Gynecologic Cancers

Ultimately, the goal is for every eligible patient to receive PARP inhibition in the frontline maintenance setting alone or in combination with bevacizumab, one expert says.

The FDA approved dostarlimab (Jemperli) for the treatment of patients with recurrent or advanced endometrial cancer that progressed on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy and whose cancer is DNA mismatch repair deficient (dMMR), as determined by an FDA-approved test.

Two tests for homologous recombination deficiency have been FDA approved for patients with ovarian cancer, including myChoice CDx and FoundationOne CDx, and they produce important information that can be used to guide treatment decisions.

Maintenance olaparib showcased progression-free survival benefit in almost half of the patients with ovarian cancer vs 21% of those who received placebo, including consistent benefit in high- and low-risk patients.

Robert Wenham, MD, MS, FACOG, FACS, discusses the basis for combining chemotherapy, PARP inhibitors, and VEGF inhibitors with immunotherapy in ovarian cancer and ongoing research with ADCs in the field.

One in 7 Caribbean-born individuals with either breast or ovarian cancer had hereditary disease with an actionable pathogenic variant, which provides the opportunity for the utilization of targeted therapeutics and precise prevention strategies.

The FDA has granted priority review to the new drug application for the novel compound pafolacianine sodium injection for use in the identification of ovarian cancer during surgery.

An independent data safety monitoring committee has not observed any safety issues with the phase 3 OVAL trial examining VB-111 in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, and as such, has recommended that the trial continue as planned.

The reversible BET inhibitor CC-90010 was found to have preliminary antitumor activity in patients with heavily pretreated, advanced solid tumors and relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“Second-line maintenance therapy is going to be incredibly important for patients because we know that once a patient with ovarian cancer recurs, their disease is incurable."

Ursula Matulonis, MD, highlights immunotherapy agents have demonstrated moderate clinical activity for patients with gynecologic cancers, however they fail to yield significant response rates in both the newly-diagnosed and recurrent settings.

While PARP inhibitors have played a large part in improving progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with ovarian cancer, long-term use of these agents often leads to resistance that are often quite challenging to overcome, according to Gottfried E. Konecny, MD.

The FDA approved the CINtec PLUS Cytology test to help determine if HPV-positive women need further diagnostic procedures to prevent cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is often diagnosed in the later stages, though incidence of the disease is declining thanks to the HPV vaccine.

Pap and HPV testing can decrease cervical cancer risk, but testing intervals seem to be sporadic for patients.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) demonstrated modest clinical activity in patients with advanced recurrent ovarian cancer, according to final results of the phase 2 KEYNOTE-100 trial that were presented during the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program.

The FDA has approved the combination of olaparib and bevacizumab for the maintenance treatment of patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

The vaccine BVAC-C demonstrated durable antitumor activity in patients with HPV 16– or HPV 18–positive recurrent cervical cancer, according to findings presented at the 2020 AACR Virtual Annual Meeting I.

A reduction in patient-reported symptomatic adverse events (AEs) was observed with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) compared with standard radiotherapy in patients with cervical or endometrial cancer, whereas no difference was observed with regard to clinician-reported AE.

The future looks to be defined by essential clinical trials.

The FDA approved niraparib for the maintenance treatment of adults with advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who have a complete or partial response to frontline platinum-based chemotherapy.

Retrospective results showed that African-American women with endometrial cancer are less likely to receive evidence-based care compared with white women.

There are many issues that women can face after undergoing treatment for gynecologic cancers.

The FDA has granted a Fast Track designation to the combination of the PD-1 inhibitor balstilimab and the CTLA-inhibitor zalifrelimab for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory metastatic cervical cancer.

The FDA has approved the CINtec® PLUS Cytology test as the first biomarker-based triage test for women whose primary cervical cancer screening results are positive for the human papillomavirus (HPV) using the cobas® 4800 HPV Test, according to Roche (Genentech), the manufacturer of the test.