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On June 15, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of lurbinectedin (Zepzelca; Jazz Pharma/Pharma Mar), an intravenous alkylating drug, for the treatment of adults with metastatic small-cell lung cancer that has progressed during or after platinum-based chemotherapy. The FDA granted lurbinectedin an orphan drug designation for this indication.

On June 10, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of a new indication for nivolumab (Opdivo; Bristol Myers Squibb), a PD-1 inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with unresectable advanced, recurrent or metastatic esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma after fluoropyrimidine-based and platinum-based chemotherapy. Nivolumab has been previously approved for many indications, but this is its first indication for esophageal cancer.

San Francisco, CA—If you know someone who has cancer, reaching out could be the medicine he or she needs. According to data presented at the 2019 ASCO Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium, increased social support may function as an analgesic that helps to mitigate one of the most common symptoms experienced by patients with cancer—pain.

San Francisco, CA—Reducing pain without increasing the use of opioids is feasible in patients with advanced cancer, according to the results of a retrospective analysis presented at the 2019 ASCO Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium. Among the 300 patients seen by an inpatient palliative care team, 50% of patients achieved clinically improved pain control without an increase in oral morphine-equivalent daily dose.

San Francisco, CA—Although there is a biological rationale that supports the “abscopal” effects of radiation therapy plus checkpoint immunotherapy in fighting cancer, this combination showed mixed results and no robust effects in patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma (RCC), according to results of 2 preliminary studies presented at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

At the 2020 virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting, part I, a team of oncologists from different COVID-19 hotspots around the world gave a snapshot of wisdom gleaned from their experience thus far. Understanding of COVID-19 is rapidly evolving; the summaries below represent the experience as of late April 2020.

Two studies presented at the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research virtual annual meeting confirm the value of different liquid biopsies in the early detection of different types of cancer.

Telehealth (or telemedicine) has emerged as an essential component of healthcare during the COVID-19 crisis. In a recent webcast of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC), a panel of experts discussed the current benefits and ongoing challenges of this technology, as well as its potential impact on patients and practices in the years to come.

The combination of the checkpoint inhibitor durvalumab (Imfinzi), the poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza), and chemotherapy with paclitaxel used as neoadjuvant therapy improved the pathological complete response (pCR) of patients with high-risk HER2-negative stage II or III breast cancer compared with the physician’s choice of chemotherapy.

A bispecific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product directed against CD19 and CD22 antigens induced a complete response (CR) in 5 of 12 (42%) evaluable children and young adults with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).