab and pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy as first-line treatment of patients with relapsed and/or metastatic HNSCC.

"Based on the results of our study, women who present with a new diagnosis of breast cancer already in stage IV should not be offered surgery and radiation for the primary breast tumor with the expectation of a survival benefit."

The risk for death from COVID-19 was greater for patients with stable cancer compared with patients who had no evidence of disease.

“If we’re going to get patients to second-line treatment, we have to get them to front line. That has to do with transitioning patients from locoregional therapy appropriately."

The combination of PD-L1 and VEGF inhibition suggests promise for the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, according to findings of the phase III IMbrave150 study.

Adjuvant treatment with talimogene laherparepvec in patients with resectable advanced melanoma demonstrated better recurrence-free survival and overall survival compared with surgery alone, according to results of a study presented at a poster session at the 16th International Congress of the Society for Melanoma Research.

All patients with advanced renal cell car­cinoma assigned to nivolumab plus ipilimumab in the phase III CheckMate 214 trial had a longer treatment-free survival than patients treated with sunitinib. Furthermore, those patients assigned to the combination spent less time experiencing treatment-related adverse events.

Nearly 12 years after discontinuing treatment, anastrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, maintained a preventive effect for postmenopausal women at high risk for breast cancer. Women assigned to anastrozole were 49% less likely to have developed breast cancer compared with women assigned to placebom according to data presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Japanese patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer had a significant improvement in invasive disease-free survival with the addition of the novel oral fluoropyrimidine derivative S-1, according to findings from the phase III POTENT trial presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Immotherapuetic agents have grown in popularity for treating mismatch repair&ndash;deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer, becoming the standard of care in the second line, <strong>Howard Hochster, MD</strong>, told an audience at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Oncology Conference. Furthermore, ongoing clinical trials suggest that these agents may play a larger role in treating CRC going forward.

What is the ideal first-line<strong> </strong>therapy for nonresectable, non&ndash; transplant eligible, liver-only hepatocellular carcinoma? In a debate at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Oncology Conference, Mark Yarchoan, MD, had the unenviable task of convincing the audience that systemic therapy was the way to go.