News

December 17, 2020 - The FDA has approved rituximab-arrx, a biosimilar to rituximab, for the treatment of adult patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and microscopic polyangiitis.

Ruta D. Rao, MD, associate professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology at Rush Medical College, as well as the director of the Coleman Foundation Comprehensive Breast Cancer Clinic and medical director of Rush University Cancer Center, discusses emerging treatments for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

December 17, 2020 - Merck is set to build a new manufacturing facility to increase its production of TICE Bacillus Calmette–Guérin, tripling its current manufacturing capacity.

December 17, 2020 - Jounce Therapeutics will evaluate its lead agent vopratelimab in combination with the anti–PD-1 monoclonal antibody JTX-4014, in patients with non-small cell lung cancer who have not received immunotherapy.

December 17, 2020 - Lisocabtagene maraleucel exhibited promising antitumor activity with low rates of grade 3 or higher cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma.

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.

Massimo Cristofanilli, MD, highlights the introduction of CDK4/6 inhibitors, such as abemaciclib, ribociclib, and palbociclib, which has been a significant addition to the hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer armamentarium.

December 17, 2020 - Androgen receptor inhibitor–therapy is associated with an increased risk of falls and fractures in patients with prostate cancer. However, since it has shown improvement in overall survival, the benefits may outweigh the risk.

December 17, 2020 — The European Commission has granted a conditional marketing authorization to the CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapy KTE-X19 for use in adult patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma who had previously received 2 or more lines of systemic therapy including a BTK inhibitor.

December 16, 2020 - A new drug application has been submitted to the FDA for sotorasib for the treatment of patients with KRAS G12C–mutant locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer, as determined by an FDA-approved test, after at least 1 previous systemic therapy.

December 16, 2020 - The FDA has approved margetuximab-cmkb plus chemotherapy for use in adult patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have previously received 2 or more anti-HER2 regimens, at least one of which was for metastatic disease.

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.

December 16, 2020 - Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, 2019 OncLive Giants of Cancer Care® recipient in Breast Cancer, has been elected to serve as the president of ASCO for the 2022-2023 term, and will assume the president-elect position during the 2020 ASCO Annual Meeting.

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.

R. Lor Randall, MD, FACS, discusses the concept and prospect of up-front resection in osteosarcoma from the Osteosarcoma Collaborative.

December 15, 2020 - The FDA has granted a fast track designation to devimistat for the treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

Filip Janku, MD, PhD highlighted a dose-escalated approach of ripretinib and how it yielded a progression-free survival benefit in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor across all lines of treatment in a phase 1 study.

December 15, 2020 — The sequence in which hormonal therapy is given to men with localized prostate cancer should be considered as it can significantly affect outcomes.

December 15, 2020 - The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion for fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki for use as a single agent in adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have previously received 2 or more anti-HER2–based regimens.

December 15, 2020 - The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion for an additional dosing option of durvalumab, a fixed dose of 1500 mg every 4 weeks, in the approved indication of locally advanced, unresectable non–small cell lung cancer in adults whose tumors have a PD-L1 expression of at least 1% and who did not have progressive disease after platinum-based chemoradiation treatment.

Neelima Vidula, MD, highlights some of the pivotal trials evaluating immunotherapy combination regimens in triple-negative breast cancer, some of the challenges faced in practice, and areas for further exploration.

TP53-mutant myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia represent a molecularly distinct, poor-risk patient subgroup frequently associated with complex karyotypes, high propensity for relapse, and inferior overall survival.

Balazs Halmos, MD discusses the year 2021 and how it will encompass a bigger focus on neoadjuvant and adjuvant trials, more novel molecular compounds for more select subgroups, and a migration of circulating tumor DNA into a more minimal residual disease–based setting.

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.