All Oncology News

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to nivolumab as a single-agent treatment for patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck following a platinum-based therapy.

The FDA has approved cabozantinib as a treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who have received prior antiangiogenic therapy.

Angela M. DeMichele, MD, explains the significance of the I-SPY 2 data, the advantages of T-DM1 versus standard of care, and what is on the horizon for the use of T-DM1 in HER2-positive disease.

Real-world data obtained from large retrospective studies can also deliver useful insights into the clinical challenges associated with newer therapies in prostate cancer, such as medication adherence and cognitive adverse events.

Although abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) and enzalutamide (Xtandi) have demonstrated improved survival outcomes, the optimal sequencing of these therapies has not been established, and most patients exhibit some degree of cross-resistance.

Oliver Sartor, MD, discusses the combination regimens being explored with radium-223, its unique mechanism of action, and the associated risks and benefits.

Robert Figlin, MD, discusses some emerging agents and ongoing trials that could transform the treatment landscape of renal cell carcinoma.

Sumanta Kumar Pal, MD, discusses the state of biomarker development in the field of genitourinary malignancies.

The phase III PALOMA-2 trial has shown a significant improvement in progression-free survival for the frontline combination of palbociclib and letrozole compared letrozole alone for patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

E. David Crawford, MD, and Leonard G. Gomella, MD, provide insight into current best practices and strategies that are on the horizon in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Damon Reed, MD, discusses the challenges associated with treating rare sarcomas, the importance of collaboration, advancements in the field, and the potential for immunotherapy in the disease.

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to pembrolizumab as a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

The American Association for Cancer Research has announced that Dafna Bar-Sagi, PhD, senior vice president and vice dean for science and chief scientific officer at NYU Langone, has been named to its Board of Directors for a three-year term formally commencing at the AACR’s annual meeting April 16-20, 2016.

The FDA has approved afatinib (Gilotrif) for the treatment of patients with advanced squamous cell non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following progression on platinum-based chemotherapy.

Clinicians must consider and evaluate the unique characteristics and treatment options for older men with prostate cancer, who are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced disease, and tend to have higher mortality rates and poorer prognosis.

The FDA has granted nivolumab (Opdivo) a priority review for use in previously treated patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

The FDA has granted a priority review designation to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as a treatment for patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Deficiency in the protein NOD-like receptor X1 (NLRX1) could represent a potential biomarker to predict response to therapies in patients with colorectal cancer.

The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 12-1 against the accelerated approval of rociletinib as a treatment for patients with metastatic EGFR T790M–mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have previously received an EGFR-targeted therapy.

Zsofia K. Stadler, MD, provides extensive insight on microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer, the biology of and screening for MSI tumors, and the potential impact immunotherapy could have on the treatment paradigm.

The FDA approved the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax (Venclexta) for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have a 17p deletion (del[17p]), following at least 1 prior therapy.

The FDA has granted a priority review to atezolizumab for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer who express PD-L1 and have progressed after a platinum-containing regimen.

Treatment with ensituximab (NPC-1C), a chimeric IgG1 monoclonal antibody, induced stable disease in nearly half of patients with chemotherapy-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer without contributing significant toxicity.

Jonathan D. Schoenfeld, MD, discusses potential synergy between radiation therapy, given with or without chemotherapy, and immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma enrolled on clinical trials have “profoundly improved survival” compared with patients in the general population, suggesting that oncologists who use trial data to prognosticate may be missing the mark.

The European Commission has approved nivolumab (Opdivo) for use in previously treated patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

The European Commission has approved nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer, regardless of PD-L1 levels.

PD-1/PD-L1 should be the backbone of melanoma treatment for many patients, says Jason Luke, MD, an assistant professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago Medicine.

Edward Kim, MD, discusses the impact of nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in non–small cell lung cancer, potential combinations, biomarkers, and ongoing research.

Genomic and proteomic characterization of pancreatic cancer tumors can effectively be used to prescreen patients for clinical trials exploring molecularly matched targeted therapies.