News

Fulvestrant (Faslodex) has been approved by the FDA for use in combination with the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib (Verzenio) as a treatment for patients with HR+/HER2- advanced or metastatic breast cancer who have progressed after endocrine therapy.

According to results from the phase III phase III LyMa trial published in the <em>New England Journal of Medicine, </em>survival was improved for patients with mantle cell lymphoma with maintenance&nbsp;rituximab (Rituxan) following autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT).

Andre Goy, MD,&nbsp;discusses the excitement surrounding novel therapies on the horizon in mantle cell lymphoma, as well as how the treatment paradigm will shift in the next 5 to 10 years.

In an effort to improve bladder preservation and quality of life, investigators are currently exploring the efficacy of risk-adapted treatment for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer&nbsp;after receiving a neoadjuvant accelerated methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin (MVAC) regimen.

The use of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) is being recommended by the UK&#39;s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for treatment-na&iuml;ve patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who are not eligible for cisplatin-based therapy.

Combining the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) with the novel IDO inhibitor&nbsp;BMS-986205 generated promising response rates&nbsp;in patients with advanced cervical or bladder cancers and similar adverse effects to what is seen with anti&ndash;PD-1 monotherapy, according to findings of an early-phase clinical trial presented by Jason J. Luke, MD, during the&nbsp;SITC 32nd Annual Meeting.

Hans-Joachim Schmoll, MD, discusses&nbsp;updated CHARTA findings, the current role of chemotherapy in patients with metastatic CRC, and his predictions for the future CRC treatment landscape.

Cathy Eng, MD, discussed optimizing sequencing beyond disease progression in CRC

Johanna Bendell, MD, discusses&nbsp; the current and emerging treatment landscape of immunotherapy for patients with CRC.

Chimeric antigen receptor T cells have hit the prime time, with 2 FDA approvals already for this class of cellbased therapy. Undoubtedly this will be a game changer for patients with B-cell malignancies who have a small number of treatment options; however, questions regarding the realworld application of CAR T-cell therapies remain.

The objective response rate with neoadjuvant nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) was almost tripled compared with nivolumab alone in patients with high-risk resectable melanoma, according to preliminary findings from a phase II study presented during the 32nd SITC Annual Meeting.

Alectinib (Alecensa) has received FDA approval for the frontline treatment of patients with&nbsp;ALK-positive metastatic non&ndash;small cell lung cancer,&nbsp;Genentech, the manufacturer of the second-generation ALK inhibitor, announced today.

Vemurafenib (Zelboraf) has been granted approval by the FDA&nbsp;as a treatment for patients with <em>BRAF</em> V600-mutated Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD). This is the first approved therapy for this rare blood disorder.

Brentuximab vedotin&nbsp;(Adcetris) has been submitted for FDA approval in combination with Adriamycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine for the frontline treatment of patients with&nbsp;advanced classical Hodgkin lymphoma.&nbsp;Seattle Genetics,&nbsp;the company developing brentuximab vedotin, recently announced the submission of a&nbsp;supplemental new drug application for the&nbsp;CD30-targeted antibody-drug conjugate.

The B-cell maturation antigen antibody-drug conjugate&nbsp;GSK2857916 has been granted a breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma,&nbsp;GlaxoSmithKline has announced.

According to 10-year results from the TEAM study,

Although the addition of pazopanib (Votrient) to gemcitabine in the second-line treatment of&nbsp;patients with metastatic or relapsed uterine or soft tissue leiomyosarcomas demonstrated disease control in the majority of patients,&nbsp;statistical endpoints were not met in the&nbsp;phase II UNICANCER SARCOMA 11 study, according to results reported at the 2017 ESMO Congress.

Acalabrutinib (Calquence) received an accelerated approval from the FDA for the treatment of adult patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least 1 prior regimen.

In a presentation during the 2017 International Liver Cancer Association Annual Conference, Amit G. Singal, MD, discussed data surrounding the use of direct acting antivirals, a novel and completely oral hepatitis C therapy, which has been associated with a high response rate.

A supplemental biologics application for bevacizumab (Avastin) has been accepted by the FDA for the first-line treatment of advanced ovarian cancer, according to Genentech, the manufacturer of the&nbsp;angiogenesis inhibitor.

Intravenous rolapitant (Varubi) has received FDA approval for&nbsp;use in combination with other antiemetic agents to treat delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in adults, according to TESARO, the manufacturer of the agent.

Peter R. Dottino, MD, discusses&nbsp;the utilization of molecular methods to identify ovarian cancer following treatment with chemotherapy, and how this type of research impacts the field going forward.

Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania evaluated the genetic profiles of 160 breast and ovarian cancers associated with germline mutations in&nbsp;<em>BRCA1 </em>and <em>BRCA2&nbsp;</em>and determined that there is a relationship between the genetics of <em>BRCA 1/2 </em>mutations and the risk of resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy.&nbsp;

The treatment approach for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma should be tailored based on biology of the disease, frailty of the patient, and comorbidities, said Natalie S. Callander, MD, in a presentation at the NCCN 12th Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies in San Francisco, California.

Coordinating appointments between the physician office suite and infusion center improved dramatically with the use of a scheduling optimization tool at the Cowell Family Cancer Center in Traverse City, Michigan. Specifically, the investigators observed a 6% reduction in median office-visit time and a 43% reduction in patient wait time in the infusion chair before infusion began.

According to phase II results from the DSMM XI trial published in the <em>British Journal of Haematology</em>, induction therapy with bortezomib (Velcade), cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone demonstrated an overall response rate of 85.4%&nbsp;in treatment-na&iuml;ve patients with multiple myeloma.

In patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, maintenance therapy with lenalidomide (Revlimid)&nbsp;induced a survival benefit following autologous stem-cell transplantation, according to results from a meta-analysis published in the <em>Journal of Clinical Oncology</em>.