ESMO Congress

The investigative PD-1 inhibitor balstilimab as a single agent and combined with the CTLA-4 inhibitor zalifrelimab showed promising objective response rates, regardless of PD-L1 expression, and a tolerable safety profile in patients with recurrent/metastatic cervical cancer.

Although atezolizumab did not improve pathological complete response when added to carboplatin and nab-paclitaxel, the immunotherapy increased the pCR by 10% or more in “immune-rich” groups with high-risk and locally advanced triple-negative breast cancer, and also turned PD-L1 negative tumors positive in most immunotherapy-treated patients.

The combination of nivolumab and cabozantinib led to a 49% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death, while also significantly improving overall survival and doubling objective response rate, compared with sunitinib in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Neoadjuvant durvalumab achieved a satisfactory complete surgical resection rate in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer, demonstrating preliminary promise for this treatment strategy.

One preoperative injection of atezolizumab was considered safe and induced major pathological responses in select patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer.

Three-year follow-up data for the phase 2 study of the first-in-class inhibitor of apoptosis protein antagonist, xevinapant, in combination with standard cisplatin-based concomitant fractionation chemoradiation therapy reduced the risk of mortality by half compared with CRT alone in patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Frontline maintenance treatment with avelumab plus best supportive care improved both progression-free and overall survival compared with BSC alone across prespecified subgroups of patients with advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that has not progressed on first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.

Despite observed responses, induction therapy with avelumab prior to standard of care gemcitabine/carboplatin fails to sustain clinically meaningful efficacy and is not an adequate strategy for the first-line treatment for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

The investigational PD-L1 inhibitor BGB-A333 in combination with the PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab demonstrated marked antitumor activity, durable clinical responses, and a tolerable safety profile in patients with urothelial carcinoma.

Bhavana Pothuri, MD, discusses patient-reported outcomes with niraparib in advanced ovarian cancer.

The PD-1 antibody cemiplimab established encouraging clinical activity in patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma who progress on or are intolerant to hedgehog inhibitors, regardless of PD-L1 expression.

The addition of ipatasertib to paclitaxel failed to improve progression-free survival and objective response rates versus placebo plus paclitaxel in patients with PIK3CA/AKT1/PTEN-altered hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer.

Alexander J. Stratigos, MD, discusses the rationale to evaluate cemiplimab-rwlc in locally advanced basal cell carcinoma.

Enfortumab vedotin-ejfv resulted in a significant improvement in overall survival versus chemotherapy in adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who received prior treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy and a PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor.

In an interim analysis of a subset of patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma harboring FGFR2 fusions/rearrangements, futibatinib was shown to be efficacious and tolerable.

As the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic lingers into the later part of 2020, consideration is needed regarding the lasting effects on patients with cancer who may have experienced delayed care or diagnosis.

The coronavirus disease 2019 has had a significant impact on cancer care and created widespread challenges for health care systems across the globe.

The wellbeing and job performance of oncology professionals has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and although the extent of this impact is varied between countries, it has been suggested to be related to the crude mortality rate of the virus.

Updated results from the phase I/II MEDIOLA study strengthen the case for combining olaparib and durvalumab in patients with metastatic breast cancer and relapsed ovarian cancer with germline BRCA mutations. The updated data were featured in two separate presentations at the 2019 ESMO Congress.

Combining nivolumab with the angiogenesis inhibitor tivozanib led to a high response rate and durable disease control in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, a preliminary open-label study showed.

Evidence is increasing that blood-based biomarkers have predictive utility in advanced non–small cell lung cancer. Going further, blood-based next-generation sequencing appears to have clinical utility in selecting targeted treatment in this setting.

Larotrectinib demonstrated a clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival compared with time to progression on prior treatment in patients with TRK fusion–positive cancers using a measure known as the growth modulation index.

Treatment with the novel KIT and PDGFRA inhibitor ripretinib reduced the risk of progression or death by 85% compared with placebo for heavily pretreated patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors, according to findings from the phase III INVICTUS trial presented at the ESMO Congress 2019.

Treatment with the MEK inhibitor trametinib significantly improves progression-free survival and leads to a strong trend toward improved overall survival in recurrent, low-grade serous ovarian cancer.

Durvalumab added to etoposide and platinum-based chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer delays development of new lesions and improves patient-reported outcomes compared with etoposide and platinum-based therapy alone.

Patients with ROS1-positive and NTRK-positive non–small cell lung cancer had frequent and durable responses, which appeared to deepen over time in some cases, with the multikinase inhibitor entrectinib.

The combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab appears to have durable clinical activity in patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer.

Men who received cabazitaxel (Jevtana) as a third-line systemic agent for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer had a significant reduction in radiographic disease progression, leading to a significant increase in overall survival.

Nivolumab extended overall survival compared with chemotherapy in patients with previously treated advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) did not show an improvement in progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.