ASCO 2021 Liver Cancer Update
The liver cancer trials presented at American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 were mainly focused on first-line treatments, with a few trials in the neoadjuvant, adjuvant and second-line setting.
What is new in chemotherapy for cancer? Read our chemotherapy blog and learn more about the latest advancements in cytotoxic therapy for several cancers.
The evolving role of NK1 in CINV management
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Lung Cancer Update April 2021
With the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) 2020 completed last January, several new and clinical relevant phase 2 and phase 3 studies on Lung Cancer have been published. We summarised some key data for you.
Abemaciclib: A review of the evidence through clinical cases
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Breast cancer update January 2021
With the San Antonio Breast Cancer Conference (SABCS) 2020 by AACR just completed, several new and clinical relevant phase 2 and phase 3 have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Clinical Cancer Research, New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Lancet Oncology. [‘mediPr] provides you with an overview.
Selpercatinib displays efficacy in RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer
Aberrant RET activation has shown to be a clinical driver of tumour growth and proliferation. It is reported that 1-2% of non-small cell lung cancer patients have activating RET fusions. Clinical characteristics of these patients are generally younger (<60 years) with minimal or no smoking history, and frequent presentation with brain metastases at diagnosis of advanced disease. RET mutations are mutually exclusive with other common lung cancer genetic abberations, such as reported for KRAS, EGFR, and ALK.
Carboplatin plus paclitaxel to be the new standard of care for anal cancer
The incidence of anal cancer has been increasing over the past decade, but currently still constitutes 0.5% of all cancer diagnoses in the United States. When the cancer has metastasised, prognosis remains poor, with relative 5-year survival rates of approximately 30%. The current standard of care for metastatic anal cancer is cisplatin-based chemotherapy combined with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). However, no randomised clinical trial investigating the optimal chemotherapy regimen for this disease has been conducted. The InterAAct trial was launched to investigate cisplatin plus FU against carboplatin plus paclitaxel in advanced anal cancers, and full results were recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
ASCO 2020 Lung, Breast, and Liver Cancer Update
This year, ASCO 2020 was held as a virtual conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a summary of key trials presented at ASCO, focusing primarily on breast cancer, liver cancer, and lung cancer.
Second-line treatment of gastric cancer or cancer of the gastroesophegeal junction: a case study of ramucirumab in Hong Kong
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Capivasertib plus paclitaxel improves survival of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer patients
Adding capivasertib to paclitaxel improved the progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) who had not received prior treatment for metastatic disease. Predominantly patients with PIK3CA/AKT1/PTEN-altered tumours had a more pronounced PFS and overall survival (OS) benefit, as reported by Schmid et al. in the Journal of Clinical Oncology
ASCO 2019 Lung Cancer: 36 Oral Presentations of the ASCO19 lung cancer track summarised
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was a key feature of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2019 annual meeting. This year, exciting results with neoadjuvant immunotherapy (I-O) from the LCMC3, NEOSTAR, and GECP16/03_NADIM studies as well as combinations of I-O and PARP-inhibitors with chemoradiation therapy, and more. A summary of 36 oral presentations on NSCLC, SCLC, and Mesothelioma.
ASCO 2019 Breast Cancer: The ASCO19 breast cancer track summarised
Breast cancer: a front-runner when it comes to the development of novel therapeutic strategies. With the advent of newer targeted- and immunotherapies, oncologists have an increment of options to offer their patients. The American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) 2019 Breast Cancer track offered an extensive look at the latest advancements and updates from on-going trials covering the various subtypes of breast cancer.
KEYNOTE-158: pembrolizumab in previously treated advanced cervical cancer
Immunotherapy with programmed death 1 (PD-1) antibody pembrolizumab led to an objective response rate (ORR) of 14.6% in previously treated advanced cervical cancer patients with PD-L1–positive disease, as reported by Chung et al. on behalf of the KEYNOTE-158 investigators in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Atezolizumab FDA approved for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC)
On 18 March 2019, the FDA approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq®, Genentech) plus carboplatin and etoposide as front-line treatment of adult extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) patients.
Trifluridine/tipiracil combination FDA approved for metastatic gastric or GEJ adenocarcinoma
On 22 February 2019, the FDA approved the fixed combination tablets of the nucleoside metabolic inhibitor trifluridine plus the thymidine phosphorylase inhibitor tipiracil (Lonsurf®, Taiho Pharmaceutical) for the treatment of adult metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma patients pretreated with two or more prior lines of chemotherapy including a fluoropyrimidine, a platinum, and either a taxane or irinotecan plus (when appropriate) HER2/neu-targeted therapy.
