Tony Berberabe, MPH

Single-agent belantamab demonstrated anti-myeloma activity and a manageable safety profile in the DREAMM-2 phase 2 study.

The emergence of early-phase immune-oncology agents and their respective novel mechanisms of action in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma suggests a new standard of care in the metastatic first-line setting within the next 2 years.

Early data have shown the promise of CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor T cells for indolent lymphoma treatment, but longer follow-up is needed to determine if these responses represent cures in these historically difficult-to-treat malignancies.

In the REVEAL study, having high-risk polycythemia vera was associated with lower survival at 4 years compared with low-risk disease.

According to David T. Teachey, MD, newly developed therapies have improved remission rates in T-ALL and B-ALL.

The immune biology of the neuroblastoma microenvironment is an emerging field.

The benefit of using a drug off-label is that it may provide the best available intervention for a patient with no other option.

Adding the targeted radioligand LuPSMA to standard of care therapy for patients with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer after androgen receptor pathway inhibition and chemotherapy extended overall survival and delayed disease progression

A national, telephone-based nurse navigator-led service model that aimed to reduce barriers to clinical trial participation among patients with a blood cancer and identified patient demographic and clinical characteristics associated with enrollment was shown to mitigate modifiable barriers to trial enrollment.

Investigators anticipate that improved versions of the application will evolve over the phases as patient-specific queries are optimized and as cancer-specific pathways are incorporated. A multidisciplinary team will provide a tailored and integrative approach, concluded the investigators.

The defining feature of the 5th Annual Live Medical Crossfire®: Hematologic Malignancies program is the extensive interactivity between faculty and audience.

An FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting resulted in continued approval for 4 of 6 indications that were discussed, although all 6 indications did not demonstrate clinical benefit in confirmatory studies. The meeting, held April 27-29, evaluated anti–PD-1/PD-L1 drugs that received accelerated approvals through the FDA’s accelerated approval program, a nearly 30-year-old initiative to expedite the approval process.

Time-to-next treatment and overall survival were improved in a real-world study evaluating patients who received rituximab maintenance after first-line treatment with bendamustine and rituximab or R-CHOP in patients with mantle cell lymphoma, according to a retrospective analysis presented at the European Hematology Association 2021 Virtual conference.

Updated analysis from the MonumentTAL-1 trial showed the benefits of the recommended phase II dose of talquetamab in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Treatment-naïve patients with melanoma who crossed over to receive pembrolizumab had an ORR of 38.8% and a 3-year PFS of 32% according to updated data from the phase 3 EORTX 1325/KEYNOTE-054 trial.

Data from the ongoing escalation and expansion trial CTNO1552101 showed promising results for the use of TN0155 in adults with advanced solid tumors.

Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, discussed the upcoming conference on July 29-31, which will follow a hybrid format with some faculty and attendees participating online and others participating in person.

Novel methods of genetic testing have led to improved detection and better clinical decisions in patients with melanoma, especially in the late-stage setting.

Longer follow-up with parts A, B, and C of the phase 1 study CC-90010- ST-001 revealed continued safety and efficacy with the small molecule BET inhibitor CC-90010.

Perliminary analyses of 2 cohorts from the phase 2 multicohort ZENITH20 trial evaluating poziotinib show clinical activity and tolerability for the tyrosine kinase inhibitor in patients with non–small cell lung cancer harboring EGFR and HER2 exon 20 insertions.

A key advance in treating patients with gastrointestinal cancer is molecular profiling of the tumor that results in specific targets being identified. The standard of care for GI cancer has consisted of surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, but these standards have had limited efficacy and considerable toxicity that impact patients’ quality of life.

The use of a fitness tracking device as a prognostic tool was feasible and acceptable in a study evaluating 80 patients with colorectal cancer.

The combination of apatinib and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin improved the progression-free survival for patients with platinum-resistant or refractory ovarian cancer in comparison to doxorubicin alone, according to data from the phase 2 APPROVE trial.

The addition of the investigational anti–PD-1 immunotherapy agent, dostarlimab, to niraparib and bevacizumab demonstrated positive antitumor activity and tolerability in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Although chemotheray remains a standard in the first- and second-line setting of biliary tract cancer in the locally advanced and metastatic setting, further treatments are emerging rapidly.

Response rates to enfortumab vedotin in cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who received prior PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors were the highest numerically observed for any regimen, according to findings from study EV-201 presented at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancer Symposium.

Results from the phase 3, randomized REACH3 trial further demonstrated the benefit of ruxolitinib over BAT in rates for failure-free survival, symptom improvement, and duration of response.

Good responses to lenvatinib were observed in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who maintained a high relative dose intensity of 75% or greater.

Although lenvatinib has shown antitumor effects in hepatocellular carcinoma, long-term safety data are lacking.

Progression-free survival and overall survival benefits, combined with a higher objective response rate, confirmed the noninferiority of nab-paclitaxel compared with docetaxel in previously treated patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer, according to phase 3 trial results.