Personalized Medicine

Copenhagen, Denmark—Biosimilar filgrastim (Nivestim; Hospira), which was approved earlier this year by the European Commission but not yet by the FDA, showed effectiveness for the treatment of neutropenia and febrile neutropenia (FN) in patients undergoing cytotoxic chemotherapy for solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, according to a study presented at the 2015 Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology meeting.

Vienna, Austria—Immunotherapy is poised to become a game changer for patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Chicago, IL—Oncologists looking to learn about immunotherapy did not have to go very far at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting. Many of the highest-impact presentations this year, including a plenary session, the Karnofsky Award, and the Science of Oncology Award, focused on cancer therapy’s most exciting field.

Boston, MA—Rociletinib, a specially engineered third-generation EGFR inhibitor, is accumulating an impressive track record in early studies of non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The drug is specifically designed for use in patients with NSCLC and the T790M mutation, a heretofore patient population with unmet needs. T790M, the most common mutation associated with resistance to first-line EGFR-directed tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy, is present in 60% of patients with resistance to TKIs.

Boston, MA—Researchers have defined an 81-feature molecular signature to identify neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC), an aggressive and rapidly progressing entity that is increasingly being recognized in patients with advanced disease and signals poor overall survival. The signature, derived from genomic, transcription, and methylation analysis, relies heavily on epigenetic alterations.

TMed will improve the selection of treatments by adding back and analyzing all the relevant data about the variability of response and the multiplicity of causes…from thousands, if not millions, of patients.

Clinicians will soon have more targeted therapies at their disposal, including drugs with novel mechanisms of action.

Washington, DC—Personalized medicine is the best way to take advantage of innovation in therapy, but the method in which it is paid for must be addressed to fully realize its potential, said Michael Kolodziej, MD, National Medical Director, Oncology Solutions, Aetna, at the Fifth Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

Philadelphia, PA—Now that a number of targeted therapies are available for the treatment of cancer, one of the big questions is how to best combine them, especially for patients with few other good treatment options.

New Orleans, LA—Prostate cancer may soon have a new biomarker. The cell surface amino acid glypican-1 (GPC-1) was shown in a pilot study to have specificity of 70% for prostate cancer with a sensitivity of >30%, said Jonathan Henderson, MD, a urologist at Regional Urology in Shreveport, LA, at the 2015 American Urological Association meeting.