Immuno-Oncology

Early data from a phase I/II study suggest that the combination of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) and nivolumab (Opdivo) may be an active and well-tolerated outpatient regimen in patients with relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma after failure of standard frontline chemotherapy.

Patients with non–small cell lung cancer treated in the pembrolizumab arm of the KEYNOTE-024 trial experienced improved quality of life compared with patients who were treated with standard chemotherapy.

Claire Verschraegen, MD, professor of Medical Oncology, University of Vermont Cancer Center, discusses the results of the JAVELIN Solid Tumor trial during an interview at the IASLC 17th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Vienna, Austria.

Robert G. Uzzo, MD, discusses the promise of immunotherapies as well as the challenges with using them across different indications in renal cell carcinoma.

Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, sheds light on the emerging roles of both immunotherapy and targeted agents in the treatment of patients with bladder cancer.

Findings from an efficacy update of patients participating in a study in the CheckMate series revealed that first-line nivolumab (Opdivo) demonstrated activity in advanced non–small cell lung cancer, and the addition of ipilimumab (Yervoy) resulted in enhanced activity, specifically in prolonged progression-free survival and higher objective response rates.

Treatment with first-line avelumab yielded promising clinical benefit and durable antitumor activity in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer.

While treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo) significantly improved overall survival over docetaxel in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer in the CheckMate-057 trial, an analysis of deaths occurring within 3 months of initiation of therapy showed numerically more deaths in the nivolumab arm.

Treatment with the combination of pembrolizumab, pomalidomide, and dexamethasone demonstrated promising durable efficacy and a tolerable safety profile for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Treatment with the combination of nivolumab and ibrutinib showed encouraging activity and safety in a small phase II study of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Richter transformation.

Checkpoint blockade immunotherapies that have moved quickly from the development stage to clinical use in a range of solid tumors are also being explored in hematologic malignancies.

Scott J. Antonia, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Thoracic Oncology at Moffit Cancer Center, discusses immunotherapies that are emerging in the field of lung cancer.

The FDA has granted a priority review to a supplemental biologics license application for pembrolizumab for use as a treatment for patients with refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma or those who have relapsed after ≥3 lines of therapy,

Immunotherapy combinations have significant potential as treatment for patients with renal cell carcinoma.

The treatment landscape of renal cell carcinoma is changing at a remarkably fast pace.

The concept of using immunotherapies to treat patients with glioblastoma multiforme is gaining ground among researchers who are interested not only in evaluating checkpoint blockade agents that have proved effective in other tumor types but also in exploring novel targets.