Immuno-Oncology

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.

Joshua Brody, MD, discusses the role of immunotherapy in Hodgkin lymphoma.

Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, discusses the toxicities associated with immunotherapy in lung cancer.

Checkpoint inhibitors have failed to improve progression-free survival and overall survival as second-line therapy and maintenance therapy in small cell lung cancer, but this class of agents continue to show encouraging activity worthy of a paradigm shift up front.

Mario Sznol, MD, discusses the critical importance of being aware of the immune-related toxicities that could arise when treating patients with cancer, along with the best ways to manage them.

December 11, 2020 - The European Medicine Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion for pembrolizumab monotherapy for the frontline treatment of adult patients with metastatic microsatellite instability–high or mismatch repair deficient colorectal cancer.

With the shift away from chemoimmunotherapy, and the adoption of novel combinations, as well as cellular therapy, the MCL treatment landscape has entered a new era. Looking forward, minimal residual disease is bound to play a critical role in terms of guiding treatment selection.

December 4, 2020 — Adjuvant nivolumab demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in relapse-free survival, overall survival, and distant metastasis-free survival vs placebo in patients with high-risk resected melanoma, even after accounting for disease stage and post-recurrence survival, supporting the use of the anti–PD-1 antibody as a standard adjuvant therapy.

Joshua Reuss, MD, discusses the lung cancer armamentarium, the role of immunotherapy combinations, and the significance of biomarkers.

Data from completed studies evaluating immunotherapy in lung cancer alone or in combination with chemotherapy show that a breakdown of populations by PD-L1 status and additional considerations such as toxicity profiles should guide treatment decisions.

November 17, 2020 - AV-GBM-1, a personalized cancer vaccine, demonstrated an improvement in progression-free survival in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma.

November 14, 2020 - A novel combination comprised of the TKI cabozantinib plus the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab and the CTLA-4 inhibitor ipilimumab is under exploration in treatment-naïve patients with intermediate or poor risk advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the phase 3 COSMIC-313 trial.

November 13, 2020 - The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to pembrolizumab for use in combination with chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with locally recurrent unresectable or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer whose tumors express PD-L1 as determined by an FDA-approved test.

Tian Zhang, MD, discusses the combination of ieramilimab and spartalizumab in advanced malignancies.