Articles

A meta-analysis of overall survival (OS) in 3 clinical trials of lenalidomide (Revlimid) maintenance therapy after high-dose melphalan (Alkeran) and autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) for multiple myeloma showed long-term disease control and prolonged OS. A slightly increased risk for a secondary primary malignancy is outweighed by the OS benefit, said lead investigator Philip McCarthy, MD, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, in an oral presentation at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.

Venetoclax (Venclexta) monotherapy has significant clinical activity in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) whose disease has relapsed or is resistant to chemotherapy and in those deemed unable to tolerate chemotherapy, according to a new study. The overall response rate (ORR) for venetoclax in the phase 2 single-arm study was 19%, with complete remissions in some patients. This was the first study to examine venetoclax monotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory AML or untreated AML who are unfit for intensive therapy.

Adding capecitabine chemotherapy to gemcitabine after pancreatic cancer resection was associated with longer overall survival (OS) than gemcitabine chemotherapy alone, according to results from the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (ESPAC)-4 clinical trial. For the small proportion of patients with pancreatic cancer who are candidates for surgery, adjuvant gemcitabine chemotherapy is the current standard of care worldwide, said John P. Neoptolemos, MD, Chair of Surgery, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, during an oral abstract session at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. “We thought that the combination of gemcitabine plus capecitabine…may be better than gemcitabine alone, and launched the phase 3 ESPAC-4 trial,” he stated.

Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Nearly half of patients with locoregional pancreatic cancer do not undergo potentially curative surgery, primarily because of nonclinical factors, according to the results of an analysis of data from the National Cancer Institute database by Amy T. Cunningham, MPH, a doctoral candidate at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and colleagues.

Approximately 33% of older women with early-stage breast cancer are not being tested for bone mineral density (BMD) before starting aromatase inhibitor therapy, according to a new and to date the largest population-based study on this topic (Charlson J, et al. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2016;14:875-880).

Patient-reported outcomes had significant associations with survival in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), suggesting potential implications for clinical management, reported Tomasz M. Beer, MD, Oregon Health & Science University, Knight Cancer Institute, Portland, and colleagues, at the 2016 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research annual meeting.

The incidence of metastatic prostate cancer increased by >70% from 2004 to 2013, including >90% in the age-group most likely to benefit from definitive treatment, according to a new analysis of a national database (Weiner AB, et al. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2016 Jul 19. Epub ahead of print).

It does not take a crystal ball, or even an economist, to foretell that disaster is imminent in the healthcare system if premiums and out-of-pocket costs continue to rise, along with the cost of cancer drugs. Although the government attempts to rectify the situation with Medicare payment reform, new payment and care delivery models, such as the Oncology Care Model (OCM) pilot, and laws, such as the 2015 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), present financial challenges for oncologists.