Gina Columbus

Articles by Gina Columbus

In his presentation on translational research in non&ndash;small cell lung cancer during the <em>20th Annual </em>International Lung Cancer Congress&reg;, Scagliotti, a professor of oncology at the University of Torino in Italy, discussed the promising evolution of therapeutic options, pointing to steps being taken to create a larger precision medicine ecosystem.&nbsp;

The United States Preventive Services Task Force is recommending that therapies like tamoxifen, raloxifene, or aromatase inhibitors be administered to women who have a high risk for developing breast cancer and low risk for the adverse events that may be caused by these therapies. This recommendation is part of an update to the USPSTF recommendation statement on treatments for reducing breast cancer risk.

PF-05280586, a biosimilar for rituximab, has been approved by the FDA for use as a single-agent or in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of&nbsp;adult patients with CD20-positive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, or in combination with chemotherapy for patients with CD20-positive chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

A priority review designation has been granted by the FDA to a supplemental&nbsp;biologics license application for niraparib as a treatment for patients with advanced ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who have been treated with &ge;3 prior chemotherapy regimens, and who have either a&nbsp;<em>BRCA&nbsp;</em>mutation or have homologous recombination deficiency and progressed &gt;6 months after their last platinum-based regimen.

Olaparib has been approved by the European Commission as a treatment in the maintenance setting for adult patients&nbsp;with advanced <em>BRCA1/2</em>-mutated germline and/or somatic high-grade epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who are in complete or partial response following frontline treatment with a platinum-based chemotherapy.

ABP 980, a trastuzumab biosimilar, has been approved by the FDA&nbsp; for the treatment of patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer as well as HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, marking the fifth approval by the agency for a trastuzumab biosimilar.

Topline results from the ASCERTAIN trial of the&nbsp;cedazuridine and decitabine combination in patients with&nbsp;intermediate and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes or chronic myelomoncyctis leukemia showed that the&nbsp;phase III trial met its primary endpoint. The fixed-dose combination demonstrated a&nbsp;decitabine exposure equivalence of total 5-day dosing compared with intravenous decitabine in the study patient population.&nbsp;

Pembrolizumab has been approved by the FDA as monotherapy for newly diagnosed patients with&nbsp;metastatic or unresectable recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma&nbsp;whose tumors express PD-L1 and for use in combination with platinum and fluorouracil for this patient population, irrespective of PD-L1 expression.

A supplemental new drug application has been approved by the FDA&nbsp;to update the label for gilteritinib (Xospata) to include final analysis data from the phase III ADMIRAL trial, which demonstrated an improvement in overall survival with the FLT3 inhibitor compared with salvage chemotherapy in adult patients with relapsed/refractory <em>FLT3</em>-mutant AML.

The combination of encorafenib, binimetinib, and cetuximab reduced the risk of death by 48% in patients wtih&nbsp;<em>BRAF</em> V600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer who have received up to 2 prior lines of therapy compared with cetuximab and irinotecan-containing regimens, according to the phase III BEACON CRC trial, which met both its primary endpoints.