ASCO 2015 Highlights

AVBCC is delighted to announce that John O’Brien, PharmD, MPH, former Senior Advisor to the Secretary, US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), will present a Summit Keynote speech and Q&A at the 2019 AVBCC Summit on Thursday, October 17, in New York City.

Chicago, IL—The addition of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)4/CDK6 inhibitor ribociclib (Kisqali) to standard endocrine therapy significantly extended overall survival (OS) compared with endocrine therapy alone in premenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, according to results of the phase 3 MONALEESA-7 clinical trial presented at ASCO 2019.

Chicago, IL—Maintenance therapy with the targeted drug olaparib (Lynparza) after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy prolonged progression-­free survival (PFS) in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and a germ­line BRCA mutation, according to results of the phase 3 POLO clinical trial presented at the plenary session at ASCO 2019. Lead investigator Hedy L. Kindler, MD, FASCO, Medical Director, Gastrointestinal Oncology, University of Chicago Medicine, IL, presented the results.

Chicago, IL—Approximately 25% of children, adolescents, and young adults with advanced cancer were eligible for a targeted therapy after genotyping of their tumors in the Pediatric Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (MATCH) clinical trial. That rate is more than double the 10% that researchers had projected.

Chicago, IL—Fewer than 7% of adults with cancer and even fewer minority patients participate in clinical trials, which negatively affects the ability to determine the safety and efficacy of new and investigational therapies. At ASCO 2019, 2 experts discussed strategies to overcome the barriers to clinical trial participation and to help enroll more patients with cancer in them.

The 2 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies available so far—axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) and tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah)—may be considered cost-effective treatments for adults with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), depending on the long-term outcomes of these patients, according to a recent cost-effective analysis (Lin JK, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2019 Jun 3. Epub ahead of print).

Until recently, patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are ineligible for autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT), the multiagent regimen with lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone was the standard of care. Results of the prespecified interim analysis of the MAIA trial demonstrated the benefit of adding daratumumab (Darzalex) to this combination therapy (Facon T, et al. N Engl J Med. 2019;380:2104-2115).

Chicago, IL—At ASCO 2019, the FDA announced an oncology-specific pilot program for physicians and patients who are seeking access to investigational therapies. The expanded access pilot program is a concierge service, said Richard Pazdur, MD, Director, FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, who spoke at a press conference where the new program—Project Facilitate—was announced.

Approximately 40% of patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer have mutations in the PIK3CA gene. Although endocrine­based therapy is the standard treatment, acquired resistance remains a challenge.

Chicago, IL—BLU-667, a novel inhibitor of RET, elicited responses in more than 50% of patients with RET fusion–positive advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data from an ongoing phase 1 clinical trial presented at ASCO 2019.