Silas Inman

Higher levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes were associated with improvements in overall survival for patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer treated with docetaxel, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab in the phase III CLEOPATRA trial.

Treatment with the CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy KTE-C19 showed a complete remission rate of 73% for patients with aggressive, chemorefractory primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma and transformed follicular lymphoma.

Treatment with the BTK inhibitor BGB-3111 had an objective response rate of 96% for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic leukemia.

The combination of the PI3 kinase inhibitor TGR-1202 and ibrutinib demonstrated a high response rate without dose-limiting toxicities for patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma.

Treatment with the combination of pembrolizumab, pomalidomide, and dexamethasone demonstrated promising durable efficacy and a tolerable safety profile for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Treatment with enasidenib was active and was well tolerated in pretreated patients with IDH2-mutated myelodysplastic syndrome, including those who failed hypomethylating agents.

The CAR T-cell therapy CTL019 demonstrated an 82% complete remission (CR) or CR with incomplete blood count recovery rate for pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

TKIs can safely be stopped or dose-reduced without jeopardizing long-term outcomes for select patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who have obtained a major molecular response.

The next-generation BTK inhibitor acalabrutinib produced an objective response rate of 38.1% as a monotherapy for patents with Richter transformation.

Treatment with the combination of nivolumab and ibrutinib showed encouraging activity and safety in a small phase II study of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Richter transformation.

Checkpoint blockade immunotherapies that have moved quickly from the development stage to clinical use in a range of solid tumors are also being explored in hematologic malignancies.

The FDA has granted a priority review to a biologics license application for avelumab as a treatment for patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma.

The European Commission has granted a conditional approval to ixazomib in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone for adult patients with multiple myeloma following at least 1 prior therapy.

A biologics license application (BLA) has been submitted for ABP-215, a biosimilar version of bevacizumab (Avastin), based on data from analytical, pharmacokinetic, clinical data, pharmacology, and toxicology data, according to a statement from Amgen and Allergan, the developers of the biosimilar.

The combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab led to a high response rate and improved overall survival versus historical controls for patients with pretreated metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

The combination of lirilumab and nivolumab resulted in an objective response rate of 24.1% in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

The European Commission has granted an accelerated approval to olaratumab in combination with doxorubicin as a frontline therapy for patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma, making it the first new therapy for this indication in over 40 years.

Treatment with nivolumab significantly extended overall survival compared with placebo for patients with unresectable, advanced, or recurrent gastric cancer who were refractory or intolerant to standard therapy.

Using combination regimens in an effective manner will likely be a go-to method with immunotherapy in multiple myeloma, in an effort to induce durable responses in patients.

Treatment with the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib before and after surgery demonstrated a dramatic improvement in relapse-free survival compared with the standard of care for patients with stage IIIb/c or oligometastatic BRAF-mutant melanoma.

The combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib and the MEK inhibitor binimetinib reduced the risk of progression or death by 46% compared with vemurafenib (Zelboraf) for patients with BRAF-mutant unresectable melanoma.

Neoadjuvant therapy with the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab is plausible and effective but can induce a high level of adverse events calling for further research into better tolerated dosing schemes.

The addition of the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab to the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib and the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib induced a high response rate for patients with BRAF-mutant unresectable melanoma.

The European Medicines Agency has accepted and validated a marketing authorization application for avelumab as a treatment for patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma.

The FDA has granted a priority review designation to nivolumab as a treatment for patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic urothelial carcinoma following progression on a platinum-containing therapy.

Denosumab is noninferior to zoledronic acid at delaying skeletal-related events for patients with multiple myeloma.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval olaratumab in combination with doxorubicin for the treatment of patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma who are not good candidates for radiotherapy or surgery.

The combination of custirsen with docetaxel failed to significantly extend overall survival compared with docetaxel alone as a second-line treatment for patients with non–small cell lung cancer.

Adjuvant sunitinib prolonged disease-free survival by 1.2 years compared with placebo following nephrectomy for patients with high-risk clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Single-agent pembrolizumab improved overall and progression-free survival compared with doublet chemotherapy for untreated patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer who expressed PD-L1 on ≥50% of cells.