Lisa Astor

The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization for a second vaccine, the mRNA-1273 Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, for the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in individuals 18 years of age and older.

The FDA has approved ponatinib for the treatment of adult patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia with resistance or intolerance of at least 2 prior tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

The FDA has approved osimertinib as an adjuvant therapy for patients with non–small cell lung cancer whose tumors have EGFR exon 19 deletions or exon 21 L858R mutations, as detected by an FDA-approved test, for use following tumor resection.

The FDA has approved selinexor in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least 1 prior therapy.

Sacituzumab govitecan led to improvements in response rates and progression-free survival (PFS) compared with chemotherapy for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who had stable brain metastases in a subgroup analysis from the phase 3 ASCENT trial.

The addition of trilaciclib prior to gemcitabine and carboplatin chemotherapy significantly improved overall survival in patients with previously treated metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

Patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphomas treated with glofitamab in the phase 1 NP30179 study, had a significant rate of complete responses.

A novel BCMA and CD3 targeted bispecific T-cell engaging immunotherapy agent TNB-383B has demonstrated significant responses at higher dose levels and tolerability at all dose levels, including mild cases of cytokine release syndrome, according to initial results of a phase 1 trial presented during the 2020 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting.

Ciltacabtagene autoleucel demonstrated a significant response rate and showed a manageable safety profile at the recommended phase 2 dose in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

In a presentation during the 21st Annual Meeting of the Society of Urologic Oncology, Kara N. Maxwell, MD, PhD, expanded upon the available biomarkers for use in prostate cancer and how they can be applied at various points and for guiding toward which treatments can improve care of patients with prostate cancer.

Neoadjuvant treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab demonstrated tolerability in patients with nonmetastatic high-risk clear cell renal cell carcinoma in a phase 1 trial.

The FDA approved Gallium 68 PSMA-11 as the first ever drug for PET imaging of PSMA positive lesions in men with prostate cancer.

The FDA approved pralsetinib for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients who are 12 years old or older with advanced or metastatic RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer and require systemic therapy.

The FDA has approved an additional dosing option for the approved indications of durvalumab at a 1500-mg fixed dose administered every 4 weeks.

Tumor mutational burden has been correlated with response to immunotherapy use in patients treated with immune checkpoint blockade. However, use of this biomarker has been challenged along the way with various criticisms of validity and routine use.

Adagrasib demonstrated promising antitumor activity as monotherapy in patients with previously treated KRAS G12C–mutant non–small cell lung cancer, according to findings from the phase 1/2 KRYSTAL-1 trial.

In a presentation during the 27th Annual Prostate Cancer Foundation Scientific Retreat, W. Kevin Kelly, DO, explained the potential of this novel agent and its development progress.

A novel tubulin inhibitor VERU-111 has demonstrated promising early antitumor activity and tolerability in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have failed prior androgen receptor therapy, according to the results of a phase 1b/2 study.

“The landscape has completely changed as a consequence of COVID[-19]," says Robert Marcus, MA, FRCP, FRCPath.

Traditional frontline chemoimmunotherapy regimens used to be the gold standard for treating patients with newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia. However, over time, targeted therapies have been inching out the use of chemoimmunotherapy to become the preferred approach in this setting.

In the past 5 years, 3 new options have emerged to treat patients with relapsed/ refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia, providing hope for patients with this disease but also raising clinical questions.

Marginal zone lymphomas are a heterogenous group of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas based on their etiology and clinical presentation, and as such, treatment for these diseases vary by subtype, according to Stephen Douglas Smith, MD.

Neoadjuvant immunotherapy with nivolumab plus percutaneous electroporation has demonstrated early signals of promise in the treatment of patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer class A hepatocellular carcinoma, according to preliminary reports from the phase 2 NIVOLEP trial.

Immunotherapy has demonstrated significant benefits in recent large trials, reaching new survival benchmarks for upper gastrointestinal cancers across various settings of disease, according to Jaffer A. Ajani, MD.

The FDA approved nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab for the frontline treatment of adult patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma.

The Association of Community Cancer Centers National Oncology Conference each year helps community oncologists approach both unique and typical challenges with innovative strategies. This year, one of the challenges addressed that has been increasingly raised throughout the year was the topic of disparities in the medical field.

Patients with endocrine-sensitive hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer, treated with Frontline fulvestrant in combination with palbociclib experienced improvement in progression-free survival at 1 year compared with fulvestrant and placebo alone, achieving the primary end point of the phase 2 FLIPPER trial.

Larotrectinib induced durable responses in patients with TRK fusion–positive lung cancer, even in patients with central nervous system metastases, according to results pooled from 2 trials of the TRK inhibitor and presented in a poster at the European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020.

Responses were improved for patients receiving treatment with mogamulizumab with the use of concomitant topical steroids compared with the overall study population in the phase 3 MAVORIC study of patients with mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome, according to the results of a post hoc analysis of the study.

In the past 5 years, 3 new treatment options have emerged to treat patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia, providing hope for patients with this disease, but also raising clinical questions of how to choose among these agents and what is the best option for the patient at which time.