Jason M. Broderick

Frontline pembrolizumab (Keytruda) improved overall survival versus chemotherapy in non–small cell lung cancer patients with high levels of PD-L1 expression.

The European Commission approved obinutuzumab (Gazyvaro, EU; Gazyva, US) for use in combination with bendamustine, followed by maintenance obinutuzumab, as a treatment for patients with follicular lymphoma who are refractory to or progress on a single-agent rituximab (MabThera) or rituximab-containing regimen.

Patients with acute myeloid leukemia who are cured after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation produce antibodies that destroy leukemia cells.

Combining the CD38-targeted antibody daratumumab with lenalidomide and dexamethasone reduced the risk of disease progression by 63% versus lenalidomide and dexamethasone alone in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, according to findings from the phase III POLLUX (MMY3003) trial.

The median overall survival with the anti-CD19 immunotherapy blinatumomab was 7.7 months versus 4 months with standard chemotherapy in patients with Philadelphia chromosome–negative relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia, according to results from the phase III TOWER study.

Cabozantinib reduced the risk of death by 34% compared with everolimus in patients with previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma, according to updated data from the phase III METEOR trial.

The European Commission approved bevacizumab in combination with erlotinib as a frontline treatment for patients with unresectable advanced, metastatic, or recurrent EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer.

Adding the CDK 4/6 inhibitor palbociclib (Ibrance) to letrozole reduced the risk of disease progression by 42% compared with letrozole alone in patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

At a minimum follow-up of 18 months, the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab reduced the risk of disease progression by 58% compared with ipilimumab alone, and single-agent nivolumab lowered the risk of progression by 45% versus ipilimumab monotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma.

Single-agent nivolumab induced responses in 66% of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma who had progressed following autologous stem cell transplant and brentuximab vedotin.

Nivolumab (Opdivo) as a monotherapy and in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy) demonstrated promising antitumor activity in patients with high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) metastatic colorectal cancer.

CPX-351 reduced the risk of death by 31% compared with cytarabine and daunorubicin (7+3) for older patients with high-risk, secondary AML.

Two-year follow-up data showed sustained improvements in overall survival with nivolumab in pretreated patients with either nonsquamous or squamous non–small cell lung cancer in updated findings from the phase III CheckMate-057 and -017 trials.

A combination regimen of the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and the investigational OX40 agonist MOXR0916 was well tolerated and showed early signs of of antitumor activity in solid tumors.

The CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib induced a response rate of nearly 20% in heavily pretreated patients with refractory, HR-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, according to findings from the phase II MONARCH 1 trial.

Sacituzumab govitecan (IMMU-132) had an objective response rate of 33% in pretreated patients with triple-negative breast cancer, according to updated findings from a phase II study reported by Immunomedics, the manufacturer of the antibody-drug conjugate.

The European Commission has approved everolimus (Afinitor) for use as treatment for patients with progressive, unresectable or metastatic, well-differentiated nonfunctional gastrointestinal or lung neuroendocrine tumors.

The European Commission has approved ibrutinib (Imbruvica) as a first-line treatment for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The FDA has granted a priority review to a new drug application for telotristat etiprate as a treatment for carcinoid syndrome in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors.

The EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has granted a positive opinion to brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) for use as a consolidation therapy following autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with CD30-positive Hodgkin lymphoma at risk of relapse or progression.

Carfilzomib (Kyprolis) has received a positive recommendation from the EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for use in combination with dexamethasone alone as a treatment for patients with multiple myeloma following at least 1 prior therapy.

Combining obinutuzumab (Gazyva) with chemotherapy in the first-line setting significantly reduced the risk of disease progression versus rituximab (Rituxan) plus chemotherapy in patients with follicular lymphoma.

Cabozantinib (Cabometyx) significantly improved progression-free survival compared with sunitinib (Sutent) in treatment-naive patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma in the phase II CABOSUN trial.

The European Commission has granted conditional marketing approval to daratumumab (Darzalex) for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma previously treated with a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent who progressed on their last therapy.

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to CPX-351 (Vyxeos) as a treatment for patients with therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia or AML with myelodysplasia-related changes.

Adding daratumumab (Darzalex) to lenalidomide and dexamethasone reduced the risk of disease progression by 63% in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in the phase III POLLUX trial.

A 5-year follow-up of the phase II NeoSphere trial confirmed that patients with HER2-positive breast cancer receiving a 3-drug neoadjuvant pertuzumab regimen had better outcomes compared with patients receiving trastuzumab and docetaxel.

Survival outcomes in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer were significantly longer among those with tumors originating on the left versus the right side of the colon, according to a retrospective analysis of the phase III 80405 trial.

The FDA granted the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) an accelerated approval as a treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) whose disease progressed during or after platinum-based chemotherapy, or within 12 months of receiving platinum-based chemotherapy, either before or after surgery.

The FDA approved nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma that has relapsed or progressed after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and posttransplantation brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris).