Immuno-Oncology

Robert Wenham, MD, MS, FACOG, FACS, discusses the basis for combining chemotherapy, PARP inhibitors, and VEGF inhibitors with immunotherapy in ovarian cancer and ongoing research with ADCs in the field.

A phase 3 trial evaluating single-agent cemiplimab will be stopped early due to positive results demonstrating an overall survival benefit over chemotherapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer who previously received chemotherapy.

Six indications for immune checkpoint inhibitors granted under the FDA’s accelerated approval process that later failed confirmatory clinical trials are being reassessed as the agency continues an industry-wide evaluation of the pathway.

The field of triple-negative breast cancer is pushing to improve treatment by answering questions regarding biomarkers of response, defining the utility of neoadjuvant approaches, and exploring potential combinations with checkpoint inhibitors and PARP inhibitors.

Yelena Y. Janjigian, MD, discussed the promise of nivolumab plus chemotherapy in patients with PD-L1–positive advanced gastric cancer, GEJ cancer, and esophageal adenocarcinoma, as well as important biomarkers that should be used to guide sequencing decisions.

Treatment strategies for patients with advanced-stage non–small cell lung cancer have shifted away from platinum-based doublet chemotherapy and toward combination strategies that include immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Merck has withdrawn pembrolizumab from the US market for the treatment of patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer who experienced disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy and at least 1 previous line of treatment.

Immune therapy has evolved rapidly in multiple myeloma, and the field is on the verge of major improvements in outcomes.

February 26, 2021 - The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use granted a positive opinion to dostarlimab as a treatment for patients with recurrent or advanced microsatellite instability–high/mismatch repair deficient endometrial cancer who have progressed on or following platinum-based chemotherapy.

February 24, 2021 - The CAR T-cell product KTE-X19 continues to demonstrate durable clinical benefit in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma, with an overall response rate of 92%.

Binod Dhakal, MD, discusses the potential impact of ide-cel, orva-cel, and cilta-cel in multiple myeloma therapy.

Aung Naing, MD, FACP, discusses potential immune-related adverse effects in oncology.

February 23, 2021 - AbbVie and Caribou Biosciences, Inc have entered into a collaboration and license agreement for the research and development of chimeric antigen receptory T-cell therapeutics.

ADP-A2M4CD8, a novel T-cell therapy, is being investigated in a range of tumor types that express MAGEA4, an antigen expressed in solid tumors that investigators say represents a promising target for cellular immunotherapy.

February 22, 2021 - The FDA has granted a fast track designation to the DNA-mediated interleukin-12 immunotherapy GEN-1 for use in the treatment of patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

Claud N. Grigg, MD, highlights different frontline combination regimens that are improving outcomes for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

AstraZeneca has voluntarily withdrawn durvalumab from the US market for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic bladder cancer.

Davey B. Daniel, MD, discusses key immunotherapy trials in advanced non–small cell lung cancer and explains how the results can be extrapolated to clinical practice.

Marc J. Braunstein, MD, PhD, discusses the evolution and promise of immunotherapeutics in multiple myeloma.

February 17, 2021 - Carl H. June, MD, and Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, have received the 2021 Dan David Prize Laureate for their research in oncology. They, along with Zelig Eshhar, an immunologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, will share a prize of $1 million.

The first patient with operable, locally or regionally advanced melanoma has been dosed with the intratumoral DNA plasmid-based interleukin-12 therapy tavokinogene telseplasmid in combination with nivolumab as a neoadjuvant treatment before surgery in the investigator-initiated, phase 2 OMS-104 trial.

During a recent OncLive Peer Exchange®, a panel of experts in kidney cancer from the United States and France convened to discuss several important immunotherapy studies presented during the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020, as well as several others that are under way and expected to report out over the next few years.

February 12, 2021 - The combination of nivolumab and cabozantinib continued to showcase a superior survival benefit over single-agent sunitinib when used as first-line treatment in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Sikander Ailawadhi, MD, discusses the future of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, the potential for retreatment with proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, and monoclonal antibodies, and the promise of T-cell engagers in the field.

February 9, 2021 - The FDA has approved cemiplimab-rwlc as the first immunotherapy for use in patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma that has previously been treated with a hedgehog pathway inhibitor (HHI) or for whom a HHI is not appropriate.