Articles

Adoption of biosimilars continues to rise in the United States, but oncologists’ knowledge regarding these agents has not kept pace, according to data presented at the virtual 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Care Symposium.

The development of biosimilar medicines has provided an opportunity for patient utilization of oncology treatments at a lower cost, particularly in individuals for whom biologicals play a predominant role in providing effective therapeutic and supportive care.

The investigational oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) elacestrant (RAD1901) significantly reduced the risk for death or disease progression and improved progression-free survival (PFS) compared with standard-of-care (SOC) endocrine therapy in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-­positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer who had progressed on previous endocrine and targeted therapies, according to results of the phase 3 EMERALD clinical trial.

The International Cholangiocarcinoma Research Network (ICRN) is a program initiated by the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation (CCF).

According to data from a European registry, approximately 1 in 6 patients with cancer who recovered from COVID-19 infection experienced long-term sequelae (ie, “long-haul” COVID-19), placing them at increased risk for death or discontinuation of anticancer treatment.

On March 18, 2022, the FDA approved the combination of 2 distinct immune checkpoint inhibitors, the new LAG-3 antibody relatlimab-rmbw (Opdualag; Bristol Myers Squibb) plus the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo; Bristol Myers Squibb), for patients aged ≥12 years with unresectable or metasta­tic melanoma.

On February 28, 2022, the FDA accelerated the approval of pacritinib (Vonjo; CTI BioPharma), a kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of adult patients with intermediate- or high-risk primary or secondary (postpolycythemia vera or postessential thrombocythemia) myelofibrosis with a platelet count below 50 × 109/L.

On January 25, 2022, the FDA accelerated the approval of tebentafusp-tebn (Kimmtrak; Immunocore), a bispecific gp100 peptide-HLA–directed CD3 T-cell engager, for the treatment of adult patients with HLA-A*02:01 unresectable or metastatic uveal (intraocular) melanoma.

On March 21, 2022, the FDA approved a new indication for the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda; Merck) as monotherapy for advanced endometrial carcinoma that is microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR), as determined by an FDA-approved test, in patients whose disease progressed after previous systemic therapy in any setting and who are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation.

On March 11, 2022, the FDA accelerated the approval of the oral PARP inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza; AstraZeneca) for the adjuvant treatment of adults with HER2-negative, high-risk early breast cancer and deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA mutation after neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients must be selected for olaparib therapy for this indication based on an FDA-approved test.