News

The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted in favor of approving remestemcel-L for the treatment of children with steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease.

Nivolumab in combination with chemotherapy as a frontline treatment demonstrated a significant survival benefit in patients with metastatic gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, or esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Racial and ethnic disparities in cancer clinical trials has a pressing challenge that not only impacts diagnostics and treatment of minority populations, but also raises the question of whether trial results are truly applicable across all populations, according to Ruben Mesa, MD.

More than 500,000 people signed a petition demanding better protection for nurses and other health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FDA has approved Guardant360® CDx for comprehensive genomic profiling in patients with any solid malignant cancer.

Although the genomic profiles of African American men with prostate cancer differ from those of European American men, new data show that the frequency of actionable mutations for which targeted therapies exist occurs at a comparable rate in both populations.

Telehealth is likely to stay in the oncology realm, even after the novel coronavirus 2019 pandemic passes.

The FDA has approved belantamab mafodotin-blmf (Blenrep) as a treatment for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma who have received 4 prior therapies, including an immunomodulatory drug, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 antibody.

The novel multimodal FirstSightCRC test has shown promise in identifying colorectal cancer (CRC), as well as precancerous polyps and advanced adenomas, said Shai Friedland, MD, who added that results from the blood-based assay can inform whether a patient should undergo a colonoscopy.

Although pancreatic cancer has been a historically difficult disease to treat, the emergence of novel combinations have allowed for more patients to receive later lines of therapy, and recent advances have inspired a shift to more personalized treatment approaches to improve outcomes, according to Syma Iqbal, MD.

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

The FDA approved atezolizumab plus cobimetinib and vemurafenib for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 mutation-positive advanced melanoma.

These findings have serious implications for future cancer care and underscore the need to resume cancer care and screening.

Marking the first US applications for pembrolizumab in breast cancer, the applications are based on data from the KEYNOTE-355 and KEYNOTE-522 trials, respectively.

An Emory University-led phase 2 study will evaluate whether the the PI3K-gamma/delta inhibitor duvelisib is effective at reducing lung inflammation in patients with severe novel coronavirus 2019.

A recent study found a 22% lower risk in developing colorectal cancer in the 3 years after patients took hypertension medications to treat high blood pressure, heart failure, or heart disease.

As COVID-19 cases continued to increase across the United States at the onset of the pandemic, many elective treatments and routine visits to hospitals and clinics were canceled or moved online.

This research suggested the need for reassessment of the methods by which childhood cancer treatment delivery are approached during crises.

Patients with multiple myeloma who were obese or overweight had a trend toward slightly improved progression-free survival and overall survival outcomes compared to patients who had a normal weight, according to data from an exploratory analysis.

Though the video did not have a statistically significant impact, those assigned to watch the video appeared to be more informed about hospice care and reported more favorable perceptions of hospice.

Parameters such as driver alterations, alternative methods for molecular testing, and immunotherapy-related biomarkers are gaining importance in lung cancer.

Patients with MDS/MPN unclassifiable, whose genes were found to be the most heterogeneous, had a different molecular landscape that was comparable with those observed within other MDS/MPN.

The FDA has approved the CAR T-cell therapy brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus; formerly KTE-X19) as a treatment for adult patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

The mortality rate with COVID-19 appears to be higher in patients with cancer—especially those with lung cancer—compared with the general population, according to updated data released from several registries reported during the AACR Virtual Meeting on COVID-19 and Cancer, and several factors associated with mortality are beginning to emerge.

To date, no FDA-approved options are available for patients under the age of 12 with SR-aGVHD in the United States, underscoring a great unmet need.

The FDA has granted a fast track designation for the PKCβ inhibitor enzastaurin for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma.