Danielle Ternyila

Articles by Danielle Ternyila

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, discussed the current treatment landscape for patients with EGFR-mutant lung cancer, as well as some therapies that currently are under both preclinical and clinical investigation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He shared advice for community oncologists treating this patient population.

To support the commercialization of the blood-based companion diagnostic test Guardant360 companion diagnostic for AMG 510, Guardant Health, Inc, will collaborate with Amgen, developer of AMG 510, and pursue an FDA Pre-Market Approval as a companion diagnostic for AMG 510 in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer with a KRAS G12C mutation, according to a press release.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Andrew J. Cowan, MD, discussed the findings from the first-in-human clinical trial evaluating the combination of a GSI and BCMA CAR T cells in patients with heavily pretreated multiple myeloma. He highlighted the next steps for this research and how he sees CAR T-cell therapy evolving over the coming years.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Simon Rule, MD, discussed the findings from a pooled analysis evaluating the efficacy and safety of using ibrutinib in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma. He also highlighted other abstracts of interest that were presented during the 2019 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting that were of interest in the field of mantle cell lymphoma.

The overall response rate was improved with itacitinib plus corticosteroids compared with placebo plus corticosteroids in patients with treatment-naïve acute graft-versus-host disease in the phase III GRAVITAS-301 trial. However, the difference in ORR for the treatment arm compared with the placebo arm was not statistically significant, missing the trial’s primary end point.

The Ion Torrent Oncomine Myeloid Research Assay, the first fully-integrated next-generation sequencing platform, will be available in 2020 on the new Ion Torrent Genexus System for research use, according to a press release from Thermo Fisher Scientific. The platform features automated workflow to allow for result delivery within a single day, requiring minimal user intervention and tissue sample input.

The FDA granted approval to countless treatments across cancer types throughout 2019 until the end of the year, with a final approval on December 31<sup>st&nbsp;</sup>for the first BRCA targeted therapy in pancreatic cancer. Following the excitement for a new year of further advances,&nbsp;Targeted Oncology&nbsp;followers on Twitter shared their thoughts on some of the most impactful FDA approvals in 2019.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Nizar Bahlis, MD, discussed the updated findings from the MAIA trial, which he presented at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting. He highlighted the updates to the PFS, OS, and overall response rate data, as well as some other areas daratumumab is under investigation now following the positive data from this trial.&nbsp;

In December 2019, the FDA approved a number of new treatments in lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, urothelial carcinoma, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. A&nbsp;tissue complete assay was also approved by the FDA for use in a clinical trial evaluating pembrolizumab.

The combination of off-the-shelf, antibody-targeted natural killer cells and IL-15 superagonist N-083 with low-dose metronomic chemoradiation, adenoviral and year tumor-associated antigen vaccines, and a PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor had ongoing durable complete responses in patients with triple-negative breast cancer who failed standard-of-care treatment, according to a press release from NantKwest Inc., manufacturer of the NK cell-based therapy.

The Cchek Prostate Cancer Confirmation test&mdash;which utilizes artificial intelligence, flow cytometry, and liquid-biopsy technology to detect prostate cancer&mdash;has been commercially launched, according to Anixa Biosciences, Inc., developer of the test. Once it becomes available, this test will reduce the need for expensive and invasive biopsy procedures to diagnose patients with prostate cancer in certain patients.<br /> &nbsp;

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Ian W. Flinn, MD, PhD, discussed the results from the ZUMA-2 trial which evaluated the efficacy and safety of KTE-X19, a CAR T-cell therapy, in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma. He highlighted how unique this product is compared to other CAR T-cell therapies and where he believes it will fit into the treatment landscape for patients with mantle cell lymphoma.