ASCO 2015 Highlights

An analysis of the Value Framework of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) shows that the Net Health Benefit score of cancer drugs continues to evolve over time after their FDA approval, based on data presented at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

Updated results of the phase 3 CASPIAN clinical trial continue to show that durvalumab (Imfinzi) added to standard chemotherapy improves overall survival (OS) for patients with treatment-naïve extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), according to a presentation at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

Capmatinib (Tabrecta), an oral kinase inhibitor, has shown clinical activity in patients with high-level MET-amplified advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to new data presented at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

A single infusion of the investigational agent lifileucel—an immunotherapy using cryopreserved autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL)—induced responses in more than 33% of patients with advanced melanoma whose disease progressed with multiple previous therapies, including PD-1 and BRAF/MEK inhibitors.

A novel intratumoral chemotherapy agent delivered by direct injection permits the dispersion of cytotoxic drugs into cancer cells to eradicate tumors. Data from a phase 1/2 trial of intratumoral INT230-6, alone and in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda), in patients with advanced solid tumors was presented at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

The small-molecule inhibitor of tyrosine kinase WEE1 adavosertib demonstrated promising clinical activity in a single-arm, phase 2 study of patients with unselected uterine serous cancer (USC), with an objective response rate of 29.4%, said Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH, Director of Clinical Research, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

With follow-up of more than 5 years, women with relapsed platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation who participated in the multicenter phase 3 SOLO2 clinical trial lived more than 1 year longer when randomized to maintenance therapy with the poly (ADP- ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) compared with placebo, according to data released at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

The combination of cabozantinib (Cabometyx), a kinase inhibitor, and atezolizumab (Tecentriq), a PD-L1 inhibitor, achieved clinically meaningful activity in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), including those with high-risk clinical features, according to the results of the phase 1b COSMIC-021 trial presented at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

Early locoregional therapy with surgery and radiation does not improve overall survival (OS) in women with newly diagnosed stage IV breast cancer and an intact primary tumor compared with systemic therapy alone, according to the results of the randomized ECOG-ACRIN E2108 phase 3 clinical trial.