ASCO 2015 Highlights

Nikhil Munshi talks about modifying treatment to patients' expectations and what they can tolerate.

Approximately 40% of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) fail to take 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) as prescribed, and a sizable majority of parents and children with ALL overreport the intake of a critical drug for maintaining remission, according to a study reported by lead investigator Wendy Landier, PhD, RN, NP, Children’s of Alabama, Birmingham, and colleagues at ASH 2015.

Long-term follow-up of the French 1 Stop Imatinib Study (STIM1) in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has demonstrated that imatinib (Gleevec) can be safely discontinued in patients with a deep molecular response (ie, lasting at least 2 years). According to data presented at ASH 2015, molecular relapse was very rare after 6 months of stopping imatinib, and no relapse was reported after 2 years.

It is not clear how to treat residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy in patients with early HER2-negative breast cancer. Additional chemotherapy with capecitabine improved survival in this group of patients, according to a large Japanese study presented by lead investigator Masakazu Toi, MD, PhD, Professor, Breast Surgery, Kyoto Hospital, Japan, at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Younger patients with luminal A subtype breast cancer may not need chemotherapy, according to a Danish trial presented by lead investigator Torsten O. Nielsen, MD, PhD, Professor, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Patients with luminal A biological subtype breast cancer have an excellent prognosis, even high-risk patients, the study suggests.

On November 16, 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first monoclonal antibody, daratumumab (Darzalex; Janssen Biotech), for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least 3 previous lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an IMiD, or for the treatment of patients whose disease is double-refractory to proteasome inhibitors and IMiDs.

Cabozantinib (Cabometyx) achieved superior progression-­free survival (PFS) versus standard treatment with everolimus in patients with previously treated advanced renal-cell carcinoma in an updated analysis of the phase 3 METEOR trial, the results of which were reported at the 2016 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.