Vol. 21/No. 1

The aging of the baby boomer population and the growing number of cancer survivors have created a huge demand for oncology treatment services. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has compounded the need by ratcheting up standards for value-based care. To handle these additional needs, many oncology practices now turn to advanced practice providers, typically nurse practitioners or physician assistants, who are highly trained and capable of taking over many of the routine functions of the oncology clinic.

The standard of care in the second line for patients with mismatch repair–deficient metastatic colorectal cancer has shifted to favor therapy utilizing immunotherapeutic agents, according to Howard Hochster, MD.

The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer is developing a growing menu of guidelines with treatment algorithms for specific cancer types to help practicing oncologists navigate the appropriate use of this emerging modality.

CAR T cells are a highly active field of investigation, with many companies at work on formulations they hope to bring to market, but these agents have limitations, particularly with metastasized solid tumors.

During an OncLive Peer Exchange program, an international panel of lung cancer experts provided perspective on key findings regarding various immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) combinations and data concerning potential biomarkers of response to ICIs in non–small cell lung cancer.

Armed with the knowledge that inhibition of the Bruton tyrosine kinase is an effective approach in B-cell malignancies, investigators will explore the efficacy of the second-generation BTK inhibitor, zanubrutinib, in 2 leukemia and lymphoma subtypes.

The advent of immunotherapy options to treat patients with cancer has brought with it a new wave of immuno-related toxicities. One institution, Massachusetts General Hospital, has taken steps to establish an immunotherapy toxicity service care team, inspired by a 65-year-old patient with metastatic melanoma that had spread to his lungs and brain.

After witnessing 10 years of breakthroughs across the spectrum of cancer care, oncology experts are looking ahead as a new decade begins to capitalize on those wide-ranging therapeutic and diagnostic gains.

Cardiac resynchronization therapy improved heart function in patients who developed chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy.

Placing the results of a single trial in the context of real-world, everyday practice is increasingly difficult because of the number of available options and the absence of studies that directly compare individual strategies.

Richard Pazdur, MD, set out to be a leader in medicine and a teacher of doctors. He achieved that and more, turning the oncology drugs section of the FDA from a poorly understood and lead-footed division into a fast-moving and patient-responsive entity.