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Mean daily step count during the first 2 weeks of treatment with SM-88 (racemetyrosine) was found to correlate with overall self-reported quality of life (QoL) in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Survival for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) remains poor, and although immunotherapy has been positioned as a holy grail, it would be preemptive to predict its future based on the number of small studies that have been performed to date, according to Amer Zeidan, MD, MHS.

An artificial-intelligence based tool helped patients find and understand clinical trials, which could eventually lead to more diverse trial populations.

The FDA approved fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu) for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic HER2-postive gastric or gastroesophageal (GEJ) adenocarcinoma who previously received a trastuzumab-based regimen.

Findings from an analysis determined that stage 4 gastrointestinal stromal tumors were rare and led to hepatic metastases, although overall survival was up to 51% at 5 years.

The FDA has approved crizotinib for the treatment of pediatric patients 1 year of age and older and young adults with ALK-positive relapsed or refractory, systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

We spoke with researchers on the factors that led to nurse loneliness – and what can be done to help.

The management of patients with colorectal liver metastases is complicated and requires careful assessment from a multidisciplinary tumor board—especially in light of recent advances made with chemotherapy, according to Michael J. Cavnar, MD.

The addition of eganelisib (IPI-549) to nivolumab (Opdivo) was found to elicit encouraging responses and improve progression-free survival (PFS) compared with single-agent nivolumab in patients with platinum-refractory, immunotherapy-naïve, advanced, metastatic urothelial cancer, according to an update from the phase 2 MARIO-275 (NCT03980041).

The FDA has granted fast track designations to cavrotolimod (AST-008) for use in combination with a PD-1 therapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) that is refractory to previous PD-1 blockade and for use in combination with a PD-1/PD-L1 agent in those with advanced or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) that is refractory to previous PD-1/PD-L1 blockade.

Nurse navigation – in addition to a better EHR system – increased the percentage of older patients who utilized advance care planning.

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.

The FDA has approved a supplemental new drug application to add overall survival (OS) and other secondary end point data from the phase 3 ARAMIS trial (NCT02200614) to the prescribing information for darolutamide (Nubeqa) for the treatment of patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer (nmCRPC).

Molecular testing is a critical component of the treatment selection process in lung cancer, as a host of effective drugs have since been developed to target alterations such as ALK, ROS1, and RET, according to Yujie Zhao, MD, PhD, who added that the integration of RNA-based sequencing into these strategies could potentially provide further benefit to patients.

An immunotherapy agent recently had its FDA approval pulled from the American market. But this may not be as bad as it sounds, experts say.

Recent research found that there may be a correlation between opioid use and pancreatic cancer risk.

“But our study is pointing to new genes to consider. For example, we found that the BRCA2 gene, typically associated with adult breast and ovarian cancer, may also somehow influence the susceptibility of pediatric RMS.”

Twice-weekly text message reminders did not improve adherence to aromatase inhibitors (AIs) for postmenopausal patients with early-stage breast cancer; therefore, increasing the odds of long-term adherence for this population will require more personalized approaches, explained Julie Gralow, MD.

The FDA has granted a fast track designation to the investigational antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) ARX788 for use as a monotherapy in the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have previously received 1 or more HER2-targeted regimens in the metastatic setting.

There is still more to be done in the fields of targeted therapy and immunotherapy, according to the American Cancer Society.

Patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer should be treated with neoadjuvant therapy rather than surgery to determine how they will respond to ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla)in the adjuvant setting, according to Ian E. Krop, MD, PhD, who added that although residual disease may serve as a potential predictive biomarker for response to this approach, the hunt for effective molecular biomarkers continues.

From the possibility of student loan elimination to the impact of COVID-19 on oncology patients, here’s a look back at the top 5 Oncology Nursing News stories of 2020.

Results of confirmatory trials showed that the drug did not meet its primary endpoints for patients with small cell lung cancer.

“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."

Regulating the fas protein may be the key in overcoming resistance in patients receiving immunotherapy treatment, such as CAR T-cell therapy.

Only 4 of the 20 most common cancers have a proven screening method.

Several novel chemoimmunotherapy combinations have risen to the forefront of treatment in triple-negative breast cancer.