Articles

A discussion articulating the challenges facing cancer care in the current COVID-19 crisis by some of the top thought leaders, faculty, and key opinion leaders.

Dr Vaibhav Sahai reviews the toxicities that have been encountered in clinical trials with FGFR inhibitors. He suggests that most of these adverse events are class effects and include hyperphosphatemia (which is relatively easy to manage with dietary restrictions and phosphate-binding agents), nail and hair changes, stomatitis, and retinal epithelial changes. In contrast, Dr Angela LaMarca considers the adverse events associated with chemotherapy, including myelosuppression, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and others. Dr Milind Javle suggests that the toxicities encountered with chemotherapy are significantly worse than those with FGFR inhibitors.

Dr Angela Lamarca reviews the current clinical trials with FGFR inhibitors, particularly those with patients with FGFR2 fusion and other genetic aberrations. Dr Vaibhav Sahai highlights those FGFR inhibitors that are nonselective and those that are selective for FGFR1-4, and discusses the clinical trial results with the selective inhibitors, including pemigatinib and infigratinib. He remarks that the response rates and progression-free survival in these trials have been remarkable, far better than what is seen with chemotherapy.