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Interviews

David Polsky, MD, PhD, discusses the findings from a liquid biopsy analysis of the COMBI-d trial, which is a phase III trial investigating the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib or dabrafenib alone in patients with BRAF V600E/K–mutant melanoma. Investigators found an association between the presence of baseline circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and a poor prognosis with the treatment of BRAF inhibitors.

Martin E. Gutierrez, MD, director, Drug Discovery/Phase I Unit, and co-chief and medical oncologist, Divisions of Thoracic Oncology and Gastrointestinal Oncology, John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack University Medical Center, discusses the early findings for H3B-6527, an FGFR4 inhibitor, as a treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Charu Aggarwal, MD, MPH, the Leslye M. Heisler Assistant Professor for Lung Cancer Excellence at Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and other researchers conducted a prospective study using next-generation sequencing as a biomarker to predict response and progression-free survival rates in patients with non–small cell lung cancer  receiving pembrolizumab monotherapy. The data were presented during the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Ana Oaknin, MD, head of the Gynecologic Tumors Unit, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, and principal investigator, Gynecological Malignancies Group, explains the rationale for analyzing anti–PD-1 monotherapy with dostarlimab in patients with microsatellite instability–high and microsatellite stable endometrial cancer. 

Karim Fizazi, MD, PhD,head of the Department of Cancer Medicine,&nbsp;Institut Gustave Roussy, University of Paris-Sud, gives highlights on the updated findings from the phase III ARAMIS trial using darolutamide for the treatment of patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, recently presented during the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;

Phillipe Moreau, MD, discusses the results from the randomized, open-label, multicenter phase III CASSIOPEIA trial. The results of the trial led to&nbsp;a priority review designation from the FDA for the combination of daratumumab plus bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone for patients with treatment-na&iuml;ve multiple myeloma who are candidates for autologous stem cell transplant.

<em>FLT3</em> mutation analysis in laboratories has brought on reimbursement barriers in clinical oncology. Jordan Clark, chief commercial officer, Diaceutics, a diagnostic development and commercialization company, spoke to <em>Targeted Oncology</em> about the cause of reimbursement issues and how the problem affects all parties involved.

Lori A. Leslie, MD, discusses the rationale for investigating the PI3K-delta inhibitor umbralisib in patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma in a multi-center, open-label phase II study. On trial, only patients with MZL were enrolled who had received at least 1 prior line of therapy. These patients received single-agent umbralisib once daily until progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Debu Tripathy, MD, of the Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center, was an investigator in the phase III MONALEESA-7 trial. The purpose of the study was to examine how endocrine therapy, in combination with a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, affects progression-free survival and overall survival in premenopausal patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer.

Addressing the need for treatments that are more effective and less toxic for patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Paolo Ghia, MD, of the Universita Vita-Salute San Raffaele, and other researchers conducted a phase III randomized, multicentric ASCEND study, testing acalabrutinib monotherapy in comparison with physician&rsquo;s choice of standard regimens in patients R/R CLL.