News

A pharmacist provides an overview of new intravenous cancer therapies that were approved in 2020.

Subgroup analyses from the phase III CheckMate-067 trial identified potential biomarkers in patients who achieved a complete response (CR) with the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) but later progressed, according to Georgina V. Long, BSc, PhD, MBBS, FRACP.1 Now, investigators are working to answer more questions about this group of patients.

A nurse practitioner discusses mutations, cancer sidedness, and treatment duration for patients with colorectal cancer.

The oncology community has risen up as a unified front in the battle against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), launching pivotal research efforts to better understand the enemy and collecting data to develop effective therapeutics to fill the treatment arsenal.

The FDA has approved the FoundationOne Liquid CDx for use as a companion diagnostic with olaparib (Lynparza), which is indicated for select patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline or somatic homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene–mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Chemoimmunotherapy regimens are showing promise in the treatment of SCLC.

Alex Trebek, host of the popular game show Jeopardy! died today, Nov. 8, 2020, according to a tweet from Jeopardy!. He was 80 years old.

There is still a great deal to learn about the optimal use of BRAF-targeted therapy, as well as immunotherapy, in the adjuvant setting for patients with melanoma.

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.

Despite the recent advancements with BRAF-targeted therapies and PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, there is still much to learn in the field of melanoma, especially with regard to disease biology, according to Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP, who added that this understanding is needed to inform development and sequencing strategies, as emphasized during the 2020 SMR Virtual Congress.

Standard guidelines that determine who should undergo genetic testing may result in some cases falling through the cracks, according to recent research.

Beyond single-agent chemotherapy, few effective treatment options are available for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), according to Candace Mainor, MD, but several approaches comprised of immunotherapy, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and PARP inhibitors are shifting standards of care and eliciting impressive response rates in heavily pretreated patients.

LGBTQ patients face disparities, but oncology clinicians reported wanting to learn more and create a more welcoming environment.

The FDA has lifted the clinical hold placed on the phase 1 PSMA-101-001 study (NCT04249947) of the CAR T-cell therapy P-PSMA-101 in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

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 addition of anti–PD-1/PD-L1 to combination BRAF and MEK inhibition has been shown to improve progression-free survival and duration of response in patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma.

Each month, we take a look back at the most popular Oncology Nursing News® stories. Here are the top 5 stories from October 2020.

CAR T-cell therapy may change the treatment paradigm for relapsed/refractory myeloma.

The FDA has granted a priority review designation to a supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) for cemiplimab-rwlc (Libtayo) for the frontline treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a PD-L1 expression of 50% or greater.

The FDA has accepted and granted a priority review designation to a supplemental biologics license application for the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu) for use in patients with HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma.

Oncology nurses reported not feeling heard in the political arena. However, they are advocating for themselves and patients in other ways.

The USPSTF recommends that colorectal cancer screening start at age 45.

There are resources for patients who are struggling to pay for their treatment, but nurses must initiate the conversation.

PLX8394, a next-generation BRAF inhibitor, in combination with cobicistat (Tybost) was found to demonstrate encouraging clinical activity with an acceptable safety profile in patients with BRAF-mutated, refractory solid tumors, according to results from a phase 1/2 trial (NCT02428712) presented during the 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Therapeutics.

The investigational wholly-owned allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy CTX110 demonstrated dose-dependent efficacy and responses in patients with relapsed/refractory CD19-positive B-cell malignancies.

Afatinib (Gilotrif) was found to be effective when used in Asian and non-Asian patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with major uncommon and compound EGFR mutations, irrespective of ethnicity, according to results from a pooled analysis presented during the 2020 IASLC North America Conference on Lung Cancer.

The FDA approval of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for use in select adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic solid tumors that are tumor mutational burden (TMB)-high, has both generated a lot of excitement and been hotly debated, according to Vivek Subbiah, MD.

Being hospitalized for cancer can be a frightening experience for a child, but a friendly and approachable nurse can make all the difference.