December 2013

Several oral drugs are in development for both non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). “There is different activity in different lymphoma types with different oral drugs and antibodies in development,” said Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD.

A research team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York has succeeded in identifying the most common genetically altered genes and the major oncogenic drivers in hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The development of predictive biomarkers is widely accepted as an important milestone in the move toward personalized, or precision, medicine and the ability to identify the right drug for the right patient. JTT interviewed Kopetz about biomarker models.

The FDA approval of two anti-CD20 antibodies—ofatumumab (Arzerra) and, just recently, obinotuzumab (Gazyva)—has greatly advanced the outlook for managing chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Idelalisib is a potent and highly selective PI3K inhibitor that promotes apoptosis in primary cells from patients with different B-cell malignancies. Idelalisib has been shown to affect microenvironmental signaling and cell survival both in vitro and in vivo.

While targeted agents are generally well tolerated, clinical experience has uncovered a wide range of toxicities due to the physiologic and homeostatic functions mediated by the targets of drug action.

LDK378 is a highly selective and potent inhibitor of ALK, and has demonstrated preclinical antitumor activity against tumors with acquired crizotinib resistance. In a phase I trial, LDK378 induced tumor response in 70% of patients with crizotinib-resistant NSCLC.

Over the past few years, seven new drugs have gained approval from the FDA for the treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The advent of these molecularly targeted therapies has significantly improved the standard of care for patients with RCC.

In September 2012, the FDA approved regorafenib for treatment of patients with mCRC who have been previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin-, and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF therapy, and, if KRAS wild-type, with an anti-EGFR therapy.

Recent biomarker analyses of studies involving the anti-EGFR antibody panitumumab combined with chemotherapy for treatment of mCRC have advanced clinicians’ ability to prospectively identify patients who are, more or less, likely to respond to this agent.