ASCO Annual Meeting

Chicago, IL—Data continue to build for the application of immunotherapy for patients with metastatic melanoma. At the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), several sessions were devoted to recent advances in melanoma, focusing on new ways to boost the activity of current therapies, introducing a new class of immunotherapy in development, and a new form of immunotherapy—an oncolytic vaccine.

Chicago, IL—Adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to standard chemotherapy improves overall survival (OS) in women with metastatic or relapsed cervical cancer, representing the first instance in which a targeted therapy has significantly prolonged OS in this patient population.

Chicago, IL—For years, the cancer research community has pushed for the use of surrogate end points in clinical trials as a means of hastening the drug approval process. At the 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, the speakers discussed the potential implications for researchers, providers, and patients.

Chicago, IL—Previous trials of maintenance therapy for patients with ovarian cancer have failed to show improved survival. A study presented at the 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting is the first successful phase 3 trial in this setting, showing that the targeted therapy pazopanib (Votrient) extended progression-free survival (PFS) by a median of 5.6 months in women with ovarian cancer.

Chicago, IL—Inappropriate deviation from evidence-based standards of care for cancer raises costs in excess of $25,000 per patient, stated Arlene A. Forastiere, MD, Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at eviti, Inc, Philadelphia, PA, in a poster presented at the 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.

Chicago, IL—The surprising results of a randomized trial on patient preference for one cancer therapy over another show that patient-reported quality-of-life (QOL) differences influence treatment preference far more than physicians had imagined, suggested researchers at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.

Chicago, IL—Adverse events (AEs) related to chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer create a substantial economic burden that is primarily explained by increased inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy costs, said lead investigator Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, Director of the Oncology Breast Can cer Program at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and Assistant Clinical Professor at UCLA School of Medicine, who presented an economic analysis at the 2012 Ameri can Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.

Tivozanib, a potent investigational tyrosine kinase inhibitor with a long half-life, demonstrated significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) as first-line targeted therapy for metastatic renal-cell carcinoma (RCC), according to results from a phase 3 randomized, open-label trial.

Chicago, IL—Researchers from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill reported at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting that endocrine therapy is substantially underutilized among the low-income breast cancer population.

Chicago, IL—Improved cancer screening can save lives, and despite the high cost of implementing such a measure, it was found cost-effective and therefore valuable in a recent analysis using quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), said Michael S. Broder, MD, President of Partnership for Health Analytic Research, LLC (PHAR), CA, and colleagues, at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.