Frontline atezolizumab plus bevacizumab and chemotherapy FDA approved for metastatic non-squamous NSCLC
On 6 December 2018, the FDA approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq®, Roche/Genentech) plus bevacizumab and chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin for the frontline treatment of metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSq NSCLC) patients not harbouring any EGFR or ALK genomic tumour aberrations.
MURANO: off-drug progression-free survival after 2 years venetoclax plus 6 cycles Rituximab
On the first day of the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, an additional year of follow-up data from the practice-changing MURANO study were presented to the audience by Professor John F. Seymour. In the trial’s setting of relapsed/refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), the non-chemo-containing regimen venetoclax (Venclexta®, AbbVie/Roche) plus rituximab was associated with maintained superior progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) over standard-of-care chemoimmunotherapy with bendamustine plus rituximab. At the same time, a durable post-treatment disease control is also attainable with the fixed-duration chemo-free regimen.
Venetoclax plus azacitidine, decitabine, or low-dose cytarabine FDA approved in elderly AML patients
On 21 November 2018, the FDA granted accelerated approval to venetoclax (Venclexta®, AbbVie/Genentech) in combination with either azacitidine, or decitabine, or low-dose cytarabine (LDAC), for the treatment of newly-diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients ≥75 years old or in patients with comorbidities precluding intensive induction chemotherapy.
Glasdegib plus low-dose cytarabine (LDAC) approved in elderly AML patients
On 21 November 2018, the FDA approved glasdegib (Daurismo®, Pfizer) in combination with low-dose cytarabine (LDAC), for the treatment of newly-diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in patients of 75 years or older and in patients with comorbidities contraindicating intensive induction chemotherapy.
Brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris®) plus chemotherapy approved for several CD30 expressing lymphomas
On 16 November, 2018, the FDA approved brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris®, Seattle Genetics) in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of previously untreated systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL) and other CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL), including angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) and PTCL not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS).
Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy approved for metastatic squamous NSCLC
On October 30th 2018, the FDA approved the use of programmed death 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda®, Merck) in combination with carboplatin plus paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
IMpower133: first-line atezolizumab plus chemotherapy in extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer
Atezolizumab (Tecentriq®, Roche/Genentech) plus standard chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) was associated with a significantly longer overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) when compared with chemotherapy alone.
Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy effective in squamous NSCLC
Pembrolizumab (Keytruda®, Merck) in combination with chemotherapy was associated with longer overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) when compared to placebo plus chemotherapy in patients with untreated metastatic squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Ipilimumab plus nivolumab for persistent or recurrent ovarian cancer
Adding ipilimumab (IPI [Yervoy®, Bristol-Myers Squibb]) to nivolumab (NIVO [Opdivo®, Bristol-Myers Squibb]) induction followed by maintenance with single-agent NIVO had a superior objective tumour response rate and progression-free survival (PFS) when compared to NIVO alone in patients with persistent or recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer.
Frontline atezolizumab plus chemotherapy improves PFS in NSCLC
An interim analysis of the Phase III IMpower132 study showed that atezolizumab (Tecentriq®, Roche/Genentech) plus platinum-based chemotherapy (cisplatin or carboplatin) with pemetrexed improves the median progression-free survival (PFS) in treatment-naïve patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The median PFS for atezolizumab plus pemetrexed and a platinum salt was 7.6 months vs 5.2 months with chemotherapy alone (HR=0.60, 95% CI: 0.49-0.72; p<0.0001).
Early breast cancer treatment in China remains conservative
Breast-conserving surgery is uncommon in China, and despite routinely performing SLNB the uptake of the ACOSOG Z0011 study recommendation to treat selected sentinel node-positive patients with whole breast irradiation and adjuvant systemic therapy instead of ALND remains low at only 17% of Chinese centres. These were the key findings of a national survey among 520 Chinese hospitals.
Camrelizumab anti-PD-1 with or without chemotherapy for NPC
Camrelizumab (SHR-1210, Hengrui Medicine), a novel programmed death 1 (PD-1) inhibitor, plus gemcitabine and cisplatin showed a manageable toxicity profile with promising, preliminary anti-tumour activity in treatment-naïve Chinese nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. Larger, randomised controlled trials may provide further insight into the role of anti-PD1 for NPC, wrote the authors in the Lancet Oncology.
