All Oncology News

Adjuvant treatment with atezolizumab led to a significant improvement in disease-free survival vs best supportive care in patients with stage II to IIIA non–small cell lung cancer, particularly those with PD-L1–positive tumors, according to findings from the phase 3 IMpower010 trial.

An increase in the frequency of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening was associated with a nearly 25% reduction in prostate cancer–specific mortality in younger African Americans, according to data from a study presented in a presscast held ahead of the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting.

The biologics license application seeking the approval of ropeginterferon alfa-2b-njft for use in the treatment of patients with polycythemia vera has been resubmitted to the FDA.

The FDA has granted a fast track designation to the CAR T-cell product AIC100 for the treatment of patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer and refractory poorly differentiated thyroid cancer.

The FDA has granted priority review to a supplemental new drug application for zanubrutinib as a treatment option for adult patients with marginal zone lymphoma who have previously received at least 1 anti-CD20–based therapy.

Providers and health care institutions want more real-world data on how patients respond to various biosimilar products, according to a varied panel of private practice, academic hospital, and group purchasing organization experts in a discussion at the Community Oncology Alliance virtual 2021 Community Oncology Conference in April.

Cell-free methylated DNA immunoprecipitation-sequencing uses plasma cell-free methylomes to detect and classify several types of cancer early on, and provides the opportunity to monitor tumors for response to treatment in noninvasive way.

Loncastuximab tesirine-lypl has demonstrated significant antitumor activity with durable responses and an acceptable toxicity profile, when used as a monotherapy in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic have opened the door for new opportunities for decentralized clinical trials and real-world data in a post–COVID-19 world.

The use of universal tumor screening in conjunction with multigene panel testing led to an improvement in the identification of hereditary cancer syndromes in patients with colorectal cancer.

Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, was inspired to become an oncologist during his first week as an MD/PhD candidate at Cornell University and The Rockefeller University, thanks in part to Ralph L. Nachman, MD, longtime chair of Weill Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.

A biologics license application for sintilimab injection plus pemetrexed and platinum-based chemotherapy for the frontline treatment of patients with nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer has been accepted for FDA review.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, a neoantigen-targeting therapy, has been shown to be a potentially curative treatment for patients with metastatic melanoma, and has led to clinical responses in this population even after failure with checkpoint inhibitors

The FDA has lifted a partial clinical hold that had been placed on the enrollment of patients with follicular lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma to monotherapy trials examining the bispecific antibody odronextamab.

The combination of ibrutinib and venetoclax were found to act on distinct subpopulations of chronic lymphocytic leukemia that have different proliferative capacities in an ex vivo model of the disease, suggesting that the dual-targeted approach has the potential to eradicate residual disease in patients with CLL.

Despite a modest central nervous system overall response rate, the combination of pertuzumab and high-dose trastuzumab was found to induce clinical benefit in 68% of patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer enrolled to the phase 2 PATRICIA trial.

Enobosarm has been shown to induce a clinical benefit rate of 50% at 24 weeks in evaluable patients with measurable metastatic androgren receptor–positive, estrogen receptor–positive, metastatic breast cancer that has progressed on treatment with palbociclib.

Jose Pacheco, MD, discusses key agents that have significantly improved the care of patients with NSCLC harboring RET or NTRK fusions and efforts being made to address resistance challenges.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has forever changed our world. We must remember the heavy societal burden this virus has wrought, including lives lost, the significant and debilitating late effects for survivors, and the mental health crisis for survivors, caregivers, and the general population.

The addition of the first-in-class chimeric monoclonal antibody zolbetuximab to frontline epirubicin, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine chemotherapy resulted in prolonged progression-free survival and overall survival compared with EOX alone in patients with advanced Claudin 18.2-positive gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, according to the primary results of the phase 2 FAST trial.

As one of the highest honors in the scientific field, Lieping Chen, MD, PhD, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Investigators are evaluating the addition of nivolumab to standard neoadjuvant therapy in patients with high-risk, estrogen-receptor–positive/ HER2-negative breast cancer to determine whether the PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor can improve recurrence rates.

Missak Haigentz Jr, MD, discusses the movement of osimertinib from the metastatic to adjuvant settings and ongoing research poised to improve outcomes for patients with EGFR-mutant NSCLC.

Katelyn M. Atkins, MD, PhD, examines the evolving role of radiotherapy in the treatment of patients with gastric cancer, the subgroups who might derive the most benefit from this approach, and ongoing research efforts that are seeking to address remaining questions with this modality.

Natural killer T cells that co-express GD2-CAR and interleukin-15 were found to be safe and to demonstrate evidence of in vivo expansion and localization to metastatic sites in patients with stage IV relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma.

The FDA has approved pegcetacoplan (Empaveli) for the treatment of adults with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria who are treatment naïve and those who are switching from the C5 inhibitors eculizumab (Soliris) and ravulizumab (Ultomiris).

An off-the-shelf, allogeneic CD30-CAR Epstein Barr virus–specific T-cell therapy has demonstrated favorable safety and encouraging clinical activity, even when given at lower dose levels, in patients with relapsed/refractory CD30-positive lymphoma.

UCARTCS1A demonstrated early antitumor activity in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in whom previous CAR T-cell therapy and/or transplant had failed, according to preliminary data from the phase 1 MELANI-01 trial.

Joshua M. Bauml, MD, discusses the use of osimertinib in EGFR-mutant NSCLC, the utility of the agent as adjuvant therapy, and emerging targeted agents for patients with EGFR exon 20 insertions.

Opinion leaders provide a glimpse into the future of what approaches adopted during COVID-19 may persist in oncology after the pandemic ends.