Nichole Tucker

Articles by Nichole Tucker

African American males with prostate cancer may fare better in terms of overall survival than Caucasian males, according to the results of a pooled analysis of phase III data. The data were obtained through the PROCEED registry, which includes over 1900 patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treated with sipuleucel-T, created at the recommendation of the FDA.

The FDA has granted a Fast Track designation for the evaluation of balstilimab in combination with zalifrelimab for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory metastatic cervical cancer, according to a press release from Agenus, Inc., the developer of balstilimab. Comprehensive data supporting the potential of the combination served as the basis for the designation.

The largest prospective dataset in previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma revealed the molecular heterogeneity of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with potential treatment targets harbored by the cell-of-origin subtypes, based on data from a phase III GOYA study.&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;

The FDA has placed a partial clinical hold on the phase I trial of ACTR707 in combination with rituximab in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell lymphoma from Unum Therapeutics, following the submission of a safety report from the company. The FDA notified Unum of the hold verbally on March 4. Unum Therapeutics acknowledged the partial clinical hold in filings with the Securities and Exchange commission.

Despite evidence from previous studies that showed that platinum-based chemotherapy agents are active in patients with breast cancer, platinum-based chemotherapy was not found to be superior to standard chemotherapy in terms of eliciting pathologic complete responses in patients with HER2-negative breast cancer carrying a&nbsp;BRCA&nbsp;mutation, according to data from the INFORM trial published in the&nbsp;Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The FDA granted Orphan Drug Designation to umbralisib, an investigational oral PI3K delta inhibitor as treatment for patients with follicular lymphoma, according to a press release from TG Therapeutics. This designation follows a New Drug Application for treatment of marginal zone lymphoma and follicular lymphoma, which was submitted to the FDA in October 2019, based on results from the phase IIb UNITY-NHL study.

The combination of fulvestrant and capivasertib prolonged progression-free survival compared with placebo in patients with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer who were previously treated with aromatase inhibition, according to results from the phase II FAKTION trial, published in&nbsp;The Lancet Oncology.

In February 2020, the FDA gave indications to multiple therapies meant for treatment of solid tumor and hematologic malignancies. FDA action included 10 Priority Reviews, 2 Breakthrough Therapy designations, and 2 Fast Track designations.

The combination of venetoclax plus low-dose cytarabine did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in overall survival compared with LDAC plus placebo in patients with acute myeloid leukemia who were ineligible for intensive chemotherapy at the time of a planned analysis, missing the primary end point of the phase III VIALE-C trial.

Treatment with pembrolizumab resulted in a statistically and clinically significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with brentuximab vedotin in adults patients with relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma , meeting a dual primary end point of the phase III KEYNOTE-204 trial, according to the interim analysis results announced in press release from Merck.

High volumes of mutations observed through liquid biopsies may be associated with an improvement in progression-free survival&nbsp; and clinical benefit after first-line standard-of-care pembrolizumab-based therapy in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, according to findings from a prospective biomarker trial conducted by investigators at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center, which were published in&nbsp;Clinical Cancer Research.

The FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Debio 1143, an inhibitor of apoptosis proteins, for the treatment of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of previously untreated, unresectable locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in combination with cisplatin-based concomitant standard fractionation chemoradiation, the current standard of care, announced Debiopharm in a press release.<br /> &nbsp;

The FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee agreed that ramucirumab plus erlotinib showed a favorable benefit/risk profile in patients with untreated metastatic EGFR-positive non&ndash;small cell lung cancer in the phase III RELAY study. The vote was 6 to 5 in favor of the combination and ODAC has scheduled a hearing to discuss the terms of the Biologic License Application.<br /> &nbsp;

Treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors appears to elicit limited clinical activity in patients with osteosarcoma. In a study, investigators at MD Anderson Cancer Center found that certain factors like poor infiltration of the tumor by immune cells, low activity from available T cells, a lack of immune-stimulating neoantigens, and multiple immune-suppressing pathways may interfere with response to immunotherapy in these patients, according to a press release from the organization.<br /> &nbsp;

Preliminary results from a safety and tolerability phase I/II study signal promise for ADXS-503 alone and in combination with pembrolizumab as treatment of patients with metastatic squamous and non-squamous non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, Advaxis, Inc, announced in a press release. Findings were presented during the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2020 Targeted Therapies of Lung Cancer Meeting, February 19-22, 2020, in Santa Monica, California.