GYNECOLOGIC CANCERS

CA-125 surveillance alone could be used to detect disease progression in patients with advanced ovarian cancer and an abnormal CA-125 level at the beginning of frontline maintenance therapy with olaparib (Lynparza) and bevacizumab (Avastin), according to an analysis from the phase 3 PAOLA-1 that was presented at the SGO 2021 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer.

Compared with standard-of-care chemotherapy, treatment with the PARP inhibitor rucaparib led to a significant prolongation of progression-free survival and improved duration of response in patients with BRCA-mutated advanced, relapsed ovarian cancer, according to primary results from the phase 3 ARIEL4 trial.

Data from a post hoc analysis of the PRIMA/ENGOT-OV26/GOG-3012 phase III trial showed the efficacy of niraparib maintenance therapy for patients with ovarian cancer who had interval debulking surgery or visible residual disease.

A phase 3 trial for cemiplimab monotherapy in comparison with chemotherapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer who previously received chemotherapy treatment is being stopped early due to a unanimous recommendation by the Independent Data Monitoring Committee due to positive overall survival results.

The FDA has accepted a New Drug Application for pafolacianine sodium injection and granted it Priority Review as a potential adjunct for identifying ovarian cancer during surgery.

Shana Wingo, MD, talks about the challenges of treating patients in the Greater Phoenix, Arizona area.

A novel DNA-mediated interleukin-12 immunotherapy, GEN-1, had been granted a Fast Track designation by the FDA for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.

The team of oncologic professionals at New Jersey’s only NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute, has been expanded to include a new chief of gynecologic oncology.

A Biologics License Application was submitted to the FDA for tisotumab vedotin as treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer with disease progression on or after chemotherapy.

Investigators treating patients with gynecologic malignancies are optimistic that multiple clinical trials exploring new second-line cervical cancer treatments will result in a much-anticipated breakthrough for the field.

Noelle G. Cloven, MD, discussed the current cervical cancer treatment paradigm, the unmet needs that still remain to be addressed, and encouraging new directions of research in clinical trials in honor of Cervical Cancer Awareness Month.

VGX-3100, a therapeutic DNA vaccine, achieved a 25% reduction or more reduction in HPV-16/18-associated vulvar high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion in 63% of patients at 6 months after treatment with the agent, according to findings from an open-label phase 2 clinical trial.

During a Targeted Oncology Case Based Peer Perspectives event, Bradley Monk, MD, discussed how the use of molecular testing can improve treatment decisions for ovarian cancer.

During a Targeted Oncology Case Based Peer Perspectives event, John K. Chan, MD, reviewed the case of a 49-year-old African American woman with high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer.

Thomas C. Krivak, MD, interpreted the results clinical trials of bevacizumab as treatment of patients with ovarian cancer to determine the optimal treatment strategy for a 69-year-old patient.

Treatment with rucaparib led to an improvement in investigator-assessed progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy in patients with relapsed ovarian cancer with a BRCA mutation who have received 2 or more prior lines of chemotherapy, meeting the primary end point of the phase 3 ARIEL4 clinical trial.

Pembrolizumab plus lenvatinib induced a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival, progression-free survival, and objective response rate compared with chemotherapy in patients with advanced endometrial cancer after prior systemic therapy in the phase 3 KEYNOTE-775/Study 309 trial.

The FDA pushed back its the Biologic License Application filing for the potential approval of balstilimab as treatment of recurrent/metastatic cervical cancer.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology during the 2020 Association for Molecular Pathology Annual Meeting, Ozge Ceyhan-Birsoy, PhD, discussed genetic testing methods for patients with hereditary predisposition and the molecular research underway at MSKCC to improve testing in this patient population.

Ursula Matulonis, MD, took stock of the role for immunotherapy agents in the treatment landscape for ovarian, recurrent/advanced endometrial, and recurrent/advanced cervical cancers.

Several late-phase results were shared during the European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress in gynecologic malignancies, but the data presented generated excitement about the number of novel options for patients after initial treatment.

Robert L. Coleman, MD, discusses the next steps for tisotumab vedotin following the presentation of findings from the phase 2 innovaTV 204/GOG-3023/ENGOT-cx6 study in patients with previously treated recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer.

In patients with newly diagnosed stage III/IV ovarian cancer, adding atezolizumab to a backbone combination of bevacizumab and chemotherapy did not improve progression-free survival, missing the primary end point of the phase 3 IMagyn050/GOG 3015/ENGOT-OV39 trial presented during the virtual 2020 European Society of Medical Oncology Congress.

Patients with epithelial ovarian cancer treated with weekly dose-dense chemotherapy in the ICON8 clinical trial experienced similar progression-free survival and overall survival as patients treated with the standard-of-care.

In the phase 2 single-arm innovaTV 204 trial, treatment with tisotumab vedotin led to an objective response rate (ORR) of 24% (95% CI, 15.9%-33.3%) in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic cervical cancer who were previously treated with doublet chemotherapy and bevacizumab (Avastin). The encouraging result was announced during a presentation at the 2020 European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress.