Jorge Garcia, MD

Jorge Garcia, MD, Department of Hematology and Oncology, Cleveland Clinic, discusses the LATITUDE study in prostate cancer.

This randomized phase III study randomized patients to receive either standard therapy with androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) with placebo or ADT with abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) and prednisone at 5 mg per day.

Garcia says that LATITUDE has changed the standard of care—adding abiraterone upfront has helped patients live longer, and has reduced the risk of relapse.

Videos

Dr. Garcia Discusses the LATITUDE Study in Prostate Cancer

Jorge Garcia, MD, Department of Hematology and Oncology, Cleveland Clinic, discusses selecting a second-line and beyond immunotherapy treatment for patients with bladder cancer.

Dr. Garcia on Selecting Second-line Immunotherapy in Bladder Cancer

Jorge Garcia, MD, Department of Hematology and Oncology, Cleveland Clinic, discusses the optimal sequence of immunotherapies for the treatment of patients with bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer has been traditionally considered an orphan disease and there have been limited data supporting treatment for the last 10 to 15 years outside of chemotherapy, Garcia explains. The challenge with having 4 to 5 agents approved by the FDA within 24 months is: which one should clinicians use, and should they all be used if they are biologically similar?

The biggest challenge for physicians in the field is what to do after patients receive a checkpoint inhibitor. Most patients who receive checkpoint inhibition won’t derive any benefit it. Therefore, researchers hope to identify biomarkers to tell them which patients should or should not receive checkpoint inhibitors.

Dr. Garcia on Sequencing Immunotherapies in Bladder Cancer

Jorge Garcia, MD, Department of Hematology and Oncology, Cleveland Clinic, discusses the May 2017 FDA approval of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with urothelial carcinoma.

This is a significant FDA approval for the field, as it is the first registration trial to demonstrate an improvement in survival for this patient population. This contrasts from the phase II studies of atezolizumab (Tecentriq), avelumab (Bavencio), and durvalumab (Imfinzi), for which the FDA approvals were based on encouraging response rates. Moreover, this trial shows that pembrolizumab can be given to patients in the first-line setting.

Author | Jorge Garcia, MD

Articles

Dr. Garcia Discusses the LATITUDE Study in Prostate Cancer

Dr. Garcia on Selecting Second-line Immunotherapy in Bladder Cancer

Dr. Garcia on Sequencing Immunotherapies in Bladder Cancer

Dr. Garcia on FDA Approval of Pembrolizumab in Bladder Cancer