ASCO 2015 Highlights

Early results from the CheckMate-648 clinical trial, which evaluated the efficacy and safety of Opdivo (nivolumab), a PD-1 inhibitor, plus Yervoy (ipilimumab), a CTLA-4 inhibitor, or nivolumab plus chemotherapy, suggest a potential new standard of care for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma (ESCC). These findings were presented at the ASCO 2021 virtual annual meeting by Ian Chau, MD, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Gastrointestinal and Haemato-Oncology, Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, United Kingdom, and lead investigator of the trial.

Treatment with the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) following surgery significantly extended disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with high-risk, clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) compared with placebo, according to the results of the KEYNOTE-564 clinical trial. These findings were reported during a plenary session of the ASCO 2021 virtual annual meeting.

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) represents a group of heterogeneous cancers that originate in the bile ducts that connect the liver and gallbladder to the small intestine. Although the exact prevalence of CCA is unknown, CCA is a rare cancer; approximately 8000 new cases of CCA are diagnosed annually in the United States.

The demands of value-based care have continued to evolve since oncologists began transitioning from fee-for-service to fee-for-value reimbursement more than five years ago. For community-based oncology practices, more change is coming with the introduction of the Oncology Care First Model, the successor of the current Oncology Care Model (OCM). Following a one-year delay caused by the pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is expected to launch the Oncology Care First Model in 2022 and will likely include a larger number of practices than the OCM.

Treatment with tebentafusp (IMCgp100), a novel bispecific T-cell receptor (TCR) fusion protein, extended survival in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma, according to the results from a recent phase 3 trial.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to virtually all aspects of oncology care. There has been a steep drop in cancer diagnoses and screenings—a result of shelter-in-place policies instituted early on, as well as ongoing patient fears about returning to healthcare facilities for new appointments or follow-up care. Experts predict that there will soon be a surge of patients with advanced cancer, which has the potential to overwhelm a healthcare infrastructure already stretched very thin. There are also unanswered questions regarding the role of telemedicine moving forward, as well as the use of alternate sites of care. These issues were addressed by a panel of healthcare experts during the virtual National Comprehensive Cancer Network 2021 Annual Conference.

Gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies account for 26% of the global cancer incidence and 35% of all cancer-related deaths.¹ There is an urgent need for new therapeutic options for patients with advanced disease beyond the standard, highly burdensome combinatorial approach of polychemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery.¹ Recent advances in tumor molecular profiling are transforming the therapeutic landscape for patients with GI cancers, allowing for prognostication and predictive risk assessment, as well as more individualized regimens that can extend survival while minimizing the side effects that have long been associated with existing “legacy” treatment options.

In recent years, the pace of innovation in healthcare has accelerated dramatically, ushering in new processes, therapies, technologies, and policies designed to increase efficiency, reduce waste, lower the cost of care, and improve clinical outcomes and quality of life for patients. However, along the way, stakeholders have encountered numerous obstacles that threaten to undermine the full potential of these advances. One of the most significant challenges is the fact that the development of innovation is frequently siloed, occurring within a specific subsector of the healthcare delivery ecosystem, with little consideration of the impact to other parts of the overall system.