August 2019, Vol 9, No 8

Medical practices and hospital centers across the United States are facing important choices that will determine their fiscal and physical viability moving into 2020. Not only is the impetus behind these required changes unclear, many feel that there is a lack of purpose and justification for them, which has resulted in mounting frustration. Read Article ›

Results from a new clinical trial suggest that limited access to care is the main contributing factor to the disparities in outcomes that exist between African-American patients and white patients with cancer. Read Article ›

With 475 cell and gene therapy companies in North America representing a business enterprise with approximately $20 billion, new immunotherapies are moving rapidly from the laboratory to the clinic. As chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy makes its way from the academic to the community setting, however, appropriate resources and infrastructure are required to ensure the safe and effective management of patients. Read Article ›

Although clinical trials are essential for evaluating novel therapies and determining the most effective treatment options for patients with cancer, participation in these trials remains low, especially among ethnic and racial minorities. At the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Kessely Hong, PhD, MPA, Faculty Chair, MPA Programs, and Lecturer, Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, MA, and Electra D. Paskett, PhD, Marion N. Rowley Professor of Cancer Research, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, discussed strategies to enhance clinical trial enrollment and retention. Read Article ›

The addition of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)4/CDK6 inhibitor ribociclib to standard endocrine therapy significantly extended overall survival (OS) compared with endocrine therapy alone in premenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, according to results of the phase 3 MONALEESA-7 clinical trial, presented at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Read Article ›

Genetic alterations in molecular pathways are involved in tumor development, survival, and progression. Precision cancer medicine is about using the cancer genome to guide treatment decisions, according to Christine M. Walko, PharmD, BCOP, Personalized Medicine Pharmacologist, Personalized Medicine Clinical Service, and Chair, Clinical Genomic Action Committee, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL. Read Article ›

In the phase 3 CLL14 clinical trial, fixed-duration venetoclax plus obinutuzumab was superior to chlorambucil plus obinutuzumab as front-line therapy in older patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and comorbidities. The fixed-duration regimen significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS), complete response (CR) rate, and minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity versus chlorambucil plus obinutuzumab, and was superior in patients with poor prognostic factors, such as unmutated IGHV and TP53 alterations. Read Article ›

On June 10, 2019, the FDA accelerated the approval of polatuzumab vedotin-piiq (Polivy; Genentech), a CD79b-directed antibody-drug conjugate, in combination with bendamustine (Bendeka, Treanda) plus rituximab (Rituxan or a biosimilar; BR) for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who have received ≥2 previous therapies. Read Article ›

On June 27, 2019, the FDA approved daratumumab (Darzalex; Janssen) in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid; Celgene) and dexamethasone for the first-line treatment of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) who are ineligible for autologous stem-cell transplantation. This is the sixth indication for daratumumab in MM and the second for newly diagnosed patients. Read Article ›