Articles

Philadelphia, PA—Although whole genomic sequencing can be done on a patient’s tumor, it does not mean that this will translate to a patient’s getting targeted therapy to identified genetic abnormalities, especially if that patient has pancreatic cancer.

Philadelphia, PA—In an era of personalized care, targeted cancer therapies are on the rise and are expected to reach nearly 60% of the global oncology and hematology drug markets by 2017. By testing for genetic biomarkers, physicians can predict patient response to cancer therapy and identify patients who will benefit most from these treatments, thus serving the 2 purposes of increasing the efficiency of treatment decisions and reducing the use of unnecessary drug prescribing and the associated costs.

Philadelphia, PA—The prognosis for patients with pancreatic cancer, the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, remains poor. The diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is often delayed to a late stage, which affects impact. Improving the understanding of the early signs and symptoms of this cancer may improve outcomes.

Philadelphia, PA—The growing focus on identifying and preventing overpayments and reducing waste in the healthcare system has prompted hospitals to adopt value analysis committees to curb unnecessary medical supply spending. In 2012, as many as 64% of US hospitals were using a value analysis committee to evaluate new devices and new supplies used in their institutions.

Chicago, IL—The combination of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) plus standard therapy with bendamustine (Treanda) and rituximab (Rituxan) significantly reduced the risk for disease progression or death by 80% compared with bendamustine plus rituximab alone in previously treated patients with chronic ­lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL), according to lead investigator Asher A. Chanan-Khan, MD, Chair, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL.

Palliative care offers symptom relief, comfort, and peaceful death to patients with advanced cancer. Historically, palliative care was provided to patients who were near death. Based on recent research, however, the American Society of Clinical Oncology now recommends combining palliative care with curative treatment early in the disease course. Nevertheless, an important question remains: How early in the disease trajectory should patients with advanced cancer begin receiving palliative care?

Chicago, IL—Adding docetaxel (Taxotere) to standard hormone therapy extends overall survival (OS) by a median of 10 months versus hormone therapy alone in men with newly diagnosed, advanced, hormone therapy–naïve prostate cancer, according to the results of the STAMPEDE trial. The survival benefits were more pronounced in metastatic disease and were less certain in nonmetastatic disease. Another finding of this analysis of STAMPEDE is that zoledronic acid (Zometa) had no benefit in this setting.

Chicago, IL—Immunotherapy with nivolumab (Opdivo) resulted in durable responses and promising overall survival (OS) in a dose-escalation and expansion trial of patients with advanced liver cancer. The 12-month OS rate exceeded 60% in patients in whom sorafenib (Nexavar) had failed, and responses occurred in patients with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, reported Anthony B. El-Khoueiry, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.

Chicago, IL—The prevention of common skin cancers and precancers is possible by taking an inexpensive, widely available, oral pill twice daily. The pill—the vitamin B3 supplement called nicotinamide—cut the rate of new squamous-cell and basal-cell skin cancers by 23% compared with placebo after 1 year among patients at high risk for skin cancer. Nicotinamide also reduced the risk for developing actinic keratosis, a common precancer of the skin.

Chicago, IL—Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) achieved “remarkable” results in a phase 1 study of previously treated patients with recurrent, squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck, according to presenters at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.