HCC

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation for the combination of pembrolizumab and lenvatinib for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed, advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma that is not amenable to locoregional treatment.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Richard S. Finn, MD, discussed the findings from the KEYNOTE-240 trial. He says that although these results were not statistically significant, they are still clinically meaningful.

Novel agent namodenoson demonstrated tolerability in a favorable safety profile in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma and severe liver dysfunction, according to the results of a randomized phase II trial.

Treatment with 3D conformal radiotherapy prior to hepatectomy significantly improved post-operative outcomes compared with surgery alone in patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma and portal vein tumor thrombus, according to the results of randomized study published in the&nbsp;<em>Journal of Clinical Oncology</em>.<br /> &nbsp;

Martin E. Gutierrez, MD, director, Drug Discovery/Phase I Unit, and co-chief and medical oncologist, Divisions of Thoracic Oncology and Gastrointestinal Oncology, John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack University Medical Center, discusses the early findings for H3B-6527, an FGFR4 inhibitor, as a treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

General Cancer

Catherine Frenette, MD, explained in a&nbsp;Targeted Oncology&nbsp;live case-based peer perspectives presentation how she treats patients with hepatocellular carcinoma across the course of disease.

Aiwu Ruth He, MD, PhD, discusses treatment options in a&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology </em>live case-based peer perspectives discussion&nbsp;based on 2 case studies of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.&nbsp;

Significant activity was observed when ibrutinib was administered concurrently with CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy compared with separately in patients with&nbsp;high-risk relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia who had progressed on or were intolerant of ibrutinib.&nbsp;Data presented at the 15th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma show a high response rate with this concurrent treatment.&nbsp;

Topline results from the&nbsp;phase III CheckMate 459 trial revealed that the trial did not meet its primary endpoint of improved overall survival with nivolumab as compared with sorafenib for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.&nbsp;

The American Cancer Society, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Baptist Cancer Center, and the Mayo Clinic report&nbsp;that treatment patterns varied markedly by cancer type and care facility setting for patients with de novo metastatic disease who died within 1 month after diagnosis, based on an analysis of data from 100,848 patients collected from the National Cancer Database, a hospital-based cancer registry that captures 70% of patients in the United States with a new diagnosis.

The FDA recently released 5 new draft guidance documents that promote broader patient eligibility for cancer clinical trials. The policies encourage inclusion of certain individuals who were previously disqualified due to medical conditions or biological factors, including brain metastases, organ dysfunction, prior or concurrent malignancies, chronic infections, and age.