July 2013

The standard of care for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) prevailed in a randomized comparison of everolimus (Afinitor) and sunitinib (Sutent) as first-line therapy

An approximately 20% increase was seen in both community oncology clinics closing and merging with hospitals, demonstrating a continuing trend toward the consolidation of cancer care delivery.

At the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting, researchers presented the latest developments with enzalutamide, radium-223, and abiraterone acetate as treatments for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

A subgroup analysis from a phase III study showed that certain patients may benefit more from eribulin than capecitabine, and quality of life data suggest that patients may prefer eribulin because of a lower frequency of certain adverse events.

Finding new ways of manipulating the body's own defenses to better combat various hematologic malignancies is yielding some interesting results and could represent a very promising new field of care for patients dealing with these disorders.

Adding ibrutinib to standard R-CHOP chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma resulted in an objective response rate of 100% in the first-line setting.

One in five African-American women with breast cancer carries an abnormality in at least one gene associated with breast cancer susceptibility.

While the anti-T-cell-checkpoint approach is far from perfect, the demonstrated ability for humanity to overcome evolutionary design and break tumor cell tolerance to turn the tide against cancer is nothing less than inspiring.

A dual-target PI3 kinase inhibitor known as IPI-145 demonstrated activity in several types of relapsed and refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Biomarkers for sensitivity to etirinotecan pegol that are found in circulating tumor cells of breast cancer patients can be "reliably measured."

The investigational antibody lambrolizumab demonstrated significant antitumor activity and good response rates as well as a tolerable toxicity profile in patients with melanoma.

Exploratory analyses by intrinsic subtype showed that HER2-positive breast cancer is molecularly heterogeneous with varying degrees of sensitivity to HER2-targeted therapy.

Combination treatment with selumetinib and dacarbazine significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with BRAF-positive melanoma.

A detailed analysis of previously reported data on the multikinase inhibitor cabozantinib in medullary thyroid cancer found that patients with mutations of RET and RAS experienced a significantly higher benefit than patients without those mutations.

T-VEC manifested significant gains in durable response rate and other key clinical indicators in patients with advanced melanoma in what researchers described as the first phase III trial demonstrating the efficacy of an oncolytic virus immunotherapy.

Measurable patient characteristics that predict better tolerance have not been widely studied and are desperately needed in clinical practice to inform treatment decision-making and individualize care for each older adult with AML.

The presence or absence of RAS mutations should dictate use of panitumumab in combination with FOLFOX chemotherapy for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Although crizotinib (Xalkori) is highly effective in treating patients with advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), most patients develop resistance to the drug.

Researchers highlighted the latest developments in the treatment of multiple myeloma at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting. Noteworthy abstracts included updated data on pomalidomide, as well as research involving the novel agents daratumumab and elotuzumab.

Adding the mTOR inhibitor everolimus to conventional therapy slowed the progression of trastuzumab-resistant advanced breast cancer, and in the process, provided clues to the origin of trastuzumab resistance.