October 2013

Activating EGFR mutations are associated with response to TKIs. Afatinib (Gilotrif) is an oral, irreversible ErbB family TKI that targets EGFR, HER2, and ErbB4. Afatinib is being formally evaluated in the LUX-Lung clinical trial program for NSCLC.

Several agents targeting the hedgehog pathway are under preclinical and clinical evaluation. In this article, we describe various classes of these agents and the evidence supporting their anticancer activity.

It was hoped that novel anticancer therapies, by directly targeting aberrant cancer cells, would avoid the toxicities of traditional cytotoxic agents. Instead, the range of expected toxicities has widened.

The efficacy and safety of adding the experimental agent brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) to standard chemotherapy to treat patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is being evaluated in a randomized, open-label phase II trial.

The Targeted Therapy Clinical Trials in Progress section is intended to stimulate discussion about ongoing clinical trials and to promote collaboration across the oncology community.

Determination of HER2 status has become an important part of the workup of patients with advanced esophagogastric cancer, given recent data from a phase III trial (ToGA) indicating that trastuzumab, an anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody, prolongs survival in these patients.

At the 11th International Congress on Targeted Therapies in Cancer, The International Journal of Targeted Therapies in Cancer spoke with Dr. Sosman about his conference presentation on advances in immunotherapy in melanoma.

A phase III trial examining the anti-CTLA-4 immune checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab (Yervoy) in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) failed to meet its primary endpoint of prolongation in overall survival (OS).

The monoclonal antibody ofatumumab (Arzerra) has received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA that could allow for earlier use in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to a joint announcement released by GlaxoSmithKline and Genmab, who are developing and distributing the drug.

No late-phase clinical trial results are available for the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib, yet a growing body of evidence is showing that not only is targeting BTK a viable strategy, but ibrutinib could change the way in which patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are managed.