News

Phase III results of the KRISTINE trial demonstrated that patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer had a significantly higher pathological complete response (pCR) rate when they received the neoadjuvant regimen of docetaxel, carboplatin, and trastuzumab plus pertuzumab (TCH+P) versus trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) plus pertuzumab (T-DM1+P).  

The FDA has agreed to review nivolumab under an accelerated timeframe for its potential as a treatment for patients with previously treated metastatic or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

IMAB362, a novel chimeric IgG1 backbone antibody highly specific for CLDN18.2, extended median overall survival by 4.8 months when added to standard chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Understanding how gastric and esophageal cancers are triggered and their genetic makeup is vital to developing and testing new therapies.

Pre-operative chemotherapy alone in esophageal cancer may not be the best choice for patients undergoing resection.

The FDA has granted nivolumab a breakthrough therapy designation for the treatment of patients with resectable locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma after the failure of a platinum-containing regimen.

The PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab demonstrated an objective response rate of 46% for patients with high PD-L1-expressing advanced urothelial bladder cancer.

The recent FDA approval of atezolizumab was a significant milestone for the second-line treatment of locally advanced bladder cancer, with even greater potential still on the horizon for the PD-L1 agent.

Targeting the androgen receptor pathway in patients with castration-sensitive prostate cancer is a key component of treatment.

Sunitinib extended disease-free survival versus placebo as an adjuvant therapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma at high risk of recurrence in the phase III S-TRAC trial.

Bone metastases in castration-resistant prostate cancer create a significant problem. Prostate cancer represents 21% of all new cancer cases in men and is the second most common cause of cancer death among American men after lung cancer.

The FDA has approved a lighter and more convenient version of the Optune system for patients with glioblastoma multiforme.

Adding temozolomide to short-course radiotherapy after surgery in elderly patients with glioblastoma boosted overall survival by nearly 2 months, bringing 1-year survival rates up from 22.2% to 37.8%.

A novel antiangiogenic gene therapy, added to bevacizumab, led to significantly better overall survival in recurrent glioblastoma multiforme compared with historical patients treated with bevacizumab alone.

An immunotherapy/antiangiogenesis combination proved to be safe and tolerable for patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

For patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma that has recurred following surgery or radiation therapy, the hedgehog/smoothened inhibitors sonidegib and vismodegib have both shown significant benefit.

For patients with NRAS-mutant melanoma who progress following treatment with an immunotherapy agent, the MEK inhibitor binimetinib offers a promising option.

The FDA has approved the cobas HPV Test for use with SurePath Preservative Fluid for the detection of human papilloma virus in cervical cells. SurePath is one of the two approved liquid collection fluids commonly used for Pap tests.

The FDA has lifted a clinical hold placed on a phase II study exploring the CD19-targeted CAR-T cell therapy JCAR015 for adult patients with relapsed or refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The addition of cetuximab (Erbitux) to standard FOLFOX-4 chemotherapy in the first-line treatment of patients with RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) significantly improved survival outcomes in a phase III clinical trial that builds upon the regimen's efficacy, particularly for Asian patients, and may help pave the way for its approval in China.

Treatment with ARQ-087 demonstrated promising signs of clinical activity with a manageable safety profile for patients with FGFR2 fusion-positive advanced and/or metastatic intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, according to findings from an ongoing phase I/II study presented at the 2016 World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer.

A study of nivolumab (Opdivo) in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCCA), which recently presented findings at the 2016 World Congress on Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancer, is the first prospective trial to examine immunotherapy agents in the treatment of SCCA.

Napabucasin, a STAT3-targeted agent, has received an orphan drug status from the FDA for the treatment of patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer.

Binimetinib, a MEK inhibitor, is seeking FDA approval in the treatment of patients with advanced NRAS-mutant metastatic melanoma.

While PD-L1 has been perceived as an important biomarker in the realm of lung cancer, Keith Kerr, BSc, MB, ChB, FRCPath, FRCPE, says it still has a long way to go.

The FDA has released 2 draft guidances regarding the use of next-generation sequencing-based tests.

Geoffrey R. Oxnard, MD, specializes in researching molecular mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a particular emphasis on prognostic and predictive biomarkers. Oxnard spoke with Targeted Oncology about the potential for BRAF-targeting therapies in NSCLC.

Given the lack of treatment options for patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, the need for novel therapies is dire.

Regorafenib (Stivarga) as a second-line therapy for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have progressed on sorafenib (Nexavar), showed an improved overall survival (OS) rate of 2.8 months over placebo. Findings from the phase III RESORCE study will be submitted to the FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA) for potential approval, according to a statement from the developer of regorafenib, Bayer Pharmaceuticals.

A recent study uncovered BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations as possible risk markers for colorectal cancer.