Articles

On September 22, 2017, the FDA granted accelerated approval to nivolumab (Opdivo; Bristol-Myers Squibb) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)—the most common type of liver cancer—in patients who previously received sorafenib treatment. Opdivo received priority review for this indication.

New Orleans, LA—The number of cancer survivors is increasing. To keep up with this trend, survivorship care must evolve and become more efficient, insists Jennifer R. Klemp, PhD, MPH, MA, Director, Cancer Survivorship, University of Kansas Cancer Center, Westwood. A growing number of patients are living with or through their disease, while the provider workforce is shrinking.

Chicago, IL—Clinical pathways have an important role in the integration of new cancer drugs into clinical practice. Between January 2015 and mid-2017, the FDA granted more than 60 new approvals in oncology, with new drugs accounting for the vast majority (as opposed to new indications). Staying abreast of new drugs and new indications for specific types of cancer requires much time, which presents an extra burden on community oncologists.

Innovation takes time, especially when it comes to cancer research. However, delays in the adoption of novel oncology treatments can have a significant impact on patient health, reported Jason Shafrin, PhD, Director of Healthcare Quality and Value-Based Research Methods, and Senior Research Economist, Precision Health Economics, Los Angeles, CA, who presented the results of a geographic-based analysis of claims data at the 2017 Cancer Survivorship Symposium.

Orlando, FL—Non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) comprises several different subtypes, necessitating broad molecular panel testing to understand the correct diagnosis and the appropriate treatment, said Wallace Akerley, MD, Senior Director, Community Oncology Research, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, at the 2017 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) annual conference.

For the first time, a randomized clinical trial has shown significant tumor shrinkage with a phos­phoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer. The phase 3 study LORELEI compared neoadjuvant therapy with letrozole plus placebo versus letrozole plus taselisib, a PI3K inhibitor, in this patient population.

Madrid, Spain—Maintenance therapy with the poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor rucaparib (Rubraca) after response to platinum-containing therapy significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) by 11.2 months in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer compared with placebo, according to overall results of the ARIEL3 trial. The study was presented at the 2017 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress.

Madrid, Spain—Durvalumab (Imfinzi), a PD-L1 inhibitor, improved progression-free survival (PFS) by 11.2 months compared with placebo in patients with locally advanced, unresectable stage III non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that did not progress after standard treatment with chemoradiotherapy. These results—presented at the 2017 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress—come from PACIFIC, the first phase 3 clinical trial of a PD-L1 inhibitor in patients with locally advanced NSCLC outside of the metastatic setting.