HEAD & NECK CANCERS

Compared to chemotherapy alone, the addition of the immunotherapy agent toripalimab to gemcitabine plus cisplatin significantly improved progression-free survival in the frontline treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

A biologic license application has been submitted to the FDA for the PD-1 monoclonal antibody drug penpulimab for the third-line treatment of metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Tislelizumab, an anti-PD-1 antibody combined with gemcitabine and cisplatin demonstrated improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared with chemotherapy as first-line treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer, meeting the primary end point of the phase 3 RATIONALE 309 trial, according to a press release by BeiGene, Ltd.

Avelumab was explored in a clinical trial for the treatment of locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, but more research is needed to position the agent and other checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment landscape, experts say.

Results from the phase 2 study of farnesyltransferase inhibitor tipifarnib showed significant responses in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and demonstrated that variant alle frequency could be a potential biomarker in this patient population.

During a virtual Targeted Oncology Case-Based Roundtable event, Lori Wirth, MD, discussed the treatment patients with radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer with a group of peers.

Stuart J. Wong, MD, discussed the KEYNOTE-048 trial, advances in head and neck cancers, and current unmet needs in this patient population in an interview with Targeted Oncology.

GlaxoSmithKline plc has announced that they will stop enrolling patients in the phase 2 INDUCE-3 and INDUCE-4 trials while simultaneously ending the use of feladilimab, originally GSK3359609, for the treatment of PD-L1-positive recurrent locally advanced or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma after the recommendation of the Independent Data Monitoring Committee.

A Fast Track designation was granted by the FDA to the soluble LAG-3 protein, eftilagimod alpha for the frontline treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

The FDA has approved a higher dose of cetuximab for the treatmen of patients with KRAS wild-type, EGFR-expressing metastatic colorectal cancer or squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Research on combination therapies involving human papillomavirus-targeted vaccines and immunotherapies continues to expand in phase 2 and 3 trials in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Nearly 20% of the world’s cancer cases are caused by viruses, and 7 viruses have been documented to cause this aggregate number of cancer cases, with HPV being the most well recognized.

A rolling submission of the Biologics License Application was initiated for toripalimab for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

The rising prevalence of thyroid cancer and thyroid nodules, especially for differentiated thyroid cancer, has brought into question the management of disease as it is known today.

The FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to cabozantinib for the potential treatment of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer that has progressed following prior therapy and who are radioactive iodine-refractory if eligible for radioactive iodine.

The FDA has granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation to tipifarnib for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic HRAS-mutant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with variant allele frequency ≥ 20% after disease progression on platinum-based chemotherapy.

The FDA has granted Orphan Drug Designation to the small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor apatinib for the treatment of the rare malignancy, adenoid cystic carcinoma.

Treatment with single-agent durvalumab did not improve overall survival when compared with the standard-of-care frontline combination of chemotherapy plus cetuximab as treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma whose tumors highly expressed PD-L1.

Tislelizumab improved overall survival compared with investigator’s choice of chemotherapy in patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who have received prior systemic therapy.

Biological activity was observed with dusquetide as treatment of severe oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer receiving chemoradiation in the pivotal phase 3 DOM-INNATE study.

Cabozantinib demonstrated significant improvement in progression-free survival in patients with radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer who have progressed after up to 2 prior vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-targeted therapies compared with placebo, meeting the primary end point of the pivotal phase 3 COSMIC-311 clinical trial.

The addition og xevinapant to standard cisplatin-based concomitant fractionation chemoradiation therapy led to a reduction in the risk of mortality as treatment of patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Debio 1143, a potential first-in-class inhibitor of apoptosis proteins, demonstrated a statistically and clinically significant overall survival improvement when used in combination with chemoradiotherapy as treatment of patients with high-risk locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, according to a press release from Debiopharm.

Avelumab in combination with a novel HPV16-targeted vaccine, demonstrated clinical activity as treatment of patients with HPV16-positive recurrent and/or metastatic malignancies.

“Today’s approval for the prevention of HPV-related oropharyngeal and other head and neck cancers represents an important step in Merck’s mission to help reduce the number of men and women affected by certain HPV-related cancers.”

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

The FDA has accepted and granted a priority review to a supplemental Biologics License Application for pembrolizumab 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.

An association was found between a lower risk of grade 3 or higher chemotherapy toxicity with higher body mass indexes and normal albumin, a protein made in the liver, levels in older adult patients with solid tumors, according to an analysis of a prospective, multicenter study.

A sudden surge in the cases of COVID-19 due to pandemic, along with efforts to contain it, has led to multiple challenges that no country has experienced in the last several decades. The global pandemic from COVID-19 poses a unique set of challenges not only for patients with cancer who need their treatment, but also for caregivers, oncologists, and the overall care team.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Kashyap Patel, MD, discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of new precautions in his practice as the number of COVID-19 infected persons rises in the state.<br /> &nbsp;