News

In an interview with Targeted Oncology following the announcement of sacituzumab govitecan accelerated FDA approval, Hope Rugo, MD, discussed the published data from the phase 1/2 basket trial and the relevance of having sacituzumab govitecan available for the treatment of patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer.

"Our trial, together with ongoing randomized trials, provides more evidence on the risks and benefits of immunotherapy as a neoadjuvant treatment, and could help to answer questions regarding the optimal duration, best surrogate endpoint, and best predictive biomarkers for treatment."

The immune checkpoint inhibitor induced 1 objective response but appeared safe as treatment of patients with metastatic high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms in 2 open-label phase 2 clinical trials.

Targeted Oncology reviews trending news online for the week of May 22, 2020, including recent news from the FDA, updates in oncology, and new information regarding COVID-19.

The FDA has granted approval to brigatinib for the frontline treatment of patients with ALK-positive metastatic non–small cell lung cancer, as detected by an FDA-approved test.

Fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki has received an Orphan Drug designation for the treatment of patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Lajos Pusztai, MD, DPhil, discussed the findings from the phase I/II clinical trial of durvalumab in combination with concurrent nab-paclitaxel and doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide in the neoadjuvant setting for patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

"Durvalumab plus standard chemotherapy delivered a promising median overall survival rate for patients with previously untreated, inoperable malignant pleural mesothelioma."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, following a tweet chat on prostate cancer, Tian Zhang, MD, discussed the key takeaways from the tweet chat discussion and highlighted both the role of molecular testing and the impact of the recent FDA approvals in prostate cancer.

Two companion diagnostic assays were granted FDA approval to identify male patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who are eligible for treatment with olaparib.

“In this study, we evaluated ruxolitinib as a bridge, relapse, and GVHD prevention agent in patients with myelofibrosis. The regimen was well tolerated, with an acceptable rate of organ toxicity."

A new analysis of nearly 600 patients with myelofibrosis found patients who take ruxolitinib progress to blast phase at approximately the same rates as those who are ruxolitinib-naïve.

Vivek Subbiah, MD, discusses the potential to combine tivozanib with other agents, particularly ipilimumab, as treatment of patients with renal cell carcinoma.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Rashmi Murthy, MD, discussed the final results from the HER2CLIMB study and the future of tucatinib as it makes its way to the community setting as treatment of advanced HER2--positive breast cancer.

Based on data from a matching-adjusted indirect comparison study, cabozantinib the safety and efficacy of cabozantinib may be comparative to regorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

“This randomized phase III study for the first time provides prospective long-term results on survival and other end points of interest after standard treatment with CHOP in patients with PTCL beyond 60 years who represent the majority of [patients with] PTCL, generally less eligible for more intense therapies like autologous and allogeneic transplantation."

Momelotinib for the treatment of patients with myelofibrosis may address concerns with the development of cytopenias, an issue no approved therapy has been able to solve.

"Promising results would pave the way to a larger clinical trial that would include non-cancer patients at high risk for COVID-19 complications.”

“Although PARP inhibitor treatment has demonstrated radiographic and PSA responses in patients with BRCA alterations (4–8), the data presented here offer compelling evidence that response to PARP inhibitors is limited in men with mCRPC harboring an ATM, CDK1/2, or CHEK2 alteration."

Atezolizumab has received its fifth indication in NSCLC as treatment of adult patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer who have high PD-L1 expression.

A study found correlation between body mass index in patients with non–small cell lung cancer treated with atezolizumab and improved survival outcomes.

Long-term data from a phase Ib/II trial of the BTK inhibitor acalabrutinib were recently published. Acalabrutinib appears to evoke durable responses with good safety and efficacy.

"Today’s news is very welcome as we continue to evaluate the potential of Enhertu to help patients with this devastating type of lung cancer. Targeted treatments and immunotherapies are demonstrating tremendous advancements, but there remains an unmet medical need for patients with HER2 mutations who are not benefiting from such therapies or for those whose cancer continues to progress."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Peter Schmid, MD, PhD, discussed the findings from the interim analysis for the phase III KEYNOTE-522 study, which added pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer.

Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia face uncertain futures, as clinicians can have a difficult time predicting whether and when a patient will need treatment. New research suggests tumor mutational load could be a helpful prognostic tool.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Steve A. Soper, PhD, discussed microfluidic platforms for use in isolating circulating leukemia cells and plasma cells in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.

"Today’s approval of Qinlock establishes a new standard of care for patients who have received three prior therapies."

Targeted Oncology reviews trending news online for the week of May 15, 2020, including recent updates from studies of COVID-19 and the latest oncology news.