Debio 1143 Significantly Boosts OS in High-Risk Head and Neck Cancer
August 13th 2020Debio 1143 in combination with standard cisplatin-based concomitant fractionation chemoradiation therapy was found to induce a statistically and clinically significant improvement in overall survival compared with CRT alone in patients with high-risk locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
Optimizing the Duration of Trastuzumab: A Fresh Perspective
August 12th 2020ABSTRACT Prior to the introduction of trastuzumab, the first targeted anti-HER2 agent, in 1998, patients diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer felt like they were being handed a death sentence. Despite treatment with aggressive chemotherapy, their tumors recurred faster, more often spread to brain and liver, and were associated with higher rates of death than HER2-negative tumors. However, in the 1980s, cancer researchers and oncologists recognized that HER2 could be targeted by a small molecule that binds to the receptor on the cell surface and blocks the signal telling the cell to divide. This small molecule was called trastuzumab, and it eventually completely changed how HER2-positive breast cancer was treated. The drug was first approved in the metastatic setting, and then the results of 2 pivotal randomized control trials demonstrated that the administration of trastuzumab in the adjuvant setting decreased the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 50%. These trials showed trastuzumab to be unequivocally effective in the adjuvant setting and the HERA trial results led to the adoption of 1 year of adjuvant trastuzumab as the standard of care. Since that time, the field of anti–HER2-targeted therapy has exploded, with the development of multiple targeted agents for use in the advanced and up-front settings. Although trastuzumab significantly improves outcomes for women diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer and has few adverse effects (AEs), the disadvantages are that it requires intravenous administration every 3 weeks and can be associated with cardiac AEs. It is also expensive. Given all of these factors, the question of whether a duration of trastuzumab that is shorter than 1 year may be acceptable for some patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer is an important and very relevant one. Here, we will review the studies that have examined this question and evaluate their results.
Sintilimab/Pemetrexed Regimen Significantly Improves PFS in Advanced NSCLC
August 8th 2020Sintilimab injection plus pemetrexed and platinum-based therapy led to a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy alone as a first-line treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer.
Shaughnessy Speaks to the Rapidly Evolving Role of CAR T-cell Therapy in Hematologic Malignancies
August 5th 2020Paul J. Shaughnessy, MD, discusses how CAR T-cell therapy is being utilized in hematologic malignancies, challenges faced with this modality, and ongoing research efforts being made to better leverage its use.
Bristol Myers Squibb, bluebird bio Submit Second BLA for MM CAR T-Cell Treatment
July 30th 2020Bristol Myers Squibb and bluebird bio submitted a second Biologics License Application (BLA) to the FDA for idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel), the companies’ investigational B-cell maturation antigen–directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy, indicated for adults with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (MM).
FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Osimertinib for Early-Stage EGFR+ NSCLC
July 30th 2020The FDA granted breakthrough therapy designation to osimertinib for the adjuvant treatment of patients with early-stage epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated non-small cell lung cancer after complete tumor resection with curative intent.
FDA Grants Adjuvant Osimertinib Breakthrough Status in Early-Stage EGFR+ NSCLC
July 30th 2020The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to osimertinib for the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage IB, II, and IIIA EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer following complete resection with curative intent.
FDA Grants Breakthrough Status to MK-6482 for Select VHL Disease–Associated RCC
July 29th 2020The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to MK-6482 for the treatment of patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease–associated renal cell carcinoma who have nonmetastatic tumors of less than 3 centimeters, unless immediate surgery is necessitated.
FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation, Orphan Drug Designation to MK-6482
July 29th 2020The FDA granted breakthrough therapy designation to MK-6482 for the treatment of patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease-associated renal cell carcinoma and orphan drug designation to MK-6482 for von Hippel-Lindau disease.
Osimertinib Results Show Potential for Earlier TKI Use in EGFR-Mutant NSCLC
July 27th 2020The introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy earlier in the treatment timeline for patients with EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer holds the promise of improving overall survival for this patient population.
Therapy Provides Readily Available Stem Cell Source to Treat Rare Genetic Diseases
July 22nd 2020Umbilical cord blood provides a readily available source of stem cells to provide better access to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to safely and effectively treat various noncancerous genetic disorders in children.
Liso-Cel Takes Step Toward EU Approval in B-Cell Lymphomas
July 17th 2020The European Medicines Agency has validated a Marketing Authorization Application for the CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, and grade 3B follicular lymphoma following at least 2 prior therapies.
Immunotherapy in Advanced Lung Cancer
July 15th 2020ABSTRACT Historically, platinum-based chemotherapy was the standard of care for metastatic lung cancer. However, since the success of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in melanoma, PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA-4 immune checkpoint pathways have been established as effective therapies to manage advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and extensive-stage (ES) small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Multiple large-scale randomized clinical trials have analyzed the effects of ICIs in NSCLC, and results of these trials have since translated to the approval of single-agent PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, and the combination of PD-1 inhibitors with platinum-based chemotherapy has become the new standard of care for patients with advanced NSCLC. Furthermore, in ES SCLC, in which chemotherapy or chemoradiation has been the standard of care for decades, 2 anti–PD-1/PD-L1 agents have been approved for use in the frontline setting for ES SCLC, in combination with chemotherapy. Despite progressive integration of immunotherapy into treatment regimens, there remains a need for reliable biomarkers to precisely determine therapy candidates.