GI CANCERS

Richard Kim, MD, recently shared his treatment considerations and decisions he makes when treating patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and colorectal cancer. Kim explained his treatment decisions based on 2 gastrointestinal case scenarios during a <em>Targeted Oncology</em> live case-based peer perspectives program.

Advancing Outcomes in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

The PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has been granted a priority review designation by the FDA for use in previously treated patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma,&nbsp;according to Merck, the manufacturer of the agent.

General Cancer

Consistent benefits and safety were seen with TAS-102&nbsp;(trifluridine/tipiracil; Lonsurf) in a real-world treatment setting for patients with&nbsp;refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, according to preliminary data from the phase IIIb open-label PRECONNECT trial.&nbsp;

A strategy of escalating regorafenib from 80 mg to 160 mg per day was superior to starting at a dose of 160 mg per day in patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, according to results from the regorafenib dose optimization study presented at the 2018 World Congress on GI.

According to findings from the&nbsp;IMblaze370 study, atezolizumab alone or in combination with cobimetinib did not demonstrate superior overall survival when compared with regorafenib for the treatment of&nbsp;patients with chemorefractory metastatic colorectal cancer. Findings from the study were presented at the 2018 World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer.

Manish A. Shah, MD, director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine, discusses the need for targeted therapies beyond the second-line setting in esophageal cancer. While this is a deadly disease with most metastatic patients dying within a year, a recent clinical trial with pembrolizumab addresses an unmet need in the population, Shah says.