One question on oncologists’ minds recently is whether treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with cancer has a negative effect on COVID-19 disease. So far, the data have not shown a deleterious effect, but the definitive answer is unknown. In fact, some experts think immune checkpoint inhibitors may have a positive effect on the virus.
For decades, healthcare professionals have worked diligently to teach individuals that screening is a valuable tool for preventing and detecting cancer. This has not been an easy mission, and nurses and physicians have had to debunk the myths, bias, and misinformation that deter patients from getting screened annually or according to specific guidelines set forth by organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Cancer Society (ACS). Although clinicians have been telling their patients—and the population at large—not to put off cancer screening because it saves lives, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of this year, the dialogue changed.
Cellular therapy is becoming an attractive option for heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. According to data presented at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting, 2 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell drugs have generated impressive rates of response that are sustainable.
A novel intratumoral chemotherapy agent delivered by direct injection permits the dispersion of cytotoxic drugs into cancer cells to eradicate tumors, according to data from a phase 1/2 trial of INT230-6 alone and in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with advanced solid tumors.
A novel intratumoral chemotherapy agent delivered by direct injection permits the dispersion of cytotoxic drugs into cancer cells to eradicate tumors, according to data from a phase 1/2 trial of INT230-6 alone and in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with advanced solid tumors.
Delivering the keynote address at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, David F. Penson, MD, MPH, MMHC, Hamilton and Howd Chair in Urologic Oncology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, highlighted the need to move toward patient-centered decisions beyond survival, focusing on patient-centered outcomes by integrating quality of life (QOL) and [ Read More ]
Data from the TRACERx lung study suggest that circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may be a biomarker for the detection of postsurgical minimal residual disease (MRD) in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), suggesting which patients are at increased risk for disease relapse and will require more aggressive adjuvant therapy.
Pivotal phase 3 data demonstrated treatment with luspatercept resulted in statistically significant increased red blood cell transfusion independence compared with placebo.
On January 23, 2020, the FDA granted accelerated approval to tazemetostat (Tazverik; Epizyme), a methyltransferase inhibitor, for the treatment of metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma in adults and pediatric patients aged ≥16 years who are not eligible for complete resection.
On January 9, 2020, the FDA approved avapritinib (Ayvakit; Blueprint Medicines), a kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) harboring platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA) exon 18 mutations, including PDGFRA D842V mutations.
