ASCO 2015 Highlights

The use of novel agents in multiple myeloma has led experts to question whether autologous stem-cell transplant (ASCT) is warranted upfront, or whether it can be used as effectively after patients relapse.

A study of state-specific costs of care and survival among Medicare beneficiaries with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) shows no correlation between the cost of care and patient outcomes.

The job of the oncology medical team is to put out the fire, stop the emergency, and save the patient’s life, said Diane Heditsian, Researcher and Patient Advocate, Breast Oncology Program, University of California, San Francisco, during the 2016 Cancer Survivorship Symposium.

On January 16, 2016, President Barack Obama promised a “moonshot” to accelerate national progress to combat cancer, but delivering on that promise faces many challenges.

Society meetings, such as the recent American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, generate a lot of clinical-related excitement regarding new treatment options, protocols, and pathways for hematologic cancers.

The use of therapy with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T-cells consistently demonstrated activity in advanced hematologic malignancies, including different types of lymphoma, in multiple trials reported at ASH 2015.

The oral, investigational, small-molecule BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax has shown excellent and durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). All patients in the trial harbored the 17p deletion (del 17p), which signals poor prognosis.