IMMUNOTHERAPY

To date, there is no national Medicare policy in place to provide coverage for CAR T-cell therapies, which have been proven to be a successful treatment for certain patients with relapsed/refractory cancers. Now, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed to cover CAR T-cell therapies approved by the FDA under “Coverage with Evidence Development."

Lung Cancer

Arjun V. Balar, MD, discusses a few approaches for incorporating immunotherapy treatments into the frontline for patients with bladder cancer.

Ezra Cohen, MD, discusses the advancing field of immunotherapy in the treatment landscape for patients with head and neck cancers. Prior to the use of PD-1/PD-L1 blockades, which have been the most tested immunotherapy in this setting, there were little treatment options.

General Cancer

Ezra Cohen, MD, FRCPSC, FASCO, discusses the most important parts of successfully managing toxicities related to treatment with immunotherapy.

Joaquim Bellmunt, MD, PhD, shares his recommendation in how to manage the side effects of immunotherapy as a monotherapy, particularly PD-1/PD-L1, in patients with bladder cancer.

The FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies have instituted a new era of effective cancer therapies for patients and are the most expensive treatments to date. Now, physicians are faced with financial implications before introducing these novel agents into clinical practice.

Diwakar Davar, MBBS, MSc, discusses how data from the phase I trial of TSR-022, an anti-TIM-3 monoclonal antibody, and TSR-042, an anti-PD-1 agent, impact the treatment of patients with both melanoma and lung cancer.

The review period for&nbsp;a supplemental biologics license application for first-line treatment with pembrolizumab monotherapy for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous or squamous non&ndash;small cell lung cancer with PD-L1 expression (tumor proportion score) of &ge;1% and no&nbsp;<em>EGFR&nbsp;</em>or&nbsp;<em>ALK&nbsp;</em>genomic tumor aberrations has been extended by the FDA, according to a press release by Merck,&nbsp;the manufacturer of pembrolizumab.

Since&nbsp;2016, the FDA has approved 5 immune checkpoint inhibitors to treat urologic cancers. Although that is unquestionably a good thing for patients, the rise of these agents means that the role of the urologist in cancer care is changing, said Noah M. Hahn, MD, during the 2018 Large Urology Group Practice Association Annual Meeting.

Toni K. Choueiri, MD, discusses the current role of immunotherapy in the treatment of patients with renal cell carcinoma.

ASCO and SITC released a joint statement that outlines new recommendations for reporting data from immuno-oncology clinical trials.

Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the UPMC Cancer Center, discusses how the data from the IMpassion130 trial have demonstrated benefit for immunotherapy in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.