Latest Conference Articles

In a 500-patient randomized trial, the pharmacokinetics, clinical activity, and safety of pertuzumab and trastuzumab administered as a subcutaneous fixed-dose combination were found to be noninferior to the intravenous versions of the drugs.

A pathologic complete response rate of 44% was observed with a neoadjuvant durvalumab (Imfinzi)-based regimen administered to patients with triple-negative breast cancer, according to results of a phase I/II study presented in a poster at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, discusses the results of the monarcHER trial, which examined adding the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib and endocrine therapy to trastuzumab versus trastuzumab plus chemotherapy in advanced hormone receptor-positive, HER2-positive breast cancer.

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.

Preliminary results from the phase III NeoTRIPaPDL1 Michelangelo study showed that the addition of atezolizumab to combination carboplatin plus nab-paclitaxel did not result in a statistically significant increase in the pathologic complete response rate compared with the combination alone in patients with early high-risk and locally advanced triple-negative breast cancer.

According to a pooled analysis of neoadjuvant trials presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, a pathologic complete response to HER2-directed neoadjuvant therapy reduced the risk of recurrence in patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer but did not eliminate it, supporting the common practice of continued anti-HER2 therapy.

In patients with triple-negative breast cancer or those with PD-L1–positive breast cancer across several subtypes, durvalumab as maintenance therapy, may improve outcomes compared with chemotherapy, according to an exploratory analyses from the phase II randomized SAFIR02-IMMUNO trial presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The addition of pembrolizumab to standard-of-care chemotherapy for neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment of early triple-negative breast cancer lead to higher rates of pathologic complete responses in the KEYNOTE-522 trial, especially in those patients with stage III and/or node-positive disease.

Frontline treatment with palbociclib demonstrated positive progression-free survival n real-world patients with HR-positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer and may lead to an overall survival benefit , according to data from the pivotal PALOMA-2 trial.

High rates of disease control were reported in the first set of results from a randomized trial in which adjuvant T-DM1 was compared to  trastuzumab and paclitaxel for the treatment of patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer.

Rita Nanda, MD, discusses the IMpower130 trial in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who express PD-L1.

Patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who had received prior anti-HER2 therapies continued to experience a progression-free survival benefit with margetuximab and a trend toward overall survival compared with trastuzumab when either agent was combined with chemotherapy, according to updated findings from the phase III SOPHIA trial. 

In the phase III APHINITY trial, pertuzumab with trastuzumab plus chemotherapy demonstrated a 0.9% improvement in overall survival and continued to reduce the risk of disease recurrence in patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer in the adjuvant setting, according to a 6-year analysis of the phase III APHINITY trial presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

In the phase II HER2CLIMB trial, a 34% reduction in the risk of death was observed with the addition of tucatinib to the combination of trastuzumab and capecitabine in patients with heavily pretreated unresectable locally advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer compared to the combination alone, according to results from the phase II HER2CLIMB trial 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.

In heavily pretreated patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, trastuzumab deruxtecan induced a confirmed objective response rate of almost 61% and a durable benefit, according to results from the phase II DESTINY-Breast01 trial presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

A significant proportion of patients with transplant-ineligible newly diagnosed multiple myeloma alive and progression free after >3 years following treatment with daratumumab in addition to standard first-line therapy, according to updated safety and efficacy findings from the randomized ALCYONE study.

In the phase I CRB-402 study, patients with heavily pretreated relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and minimal residual disease negativity had very good partial responses to the anti-BCMA CAR T cell therapy bb21217, according to updated results presented at the 2019 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting.<br /> &nbsp;

In the phase III BELIEVE trial, clinically meaningful and durable transfusion burden reduction were observed with luspatercept in the majority of adult patients with &beta;-thalassemia who require regular red blood cell. Additionally, dose levels were not associated with by incidence of adverse events, and these AEs decreases overtime without affecting treatment modification or continuation.

Treatment with REGN1979, a human anti-CD20 &times; anti-CD3 bispecific IgG4 antibody, showed high clinical activity and tolerability in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.<br /> &nbsp;

CPI-0610, a selective and potent oral bromodomain and extra-terminal domain inhibitor, induced spleen and symptom responses as early as 12 weeks in combination with the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib in patients with JAK inhibitor-na&iuml;ve myelofibrosis, according to the preliminary findings from the phase II MANIFEST trial presented at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting.

Heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma demonstrated antitumor activity when treated with varying dose levels of the human IgG4-based anti-CD20 &times; anti-CD3 bispecific&nbsp;monoclonalantibody, REGN1979.&nbsp;

Updated results of the GRIFFIN trial revealed that the addition of daratumumab to a standard-of-care regimen used in the treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma met the trials primary end point of higher rates of stringent complete response in patients who are eligible for transplant.

Patients with primary or secondary myelofibrosis who developed resistance to ruxolitinib in the frontline setting, showed clinically meaningful spleen responses and improvements in symptoms with the addition of navitoclax to ruxolitinib, according to findings from a phase II study presented at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting.

An extended media overall survival of 9.9 months was achieved with CC-486 maintenance treatment compared with placebo for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first remission, according to findings from the phase III QUAZAR AML-001 trial presented at the 2019 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting.<br /> <br /> &nbsp;

Ongoing benefits of 42 months were observed with Bruton&rsquo;s tyrosine kinase inhibitor acalabrutinib treatment in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, according to long-term follow-up data from the phase I/II ACE-CL-001 study reported at the 2019 American Society of Hemetology Annual Meeting.

Stable disease status was achieved in patients with b-cell malignancies through treatment with &nbsp;vecabrutinib, a reversible, noncovalent Bruton&rsquo;s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, without producing any grade &ge;3 treatment-related adverse events, according to data presented at the 2019 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition.

<br /> Richard R. Furman, MD, professor of medicine, Morton Coleman, MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine, director, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Research Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, and attending physician, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, discusses the 42-month follow-up data of acalabrutinib monotherapy in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Data from up to 6 years of long-term follow-up shows better progression-free survival, overall survival, objective response rates, and sustained efficacy for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who receive single-agent ibrutinib in earlier lines of treatment, including those with high-risk prognostic factors. According to the poster presented by Paul M. Barr, MD, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Wilmot Cancer Institute, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, during the 2019 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, first-line ibrutinib yielded deeper responses over time with 30% complete responses versus 10% to 12% CR for later lines of treatment.

Patients with high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma who previously progressed on ibrutinib, responded well to treatment the CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel and had manageable toxicity, according to updated findings from the phase I/II TRANSCEND CLL 004 study presented at the 2019 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition.