Tony Berberabe, MPH

For patients with progressive pancreatic or midgut neuroendocrine tumors, improvements in disease-free survival and progression-free survival were seen when the dosing of lanreotide Autogel was increased from 120 mg every 28 days to every 14 days. Data from the phase 2 CLARINET FORTE study suggest that this treatment option can delay switching to a more toxic treatment, which was presented at the 2020 ESMO Virtual Congress.

As COVID-19 alters current approaches to caring for patients with cancer, early emerging research data reinforce what practicing oncologists have been observing in their patients are at increased risk of mortality.

Adding the anti-CD38 antibody, daratumumab, to the standard of care regimen of lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone, improved depth of response, stringent complete response , and minimal residual disease negativity, in a subgroup of Black patients who had newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, according to findings presented at the eighth annual Society of Hematologic Oncology meeting.

Using a modified pediatric regimen to treat adolescents and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia led to superior outcomes compared with historical adult ALL regimen results, according to a retrospective analysis that evaluated 95 AYAs aged 14 to 39 years. Findings were presented at the eighth annual Society of Hematologic Oncology virtual meeting.

As the new chair of the 17th Annual International Society of Gastrointestinal Oncology meeting, Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, said that this year’s virtual conference will place particular emphasis on fellows’ education and involvement.

Telemedicine increases efficiencies, supports coordinated care, and promotes flexibility in follow-up by allowing patients to be seen at any time and from any location.

Multiple positive responses were observed in an exploratory efficacy analysis evaluating tucatinib in combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine in patients with previously treated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer with brain metastases in the previously reported HER2CLIMB trial.

A pathogenic germline mutation rate of about 5% has been identified in women who had a family history of breast or ovarian cancer but no personal history of either disease.

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

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

Stratified multivariate analysis as well as efficacy from multiple treatment time points confirmed the benefit of cabazitaxel over abiraterone acetate or enzalutamide as a standard treatment in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who were previously treated with docetaxel and either of those 2 androgen receptor-targeted agents, according to results presented during the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology Virtual Scientific Program.

Encorafenib plus binimetinib show sustained overall survival and progression-free survival benefit in patients with BRAF V600–mutant melanoma, according to updated findings from the COLUMBUS study.

According to the lead study author Jesus G. Berdeja, MD, the overall response rate was 100%, with a stringent complete response rate of 86%. Further, the progression-free survival rate was 86% at 9 months.

A manageable safety profile was demonstrated with the combination of atezolizumab plus an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-Cell therapy in patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the ZUMA-6 trial.

Deep and durable responses were observed in 97 patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer harboring a MET exon 14 mutation with treatment of capmatinib, according to GEOMETRY mono-1 study, presented at the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting.

Investigators found no difference in the primary end point of pathologic complete response between the 2 arms of a trial evaluating gemcitabine and cisplatin plus either nintedanib or placebo in muscle-invasive bladder cancer; however; secondary end points of progression-free survival and overall survival demonstrated  significant  benefit in patients who got nintedanib.

External Beam Radiation therapy with or without androgen deprivation therapy or surgery are the standards of care for men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer, but the adverse events associated with the treatments, delayed testosterone recovery and prolonged erectile dysfunction, are challenges.

The upcoming 4th Annual Medical Crossfire Hematologic Malignancies, hosted by Physicians’ Education Resource, LLC, promises a lively exchange between experts in multiple myeloma, leukemia, and lymphoma and physician attendees who are on the front lines of patient care. This educational format moves away from didactic lectures and instead focuses on discussions on scientific advances and their impact on real-world patient cases.

Liquid biopsy results that identify DNA damage repair genes in prostate cancer may be a useful tool in clinical-deci­sion making, espe­cially because these genes can elucidate therapeutic vulnera­bilities that could be exploited by current treatments.

The triplet combination of selinexor, bortezomib, and dexamethasone demonstrated an improved median progression-free survival rate over the standard regimen of bortezomib and dexamethasone in treating patients with multiple myeloma in the BOSTON trial

The FDA has approved a supplemental New Drug Application for neratinib in combination with capecitabine for the treatment of adult patients with advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have previously received 2 or more anti–HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting, according to a press release issued by the manufacturer Puma Biotechnology, Inc.

The current national Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines for Genetic/Familial High-Risk Assessment, Version 1.2020, have been expanded to provide information about pancreatic cancer in addition to recommendations regarding genetic testing in patients with breast and ovarian cancer.

PARP inhibitors have the potential to change standards of care in prostate cancer, according to Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, who, along with his colleague, Leonard G. Gomella, MD, will cochair the New York GU: 13th Annual Interdisciplinary Prostate Can­cer Congress® and Other Genitourinary Malignancies conference, held in New York, New York.

As one of the main challenges faced by cli­nicians who treat non small cell lung cancer, drug resistance continues to thwart efforts to mitigate disease progression. This is especially true for the class of drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which inhibit adenosine triphosphate at the binding site of tyrosine kinase.

A Priority Review supplemental New Drug Application for selinexor, a selective inhibitor of nuclear export, has been accepted for filing by the FDA, according to the manufacturer, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Inc, in a press release. The application seeks accelerated approval from the agency as a treatment for adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

The FDA has extended the Prescription Drug User Fee Act date by 3 months for the new drug application of avapritinib from February 14, 2020, to May 14, 2020, the manufacturer, Blueprint Medicines Corporation, announced in a news release. The NDA was seeking accelerated approval for the kinase inhibitor for the treatment of adults with fourth-line gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Patients with metastatic breast cancer who carry rare mutations identified by circulating tumor DNA responded to matched targeted therapies, according to results of the plasma-MATCH trial presented during the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Patients with metastatic breast cancer who carry rare mutations identified by circulat­ing tumor DNA responded to matched targeted therapies, according to results of the plasmaMATCH trial presented during the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Specifically, patients with HER2 mutations responded to neratinib and patients with AKT1 mutations responded to capivasertib.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Arati Desai, MD, co-director of the University of Pennsylvania Brain Tumor Cancer Program Center, assistant professor of clinical medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, discussed the implications of the STELLAR trial, the role of eflornithine, and how IDH1/2 mutational status affects outcomes in patients with anaplastic astrocytomas.

Integrating a geriatric assessment into the care of older adults who are receiving cancer treatment in communi­ty oncology practices improves patient and caregiver satisfaction and encourages commu­nication about aging-related concerns, accord­ing to results of a clinical trial that enrolled 541 patients with advanced cancer.