Emerging Therapies

A single infusion of the investigational agent lifileucel—an immunotherapy using cryopreserved autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL)—induced responses in more than 33% of patients with advanced melanoma whose disease progressed with multiple previous therapies, including PD-1 and BRAF/MEK inhibitors. Read More ›

The small-molecule inhibitor of tyrosine kinase WEE1 adavosertib demonstrated promising clinical activity in a single-arm, phase 2 study of patients with unselected uterine serous cancer (USC), with an objective response rate of 29.4%, said Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH, Director of Clinical Research, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting. The responses were durable, with a median duration of response of 9.03 months. Read More ›

A novel intratumoral chemotherapy agent delivered by direct injection permits the dispersion of cytotoxic drugs into cancer cells to eradicate tumors. Data from a phase 1/2 trial of intratumoral INT230-6, alone and in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda), in patients with advanced solid tumors was presented at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting by Jacob Stephen Thomas, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles. Read More ›

The combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus the investigational drug sitravatinib improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with pretreated metastatic clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) and the historical disease control rates compared with nivolumab alone, according to the results of a phase 1/2 clinical trial reported at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. Read More ›

Treatment with the novel agent MK-6482 led to promising results in a phase 1/2 clinical trial of patients with metastatic clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (RCC). In heavily pretreated patients, the objective response rate (ORR) with single-agent MK-6482 was 24%, and a response was consistently seen across patients with favorable-, intermediate-, and poor-risk disease. These results were greeted with optimism at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. Read More ›

Tumor-specific antigens provide personalized targets for immunotherapy. Neoantigen vaccines are a new type of immunotherapy that can elicit immune response and achieve remission. Evidence is compelling to support neoantigens as the target of effective immune responses against cancer and to support an association between neoantigen load with improved clinical outcome, said Patrick Alexander Ott, MD, PhD, Clinical Director, Center for Immuno-Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, at ASCO 2019. Read More ›

High-grade gliomas harboring the histone 3 (H3) K27M mutation are lethal brain tumors associated with a poor prognosis. At the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, results from a clinical trial showed that treatment with ONC201, a unique, small molecule DRD2 antagonist, resulted in durable tumor regression in adults with recurrent high-grade H3 K27M-mutant gliomas. Read More ›

A novel oral agent (BLU-667) that targets RET genetic alterations, achieved durable disease control and was safe in patients with lung or thyroid cancers and RET mutations, as demonstrated by the first-in-human phase 1 clinical trial ARROW. Read More ›

A novel approach using the investigational toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist CMP-001 in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) may have the potential to reverse resistance to anti–PD-1 therapy, according to data from a preliminary phase 1b clinical trial. Read More ›

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