Latest Conference Articles

PARP/AKT Inhibitor Combination Active in Multiple Tumor Types

The combination of the PARP inhibitor olaparib and the investigational AKT inhibitor AZD5363 resulted in durable responses in patients with solid tumors, with and without BRCA mutations.

Two Genetic Variants May Signal Which Survivors Are at Highest Risk for Breast Cancer After Chest Radiation

Chest radiotherapy to treat a childhood cancer is a well-established risk factor for developing breast cancer in adulthood

Palbociclib Showed Antiproliferative Activity in Early-stage Breast Cancer

Palbociclib may have antiproliferative effects when used as a neoadjuvant therapy for women with early stage breast cancer.

70-Gene Signature Identifies Breast Cancer Subgroup Unlikely to Benefit From Adjuvant Chemo

A 70-gene signature (MammaPrint) demonstrated a high level of accuracy at identifying a large subset of women with clinically high-risk early stage breast cancer for whom adjuvant chemotherapy was unlikely to produce benefit.

Dr. Postow on OS Results of CheckMate-069 Study

Michael Postow, MD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the overall survival (OS) results of the CheckMate-069 study, which investigated the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of patients with melanoma.

Nivolumab/Ipilimumab Combination Shows Survival Benefit in Advanced Melanoma

The combination of ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo) showed a 42% improvement in overall survival compared with ipilimumab monotherapy for patients with advanced melanoma in a 2-year assessment of the phase II CheckMate-069 trial.

Yong-Chen William Lu on Adoptive T-Cell Therapy in Solid Tumors

Yong-Chen William Lu, PhD, a fellow in the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute, discusses a CD4 T-cell immunotherapy targeting MAGE-A3 that is showing early clinical responses in patients with metastatic cancer.

Dr. Lai on Risk Factors Associated With Glioma

Rose K. Lai, MD, clinical associate professor of Neurology, University of Southern California, discusses results of the Glioma International Case Control study.

Entrectinib Achieves High Response Rate Across Solid Tumors

Treatment with the novel multikinase inhibitor entrectinib achieved objective responses in 79% of patients with solid tumors associated with NTRK, ROS-1, or ALK rearrangements.

MAGE-A3—Targeted Adoptive T-Cell Therapy Shows Promise in Solid Tumors

A form of immunotherapy that harnesses the power of CD4 T-cells was shown to be safe and effective in patients with various types of metastatic cancers.

Dr. Hodi on Long-Term Survival Data for Nivolumab in Melanoma

F. Stephen Hodi, MD, director of the Melanoma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the results of the longest follow-up survival study of patients with advanced melanoma who were treated with single-agent nivolumab (Opdivo).

Nivolumab Shows Impressive Long-Term OS in Melanoma

Single-agent nivolumab demonstrated a robust 5-year overall survival rate of 34% for heavily pretreated patients with metastatic melanoma who had not received prior ipilimumab.

Dr. Normanno on Using Circulating Tumor DNA for EGFR Detection

Nicola Normanno, MD, chief of the Cell Biology and Biotherapy Unit, INT-Fondazione Pascale, Naples, Italy, discusses the benefit of plasma genotyping to predict response to EGFR-targeted therapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

EGFR Testing Strategies Evolving for NSCLC

Plasma-based genetic testing can effectively be used to determine whether a tissue biopsy is necessary for EGFR mutation analysis in patients with non–small cell lung cancer.

Dr. Raffaele Califano on Immunotherapy in Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Raffaele Califano, MD, consultant in medical oncology at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospital of South Manchester, discuses the potential for immunotherapy in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Higher Cytokine Levels Improve Nivolumab Efficacy in Squamous NSCLC

Efficacy and safety remained strong 2 years following treatment with nivolumab for patients with advanced, refractory, squamous non-small–cell lung cancer, with an indication that cytokine levels could predict long-term outcomes.

Liquid Biopsy Offers Alternative to Predicting Osimertinib Response in NSCLC

Plasma genotyping can, in most cases, identify T790M-positivity in non-small cell lung cancer, which gives patients the option of receiving the targeted therapy osimertinib without the need for a tumor biopsy, according Geoffrey R. Oxnard, MD.

COA Gearing Up for Fight on Proposed CMS Payment Cut

Members of the Community Oncology Alliance have issued a call to arms to spur a greater lobbying effort to stop a plan by The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Centers to implement a drug reimbursement change under Medicare Part B.

Combined Durvalumab/Gefitinib Combo Shows Promise in EGFR-Mutated NSCLC

The first analysis of a trial investigating durvalumab in combination with gefitinib (Iressa) showed encouraging anti-tumor activity and tolerability in patients with non–small cell lung cancer and EGFR mutations that were tyrosine-kinase inhibitor-naïve.

Dr. Paz-Ares on Connection of EGFR-Expression and Necitumumab Response in NSCLC

Luis Paz-Ares, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid, Spain, discusses a subgroup analysis of patients with EGFR-expressing tumors from the SQUIRE trial, a phase III study of gemcitabine–cisplatin plus necitumumab versus gemcitabine–cisplatin alone as first-line treatment for patients with stage IV squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Dr. Suresh Ramalingam on Frontline Osimertinib in EGFR+ NSCLC

Suresh Ramalingam, MD, professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory School of Medicine and deputy director of Winship Cancer Institute, discusses first-line treatment with single-agent osimertinib in patients with EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Update Identifies Best Responders to Necitumumab in NSCLC

Adding necitumumab to conventional chemotherapy improved outcomes in patients with metastatic squamous non–small cell lung cancer in the phase III SQUIRE trial, but the greatest benefit was derived by patients with EGFR-expressing tumors.

Novel Vaccine Added to Chemotherapy Improves Patient Outcomes in Mesothelioma

The first report of results from a phase Ib clinical trial evaluating CRS-207, a live, attenuated, double-deleted Listeria monocytogenes vaccine, in combination with pemetrexed and cisplatin, demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Third-Generation EGFR TKIs Move to Frontline in Lung Cancer

A new generation of EGFR-targeted TKIs are poised to displace traditional agents as frontline therapies for patients with lung cancer.

Dr. John Haanen on the Role of PD-L1 in Lung Cancer

John Haanen, MD PhD, epartment of Medical Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, discussed the role of PD-L1 as a biomarker in lung cancer.

Aligning Physician Compensation to Value Is No Easy Task

Aligning physician compensation to performance can be a dicey matter, as it is difficult to reach a consensus on how to measure physician success. However, a number of oncology practices have been developing systems for doing this and achieving success.

Frontline Osimertinib Approaches 80% Response in EGFR+ NSCLC

First-line treatment with single-agent osimertinib (Tagrisso) induced a response rate of 77% in patients with EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer.

Dr. Thierry Jahan on CRS-207 With Chemotherapy in Mesothelioma

Thierry Jahan, MD, professor of medicine at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in San Francisco, discusses CRS-20, a live, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes bacterium which is being investigated with chemotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM).

High Response Rates Observed With BI-1482694 in T790M+ NSCLC

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer who had ceased to respond to EGFR TKI therapy demonstrated a rapid and robust response to the investigational agent BI-1482694 (HM61713).

Dr. William Gradishar on Updates in NCCN Breast Cancer Guidelines

William Gradishar, MD, Betsy Bramsen Professorship of Breast Oncology, Professor in Medicine-Hematology/Oncology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, discusses changes to the NCCN Breast Cancer Guidelines.