Plasma TMB predicts response to atezolizumab in NSCLC patients
A high tumour mutational burden in the plasma (bTMB) is a clinically actionable biomarker for atezolizumab (Tencentriq®, Roche) treatment in patients who failed 1st-line platinum-based therapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Talazoparib in advanced breast cancer patients with a germline BRCA1/2 mutation
Single-agent PARP-inhibition with talazoparib is associated with an improved progression-free survival (PFS) and better patient-reported outcomes (PRO) when compared to chemotherapy alone in patients with advanced breast cancer (ABC) and a germline BRCA1/2 mutation, as reported by the investigators of the Phase III EMBRACA study (NCT01945775) in the New England Journal of Medicine.
FDA approved mogamulizumab for adult patients with relapsed or refractory CTCL
On the 8th of August 2018, the FDA approved mogamulizumab-kpkc (Poteligeo®, Kyowa Kirin), a CC chemokine receptor type 4 (CCR4) directed monoclonal antibody, for use in adult patients with relapsed or refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL).
Osimertinib in patients with T790M-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer and brain metastases (AURA3)
Osimertinib is active in the second-line treatment of patients with T790M-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and central nervous system (CNS) metastases, as reported by the investigators of the Phase III AURA3 study.
ASCO 2018 NSCLC: The ASCO18 Lung Cancer Track Summarised
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): a key feature of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2018 annual meeting. This year, encouraging results with single-agent immunotherapy (I-O) and combinations of I-O with chemotherapy (CTx), including the CheckMate 227 with nivolumab (NIVO), IMpower131 and IMpower150 studies with atezolizumab (ATEZO), and KEYNOTE-042 and KEYNOTE-407 studies with pembrolizumab (PEMBRO). Furthermore, important Asian data on treatments for epidermal growth-factor recptor (EGFR) mutation-positive (mu+) NSCLC (ARCHER 1050, NEJ009, NEJ026, and JO25567).
ASCO 2018 Breast Cancer: The ASCO18 breast cancer track summarised
Breast cancer: a front-runner when it comes to the development of novel therapeutic strategies. With the advent of newer targeted- and immunotherapies, oncologists have an increment of options to offer their patients. The American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) 2018 Breast Cancer track offered an extensive look at the latest advancements and updates from on-going trials covering the various subtypes of breast cancer.
Bevacizumab in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel FDA approved for several types of gynaecological cancers
- On June 13, 2018, the FDA approved bevacizumab (AvastinⓇ, Genentech, Inc.) in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel, followed by single-agent bevacizumab for use after surgical resection in patients with stage III or IV epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer.
ASCO 2018 HCC: The ASCO18 hepatocellular cancer track summarised
This year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting includes two Phase III studies in the second-line treatment of the disease. Moreover, data with several immune-checkpoint inhibitors were presented, including the KEYNOTE-224 with pembrolizumab. Welcome to the summary of the ASCO 2018 HCC track.
AACR 2018: first-line atezolizumab, bevacizumab plus chemotherapy active in non-squamous NSCLC
First-line atezolizumab plus bevacizumab, carboplatin and paclitaxel improves PFS in patients with non-squamous NSCLC. Two presentations on the IMPower150 study by Martin Reck (ELCC 2018) and Mark Socinski (AACR 2018) discussed the frontline addition of atezolizumab to bevacizumab and chemotherapy in different lung cancer subgroups (NCT02366143).
Nivolumab-Ipilimumab Combination: A New Option for TMB-High NSCLC (CheckMate 227)
AACR 2018: First-line nivolumab-ipilimumab in TMB-high NSCLC with was associated with a more than tripled 1-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate compared to platinum-based chemotherapy in the Phase III CheckMate 227 trial (NCT02477826).
Frontline Combination of Pembrolizumab and Chemotherapy: A New Standard of Care for Non-squamous NSCLC
AACR 2018: Frontline pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy in NSCLC reduces the risk of death by more than 50%. The Phase III KEYNOTE-189 trial combined pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) plus standard of care platinum-based chemotherapy in non-squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without EGFR or ALK genetic aberrations (NCT0278680)
Pembrolizumab effective in frontline NSCLC with low PD-L1 expression
Pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) as single-agent immunotherapy in the frontline setting of any histology NSCLC with a PD-L1 expression ≥1% was associated with improved overall survival (OS) when compared to platinum-doublet chemotherapy in the KEYNOTE-042.
Pembrolizumab approved for advanced gastric cancer
On September 22, 2017, the FDA granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA, Merck) for use in patients with locally advanced or metastatic, gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma positive for PD-L1 as determined by an FDA-approved companion diagnostic (CDx) and progressing after ≥2 prior systemic therapies, including a fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing regimen, and, when appropriate, HER2-targeted therapy.