ASCO 2015 Highlights

Two cancer experts at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, MD, are advocating for greater focus on metastatic cancer survivorship and its impact on those living with incurable cancer, a situation they know all too well. Both are living with metastatic cancer and are urging the medical community to increase the study and awareness of this condition and improve the lives of this growing population.

Orlando, FL—With price tags approaching $1 million or more for delivery of certain immune cell therapies, new payment models will be needed to ensure access to these therapies and to further innovations. This was a key issue addressed at a roundtable discussion at the 2019 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Conference. Ensuring access to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy emerged as a top area of concern.

San Francisco, CA—The era of immunotherapy has opened new perspectives in renal-cell carcinoma (RCC), which is one of the tumors most highly infiltrated with CD T-cells and PD-1 expression, partially accounting for its sensitivity to immunotherapy. Other mechanisms to explain its sensitivity include myeloid infiltration, metabolic alterations, loss-of-function mutations, and human endogenous retroviruses.

San Francisco, CA—The combination of the PD-1 inhibitor durvalumab ­(Imfinzi) and the investigational CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab plus best supportive care improved overall survival (OS) by more than 2 months versus best supportive care alone in a phase 2 clinical trial of patients with refractory colorectal cancer (CRC), reported Eric Xueyu Chen, MD, PhD, Staff Oncologist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada, at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

On June 10, 2019, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the novel antibody-drug conjugate polatuzumab vedotin-piiq (Polivy; Genentech) in combination with bendamustine plus rituximab for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that has progressed or returned after at least 2 previous therapies. This is the first chemoimmunotherapy regimen approved for use in patients with DLBCL who are ineligible for hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.

On May 3, 2019, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla; Genentech) for the adjuvant treatment of patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer who have residual invasive disease after neoadjuvant taxane and trastuzumab-based treatment. Patients should be selected for treatment with this agent based on an FDA-approved companion diagnostic test (Ventana Medical System’s PATHWAY anti-HER-2/neu [4B5] Rabbit Monoclonal Primary Antibody assay or INFORM HER2 Dual ISH DNA Probe Cocktail assay).

Orlando, FL—The discontinuation of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) is considered safe and appropriate in consenting patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) under specific circumstances and with careful molecular monitoring, according to the updated National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) management guideline for CML.

On March 11, 2019, the FDA approved trastuzumab-qyyp (Trazimera; Pfizer) as the fourth biosimilar to trastuzumab (Herceptin; Genentech) for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer or HER2-positive metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. This approval was based on several studies confirming that trastuzumab-qyyp is biosimilar to the originator drug, Herceptin.

It is no surprise that healthcare costs are at an all-time high and continue to take center stage in political, social, and economic debates. Employers, as health plan sponsors and as purchasers of care, are looking to take matters into their own hands and tackle the problem through innovative reimbursement strategies. Not all employers, however, are built the same. Experiences in controlling healthcare costs vary between small and large employers. The most affected employers are in the middle and are known as midsize employers.

San Francisco, CA—Increased understanding of tumor genetics and tumor metabolism has led to improved therapies for cancer. The impact of cancer metabolism on tumor pathways is particularly important in pancreatic cancer. A novel tumor metabolism–altering oral drug known as SM-88 combines the investigative tyrosine derivative (D,L-alpha-metyrosine) with 3 repurposed agents—an mTOR inhibitor (sirolimus), a CYP3A4 inducer (phenyt­oin), and an oxidative stress catalyst (methoxsalen).