HEAD & NECK CANCERS

Progression-free survival was significantly prolonged with cabozantinib as treatment of patients with radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer in the phase 3 COSMIC-311 clinical trial, showing potential as a new treatment option and leading to the filing of a application for FDA approval.

Improved survival outcomes were reported with the addition of nivolumab to either ipilimumab or chemo-therapy vs chemotherapy alone in the frontline treatment of patients with unresectable advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

The 2021 American Thyroid Association Guidelines for Management of Patients with Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer expand on discussions about treatment goals and palliative care.

The potential benefit of avelumab in the subgroup of patients with high PD-L1 expression in JAVELIN HEAD AND NECK 100 provides a basis for further investigation and suggests a potential role for immune checkpoint inhibitors for locally advanced HNSCC.

The phase 2 VERSATILE-002 trial of PDS0101 in combination with pembrolizumab for patients with advanced head and neck cancer has expanded to include those who have progressed on prior treatment with checkpoint inhibitors.

Compared to chemotherapy alone, the addition of the immunotherapy agent toripalimab to gemcitabine plus cisplatin significantly improved progression-free survival in the frontline treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

A biologic license application has been submitted to the FDA for the PD-1 monoclonal antibody drug penpulimab for the third-line treatment of metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Tislelizumab, an anti-PD-1 antibody combined with gemcitabine and cisplatin demonstrated improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared with chemotherapy as first-line treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer, meeting the primary end point of the phase 3 RATIONALE 309 trial, according to a press release by BeiGene, Ltd.

Avelumab was explored in a clinical trial for the treatment of locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, but more research is needed to position the agent and other checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment landscape, experts say.

Results from the phase 2 study of farnesyltransferase inhibitor tipifarnib showed significant responses in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and demonstrated that variant alle frequency could be a potential biomarker in this patient population.

During a virtual Targeted Oncology Case-Based Roundtable event, Lori Wirth, MD, discussed the treatment patients with radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer with a group of peers.

Stuart J. Wong, MD, discussed the KEYNOTE-048 trial, advances in head and neck cancers, and current unmet needs in this patient population in an interview with Targeted Oncology.

GlaxoSmithKline plc has announced that they will stop enrolling patients in the phase 2 INDUCE-3 and INDUCE-4 trials while simultaneously ending the use of feladilimab, originally GSK3359609, for the treatment of PD-L1-positive recurrent locally advanced or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma after the recommendation of the Independent Data Monitoring Committee.

A Fast Track designation was granted by the FDA to the soluble LAG-3 protein, eftilagimod alpha for the frontline treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

The FDA has approved a higher dose of cetuximab for the treatmen of patients with KRAS wild-type, EGFR-expressing metastatic colorectal cancer or squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Research on combination therapies involving human papillomavirus-targeted vaccines and immunotherapies continues to expand in phase 2 and 3 trials in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Nearly 20% of the world’s cancer cases are caused by viruses, and 7 viruses have been documented to cause this aggregate number of cancer cases, with HPV being the most well recognized.

Christine Dierks, MD, describes the prognosis of the anaplastic thyroid carcinoma and differentiated thyroid cancer populations.

A rolling submission of the Biologics License Application was initiated for toripalimab for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

The rising prevalence of thyroid cancer and thyroid nodules, especially for differentiated thyroid cancer, has brought into question the management of disease as it is known today.

The FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to cabozantinib for the potential treatment of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer that has progressed following prior therapy and who are radioactive iodine-refractory if eligible for radioactive iodine.

The FDA has granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation to tipifarnib for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic HRAS-mutant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with variant allele frequency ≥ 20% after disease progression on platinum-based chemotherapy.

The FDA has granted Orphan Drug Designation to the small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor apatinib for the treatment of the rare malignancy, adenoid cystic carcinoma.

Treatment with single-agent durvalumab did not improve overall survival when compared with the standard-of-care frontline combination of chemotherapy plus cetuximab as treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma whose tumors highly expressed PD-L1.

Tislelizumab improved overall survival compared with investigator’s choice of chemotherapy in patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who have received prior systemic therapy.