News

Eric P. Winer, MD, will be appointed next director of Yale Cancer Center and physician-in-chief of Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven, effective February 1, 2022.

The addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies has paved the way for advances in the adjuvant and met-astatic setting with recent data from clinical trials demonstrating significant improvements in overall survival for patients with advanced melanoma.

A phase 0 trial that will evaluate niraparib in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma and recurrent glioma has just opened.

The treatment algorithm in metastatic colorectal cancer has gone from accounting only for the sidedness of the primary tumor, performance status, volume of disease, and potential resectability to also include the genetics of the tumor, particularly for patients in need of second-line therapy.

Chemoimmunotherapy is the new frontline standard of care for patients with small cell lung cancer, and other novel agents, such as, bispecific T-cell engagers are in the pipeline and gaining momentum for those who experience disease progression.

Nagashree Seetharamu, MD, MBBS, discusses the importance of early and frequent genomic testing in patients with lung cancer, as well as remaining challenges faced in clinical practice and efforts being made to overcome them.

Ripretinib did not significantly improve progression-free survival over sunitinib in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor who previously received imatinib, missing the primary end point of the phase 3 INTRIGUE trial.

CAR T-cell therapy and bispecific antibodies for T-cell redirection are 2 recent immune strategies developed in the treatment of multiple melanoma.

Unsurprisingly, the use of cannabis in patients with cancer appears to be increasing as more and more states are adopting cannabis legislation, both for medical and adult use.

Significant progress with rapidly evolving therapies, including blinatumomab, inotuzumab ozogamicin, and CAR T-cell therapy, has been made to extend the median overall survival and improve outcomes for patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Julie Renee Brahmer, MD, MSc, discusses remaining questions regarding immunotherapy and targeted therapy in locally advanced NSCLC, data from the phase 3 PACIFIC and ADAURA trials, and her hopes for future clinical trials in the paradigm.

The FDA granted a fast track designation to EZM0414, a first-in-class, oral SETD2 inhibitor, for use as a potential therapeutic option in adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Expanding the definition of personalized medicine to include social determinants of health disparities is needed to ensure patients with cancer receive optimal care, said Karen Winkfield, MD, PhD, who added that lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic have sparked a new wave of enthusiasm to advocate for change and bridge existing gaps in oncology.

Increases investigative efforts into bispecific monoclonal antibodies could lead to their availability to treat a broad range of hematologic and solid cancers. Their current use in practice is limited to non–small cell lung cancer, leukemia, and hemophilia.

The management of endometrial cancer, a molecularly driven malignancy with 4 distinct subtypes, has witnessed significant progress with recent regulatory approvals of checkpoint blockade alone and in combination, said Bhavana Pothuri, MD, MS.

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, patients with cancer should receive the full vaccination with 1 of the 3 approved COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they are able, according to Steven Ludlow, PharmD, BCOP, BCPS.

The European Medicines Agency granted an orphan drug designation to devimistat for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory Burkitt lymphoma. The novel compound targets mitochondria in tumor cells.

Leronlimab was found to improve survival in patients with CCR5-positive metastatic triple-negative breast cancer in whom at least 2 prior lines of therapy had failed, according to data from an updated analysis of a Compassionate Use Study, a phase 1b/2 study, and from a basket study.

Maurie Markman, MD, discusses the need for peer-reviewed publications to encourage further discussion and debate, challenge existing ideas or dogma, or provide support for current biological concepts or in the clinical realm for treatment of patients.

ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines indicate that the management of metastatic breast cancer requires nuanced and multidisciplinary decision making to optimize and personalize locoregional, systemic, and supportive care.

Azanucleosides, such as azacitidine, remain the backbone of disease-modifying therapy for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes, however, new adjuncts are leading to longer remissions and disease-free survival in patients with low-risk disease.

The identification of prognostic markers at diagnosis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia is critical, says Deborah M. Stephens, DO, who explains that the results of testing for these markers can be used to educate patients on their prognosis, tailor therapy accordingly, and enroll eligible patients on clinical trials.

Newer modalities are exploring ways to provide more specificity on the value of minimal residual disease negativity in acute myeloid leukemia, since currently there is little definitive action that can be taken with the marker in clinical practice, according to Naval Daver, MD.

The Food and Drug Administration has granted recognition to a partial listing of the Oncology Knowledge Base, a comprehensive precision oncology knowledge databased developed by investigators and physicians at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Radiation oncologists Jacob Scott, MD, DPhil, and Javier Torres-Roca, MD, discuss the benefits of using GARD in a pooled pan-cancer analysis and why there is a call to action to integrate GARD-based radiotherapy dosing in oncology.