Immuno-Oncology

David Spigel, MD, discusses ongoing research with immunotherapy in early-stage lung cancer.

January 21, 2021 - The FDA has granted priority review to a biologics license application for retifanlimab for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal who were intolerant of or who had progressed on platinum-based chemotherapy.

Howard A. “Skip” Burris, III, MD, FASCO, FACP, discusses the potential of novel combination strategies with checkpoint inhibitors in oncology.

The FDA has granted priority review to a supplemental biologics license application for nivolumab for use as an adjuvant treatment for patients with resected esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer following neoadjuvant chemoradiation treatment.

January 20, 2021 - The FDA has granted a priority review to a supplemental biologics license application for nivolumab in combination with a fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy for use in patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, or esophageal adenocarcinoma.

January 16, 2021 - Health-related quality of life during an 18-week period proved to be similar over for patients with esophageal cancer treated with either pembrolizumab or placebo added to chemotherapy.

January 15, 2021 - Durvalumab has been approved in the European Union and the United Kingdom for a fixed-dose option of 1,500 mg every 4 weeks for use in patients with locally advanced, unresectable non–small cell lung cancer whose tumors have a PD-L1 expression of at least 1% and who have not experienced disease progression after platinum-based chemoradiation treatment.

January 14, 2020 - The China National Medical Products Administration has approved tislelizumab for use in combination with 2 chemotherapy regimens in the frontline treatment of patients with advanced squamous non–small cell lung cancer.

Amer Zeidan, MD, MHS, discusses how survival for patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome remains poor, and although immunotherapy has been positioned as a holy grail, it would be preemptive to predict its future based on the number of small studies that have been performed to date.

Sarah Goldberg, MD, MPH, discusses a network meta-analysis of randomized trials of chemoimmunotherapy with in patients with advanced disease, data suggest that certain populations with high, and perhaps low, PD-L1 expression may not require combination therapy, which would minimize adverse event potential.

December 30, 2020 - Bristol Myers Squibb has withdrawn nivolumab from the US market for the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer who have experienced disease progression after a platinum-based chemotherapy and at least 1 other line of therapy.

Alex A. Adjei, MD, PhD, discusses frontline treatment options for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer, as well as some of the nuances of selecting the optimal therapy.

R. Wendel Naumann, MD, discusses numerous investigations of PD-1 inhibitors in combination with PARP inhibitors or other targeted agents, as well as chemotherapy, and how it could finally start the next chapter of immunotherapy in gynecologic malignancies.

Nicholas C. Rohs, MD, highlights the influx of clinical trials and the addition of immunotherapy in the adjuvant setting of lung cancer.

Joshua Brody, MD, discusses established and upcoming immunotherapies in the lymphoid malignancy pipeline.

December 23, 2020 — Nivolumab in combination with temozolomide and radiation treatment failed to result in a statistically significant improvement in overall survival in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme with MGMT promoter methylation following surgical resection of the tumor.

Aurélien Marabelle, MD, PhD, discusses preliminary findings from a trial examining SO-C101 in patients with advanced solid tumors.

December 17, 2020 - The FDA has granted priority review to a new supplemental biologics license application for pembrolizumab in combination with platinum- and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy as a first-line treatment in patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic esophageal and gastroesophageal junction cancer.

December 16, 2020 - The combination of motixafortide plus pembrolizumab and chemotherapy was found to result in a substantial improvement in overall survival, progression-free survival, and overall response rate when used as a second-line treatment in patients with stage IV pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

December 16, 2020 — The combination of nivolumab with ipilimumab demonstrated activity in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma with encouraging responses.

Several immunotherapeutic options are available for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), allowing decisions to be made based on histology, PD-L1 expression, and patient preference in regard to their treatment goals. Looking ahead, there may also be efficacy in moving immunotherapy drugs up into the resectable, early-stage setting

December 16, 2020 - Pembrolizumab/lenvatinib has significantly improved survival and responses compared with chemotherapy in patients with advanced endometrial cancer who have received previous systemic treatment.

Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, discusses biomarkers for immunotherapy response that are currently under investigation in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Sarah B. Goldberg, MD, MPH, discusses the evolving role of immunotherapy in non–small cell lung cancer.

The emergence of checkpoint inhibitors has transformed the second-line treatment of patients with metastatic bladder cancer. However, questions regarding the utility of immunotherapy in the frontline setting remain unanswered, leaving chemotherapy as the standard-of-care option.