BREAST CANCER

Patients with early-stage breast cancer who received pelareorep demonstrated consistent data with safety run-in data and had a favorable toxicity profile, according to an cohort analysis from the window-of-opportunity study, AWARE-1.

The FDA has approved a new 420-mg multi-dose vial of Ontruzant a biosimilar of trastuzumab, according to a press release from Samsung Bioepis.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology, Kashyap Patel, MD, discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of new precautions in his practice as the number of COVID-19 infected persons rises in the state.<br /> &nbsp;

Patients harboring IDH1/2 muta&shy;tions may receive benefit by the use of PARP inhibitors, with investigators initi&shy;ating clinical trials in patients across multiple different tumor types to determine the efficacy of this strategy.

Treatment with pembrolizumab demonstrated antitumor activity along with tolerable toxicity in patients with 4 different rare and hard-to-treat malignancies, according to results from a phase II study led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers and published in the&nbsp;Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.

Nelipepimut-S in combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor demonstrated doubling of the difference in the increase in antigen-specific CD8 cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in patients with ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast who were HLA-A2-positive or A3-positive, express HER2 at immunohistochemistry1+, 2+, or 3+ levels, and are pre- or post-menopausal, according to preliminary results from the phase II VADIS study.

Circulating free DNA in the blood may be a more effective way to measure disease in patients with breast cancer and track the progression of the disease, according to a study from researchers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center.

To help assess the advances the United States has made in decreasing cancer-related deaths, a collective of public health bodies found that monitoring trends in cancer risk, screening test use, and mortality is informative. A report published in&nbsp;<em>Cancer</em>&nbsp;shows that progress has been made in recent years, but there is more work to be&nbsp;<a>done.</a>

From 2001 to 2017, the cancer death rates continued to decline in the United States, and these decreases were observed in all major racial and ethnic groups, as well as in males, females, adolescents, young adults, and children. However, the rates of cancer incidence for all cancers slightly increased in females from 2012 to 2016, according to the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, which was published in&nbsp;Cancer.^&nbsp;

The FDA has recommended that a preliminary meeting for a potential Breakthrough Therapy designation be requested for leronlimab as a treatment of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, based on positive data from a phase Ib/II study.

The FDA has accepted a Biologics License Application for MYL-1402O, a proposed biosimilar to bevacizumab, according to a press release from co-developers Biocon and Mylan. The BLA is seeking approval for the biosimilar as a treatment for multiple types of cancer and the FDA has set an action date goal of December 27, 2020, for a decision on the BLA.

As the new coronavirus disease 2019 creates problems internationally, health-wise and economically, it is also becoming a cause for concern throughout the oncology community.

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 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.

Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, discusses different data looking at sequencing therapies and why it is important in the breast cancer setting.<br /> &nbsp;

The FDA has approved a supplemental New Drug Application for neratinib in combination with capecitabine for the treatment of adult patients with advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have previously received 2 or more anti&ndash;HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting, according to a press release issued by the manufacturer Puma Biotechnology, Inc.

A fixed-dose subcutaneous formulation of pertuzumab and trastuzumab in combination with intravenous chemotherapy has been accepted by the FDA for the treatment of eligible patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, which is supported by results of the phase III FeDeriCa study.

To help clinicians cope with an increasing number of geriatric patients with cancer, the Association of Community Cancer Centers is addressing this problem with a 2-pronged approach that focuses on the delivery of care and diagnostic assessment.

The FDA has granted Priority Review to the New Drug Application for the combination of tucatinib, trastuzumab, and capecitabine for treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, including patients with brain metastases, who have received at least three prior HER2-directed agents separately or in combination, in the neoadjuvant, adjuvant or metastatic setting. The prescription Drug User Fee Act, the FDA has set a target action date of August 20, 2020.&nbsp;

First-line treatment with pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who had PD-L1 expression in their tumors, meeting one of the coprimary end points of the phase III KEYNOTE-355 trial, according to the results of an interim analysis reported in a press release from Merck.

Jason Williams, MD, the director of Interventional Oncology and Immunotherapy oncologist at the Williams Cancer Institute, discusses a study in which an immunotherapy combination was administered intratumorally to patients with liver metastases linked to breast cancer, which he presented in a poster at the 2019 Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting.

Patients with metastatic breast cancer who carry rare mutations identified by circulating tumor DNA responded to matched targeted therapies, according to results of the plasma-MATCH trial presented during the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Patients with metastatic breast cancer who carry rare mutations identified by circulat&shy;ing tumor DNA responded to matched targeted therapies, according to results of the plasmaMATCH trial presented during the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.&nbsp;Specifically, patients with HER2 mutations responded to neratinib and patients with AKT1 mutations responded to capivasertib.