All Oncology News

Although the armamentarium of multiple myeloma is rich with available treatment options, novel triplet regimens, maintenance therapies, and targets beyond BCMA are further expanding the paradigm across the newly diagnosed, early-relapse, and late-relapse disease states.

Copanlisib plus rituximab exhibited a manageable safety profile and superior efficacy in patients with relapsed indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (iNHL) compared with rituximab plus placebo.

The combination of galinpepimut-S and pembrolizumab has demonstrated promising clinical immunobiological activity in patients with Wilms Tumor 1–positive, relapsed or refractory, platinum-resistant advanced metastatic ovarian cancer, according to results from an ad-hoc analysis of a phase 1/2 trial.

Heather L. McArthur, MD, MPH, discusses key advances in breast cancer regarding CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K inhibitors, and subcutaneous formulations of standard treatments.

Several studies presented during the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting highlighted the severity of racial and ethnic disparities that exist in the treatment of patients with cancer, ranging from clinical trial enrollment to routine care visits.

During the past decade, a growing number of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors gained FDA approval to treat a wide range of cancer types. Their stimulatory counterparts also emerged as sought-after anticancer targets but have proved much more challenging to manipulate therapeutically.

Balazs Halmos, MD, MS, discusses a study examining the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cancer and identified important areas for future research.

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, spotlights the recent developments made in gastrointestinal cancers.

The combination of INN melphalan flufenamide and dexamethasone was found to induce a superior progression-free survival benefit over pomalidomide plus dexamethasone in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma who had previously received 2 to 4 lines of therapy, meeting the primary end point of the phase 3 OCEAN trial.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has launched a digital initiative to provide strategic approaches specifically geared toward employers who need to navigate a diagnosis of cancer among their staff.

A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the rapid uptake of telemedicine and virtual health care for patients with cancer.

The investigational RNA interference therapy, ARO-HIF2, was shown to have encouraging signals of activity with favorable tolerability in heavily pretreated patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Jimmy Hwang, MD, discusses the frontline indications for checkpoint inhibitors in gastric cancer and their effect on subsequent treatment decisions, the growth of targeted therapy across gastrointestinal cancers, and expectations for future research and development.

Pevonedistat demonstrated a favorable risk-benefit profile at a dose of 20 mg/m2 in combination with 75 mg/m2 of azacitidine in patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes/chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.

The tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy LN-145 was found to induce an objective response rate of 21.4% in patients with advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer who had progressed following systemic therapy.

Ruben Mesa, MD, discusses what makes pacritinib a unique option in the myelofibrosis landscape, future efforts with the agent, and where the drug might fit into the paradigm if approved.

Patients with hematologic malignancies, which include cancers that affect the blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes, have demonstrated a higher susceptibility to COVID-19 potentially because of inherent and cancer therapy–related immunosuppression.

Therapeutic breakthroughs for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer have eluded investigators for decades, with chemotherapeutic combination strategies serving as the insurmountable standard of care.

Longitudinal circulating tumor DNA positivity detected at 4, 12, and 24 weeks after surgery in patients with stage I to IV colorectal cancer was significantly associated with inferior disease-free survival.

Hannah M. Linden, MD, discusses the potential for enobosarm in patients with metastatic breast cancer, data from a phase 2 trial examining its use, and next steps for the agent in the paradigm.

Faith Davies, MD, discusses the approval of isatuximab-irfc-based combinations for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

The novel combination comprised of rigosertib and nivolumab showed preliminary evidence of potential anticancer activity in patients with advanced metastatic KRAS-mutated non–small cell lung cancer.

Athenex, Inc. held a Type A meeting with the FDA to discuss the deficiencies raised in the complete response letter issued in March 2021 for the new drug application for oral paclitaxel plus encequidar in the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Men with positive pelvic lymph nodes or a prostatectomy Gleason score of 8 to 10 with disease extending beyond the prostate should be considered for treatment with adjuvant radiation therapy.

Merck has announced plans to withdraw the accelerated approval indication for pembrolizumab in the treatment of select patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma whose tumors express a PD-L1 combined positive score of 1 or more, and who have progressed on or after 2 or more previous lines of therapy, including fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy, and HER2-/neu-targeted therapy, if appropriate.

Paul K. Paik, MD, discusses the clinical implications of tepotinib on the non–small cell lung cancer armamentarium.

Fixed-duration venetoclax plus obinutuzumab demonstrated prolonged remissions compared with chemoimmunotherapy in elderly patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia and comorbidities.

The FDA has expanded the label for pembrolizumab for use as a monotherapy in the treatment of patients with locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma that is not curable by surgery or radiation.

The incidental identification of pancreatic cysts has become more common with the increasing use of imaging modalities in clinical practice.

Thanks to advances in research, targeted therapies, and a more personalized approach to treating patients diagnosed with breast cancer, more surgical options exist for patients with breast cancer patients than ever before.