Global Oncology

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion for the combination of cabozantinib plus nivolumab for use as a frontline treatment in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Arutha Kulasinghe, PhD, discusses identifying COVID-19–associated gene signatures through spatial transcriptomics.

Anita Lavery, MD, MRCP, discusses the current state of cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland.

Marina Garassino, MD, discusses the distribution of the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine to patients with cancer in Italy.

Arutha Kulasinghe, PhD, discusses cancer care during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Australia.

February 17, 2021 – Pamrevlumab, a first-in-class inhibitor of connective tissue growth factor activity, is being evaluated in combination with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) in a phase 3 trial for patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer, a population in need of new options.

February 9, 2021 - The European Commission has granted a full marketing authorization for fedratinib for the treatment of disease-related splenomegaly or symptoms in adult patients with primary myelofibrosis, post-polycythemia vera myelofibrosis, or post-essential thrombocytopenia myelofibrosis who have not received JAK inhibitors or who have received ruxolitinib.

February 4, 2021 - In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, investigators have turned to tried-and-true cancer drugs to see whether they can be used to combat the virus.

February 4, 2021 — The Israeli Ministry of Health has approved selinexor for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

February 4, 2021 - The China National Medical Products Administration has granted a conditional approval to gilteritinib for use in adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia with a FLT3 mutation detected by a validated test.

February 3, 2021 - The combination of ceralasertib plus durvalumab improved overall response rate in patients with non‒small cell lung cancer who progressed on an anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy.

February 2, 2021 — Larotrectinib was found to elicit high response rates, durable responses, and to extend survival benefit in patients with advanced lung cancer whose tumors harbor an NTRK gene fusion, including those with central nervous system metastases.

February 2, 2021 - The time to treatment deterioration for symptoms such as cough, dyspnea, and pain in the chest was found to be comparable between treatment-naïve patients with ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer who received lorlatinib versus crizotinib.

February 1, 2021 — Targeted circulating tumor DNA methylation marker panels possess the potential for early blood-based detection of lung cancer with a high sensitivity and specificity.

February 1, 2020 - The European Medicines Agency’s Committee of Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended a label expansion for pembrolizumab for use as a single agent in adult and pediatric patients aged 3 years and older with relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma for whom autologous stem cell transplant has failed or following at least 2 previous therapies when ASCT is not an option.

January 30, 2021 - Neoadjuvant atezolizumab followed by surgery resulted in a major pathologic response in 21% of patients with resectable stage IB-IIIB non–small cell lung cancer, as well as significant surgical outcomes with a high rate of R0 resection.

January 30, 2021 - Data from the phase 3 CONFIRM trial support single-agent nivolumab as an effective treatment approach for patients with previously treated malignant mesothelioma.

January 29, 2021 - Health-related quality of life was maintained for patients with EGFR-positive non–small cell lung cancer who received treatment with adjuvant osimertinib versus placebo, with no clinically meaningful differences noted between study arms.

January 29, 2021 - Pembrolizumab plus ipilimumab did not improve survival and had higher rates of toxicity versus pembrolizumab monotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer who had a PD-L1 tumor proportion score of 50% or greater, and did not harbor EGFR or ALK aberrations.

January 29, 2021 — Mobocertinib (formerly TAK-788) demonstrated clinically meaningful benefit and a manageable safety profile in previously treated patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer who have EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations.

January 29, 2021 - The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion for selinexor for use in combination with dexamethasone in the treatment of select adult patients with refractory multiple myeloma.

January 29, 2021 - The investigational antibody-drug conjugate datopotamab deruxtecan demonstrated encouraging antitumor activity and a manageable safety profile in patients with advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer.

January 29, 2021 - The HER3-directed antibody-drug conjugate patritumab deruxtecan continued to demonstrate clinically meaningful antitumor activity and a manageable safety profile at the recommended expansion dose of 5.6 mg/kg in pretreated patients with metastatic or unresectable EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer.

January 29, 2021 - Thirty percent fewer new lung cancer cases have been diagnosed during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic versus pre-pandemic, with more symptomatic and severe cases of non–small cell lung cancer diagnosed during this period.

January 29, 2021 - Adjuvant osimertinib was found to improve disease-free survival in patients with EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer, irrespective of previous adjuvant chemotherapy received or disease stage.