ASCO 2021 Highlights

Final results from the phase 3 clinical trial ClarIDHy showed that ivosidenib (Tibsovo), a first-in-class oral inhibitor of isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) mutation, prolonged the median overall survival (OS) in patients with previously treated advanced cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and IDH1 mutation. Although this improvement did not reach statistical significance, after adjusting for crossovers from the placebo to the ivosidenib group, the difference in median OS was statistically significant.

Belzutifan, an oral, novel hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2α inhibitor, showed encouraging activity as a single agent in heavily pretreated patients with advanced clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) associated with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease, as well as impressive tumor shrinkage when used in combination with cabozantinib (Cabometyx) in separate studies presented at the 2021 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Cabazitaxel (Jevtana) is approved as third-line therapy for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) after treatment with docetaxel and an androgen receptor inhibitor. A new phase 2 clinical trial shows that the radionuclide therapy that targets the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617, reduced the risk for disease progression or death by 37% compared with cabazitaxel in men with previously treated metastatic CRPC. Moreover, the TheraP study showed that patients who received ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 had fewer side effects and improved quality of life compared with patients who received cabazitaxel.

The combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus cabozantinib (Cabometyx) continued to show superior survival outcomes compared with single-agent sunitinib (Sutent) as first-line treatment for patients with advanced renal-cell carcinoma (RCC), according to extended follow-up data from the phase 3 CheckMate-9ER clinical trial presented at the 2021 ASCO Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium.