March 2019, Vol 9, No 3

The adjuvant use of the antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla) led to a clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement in invasive disease-free survival (ie, survival free of invasive disease or death) compared with trastuzumab (Herceptin) in patients with HER2-­positive early-stage breast cancer and residual invasive disease, despite the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus HER2-­targeted therapy, according to the preliminary results of the phase 3 KATHERINE trial. These findings were reported at the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Read Article ›

On January 31, 2019, the FDA approved the combination of pemetrexed (Alimta; Eli Lilly) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda; Merck) and platinum-based chemotherapy for first-line treatment of patients with metastatic nonsquamous non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR or ALK mutations. Read Article ›

Interim analysis of an international phase 3 clinical trial supports the addition of daratumumab (Darzalex) to lenalidomide (Revli­mid) and dexamethasone as the new standard of care in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are transplant-ineligible. Read Article ›

On January 14, 2019, the FDA approved cabozantinib (Cabometyx; Exelixis) an oral multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who were previously treated with sorafenib (Nexavar). Read Article ›

On January 14, 2019, the FDA approved cabozantinib (Cabometyx; Exelixis) an oral multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who were previously treated with sorafenib (Nexavar). Read Article ›

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is considered one of the most difficult breast cancers to treat, with few therapeutic options. In an overall analysis of the phase 3 IMpassion130 trial, investigators showed that using the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq), a PD-L1 inhibitor, with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) chemotherapy improved disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced or metastatic TNBC compared with placebo plus nab-paclitaxel. Read Article ›

Longer-term follow-up of 2 large pivotal clinical trials in B-cell malignancies has demonstrated continuing remissions after chimeric antigen ­receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy: the ELIANA study in pediatric patients and young adults with relapsed or refractory B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and the JULIET study in adult patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Both updates were presented at a press conference at ASH 2018. Read Article ›

Zanubrutinib, a highly specific and irreversible next-generation Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, exhibited excellent activity in a single-arm, open-label multicenter phase 2 clinical trial of patients with relapsed or refractory mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL). Early study results were reported at ASH 2018. Read Article ›

The results of a phase 2 clinical trial presented at ASH 2018 suggest that early therapeutic intervention is beneficial in patients with high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma. Read Article ›

Read Article ›