Immuno-Oncology

While the new FDA approval of 4-week dosing adds more flexibility in scheduling, it reduces the number of times patients would be monitored in person for adverse effects (AEs), so nurses need to be alert to and educated about potential AEs.

The FDA has approved a supplemental biologics license application to add a 4-week dosing schedule for nivolumab (Opdivo) across several of the PD-1 inhibitor’s indications.

ASCO releases its annual report highlighting progress, trends, and future directions in cancer practice and research.

In a promising development in brain cancer research, injectable viruses have been found to be able to breach the blood-brain barrier and deliver immunotherapy to tumors.

Recognizing and understanding how to manage side effects related to immunotherapy treatements is key for nurses. To educate healthcare teams on immunotherapy-related toxicities, The National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American Society of Clinical Oncology issued new guidelines.

Researchers have recently discovered that immunotherapy agents have potential to effectively treat desmoplastic melanoma, even though the dense tissue associated with this rare cancer would seem to preclude it.

Immunotherapy alone has not shown much success in treating ovarian cancer, despite success with other cancers, so researchers are now testing combinations of immunotherapy drugs with other agents to see if it enhances effectiveness.

The year 2017 saw significant advancements in the field of bladder cancer treatment. Five Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals for checkpoint inhibitors in both the first and second line setting opened up the immunotherapy landscape, and more develoments are on the way.

Oliver Dorigo, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Oncology), Stanford University Medical Center, discusses the work ahead in the ovarian cancer field.

“Immunotherapy is a new option for patients and is well established,” said George R. Blumenschein, MD. “We are refining how we use it. There will be a number of additional refinements as we have the new data that will be coming forward in the next few months.”

In an interview with Oncology Nursing News, the assistant professor at the Yale School of Nursing discussed a new standard of care with immunotherapy, common side effects, and why patients sometimes withhold information from their healthcare team.

“New oncology therapies offer nurses a new challenge, and we will accept this challenge.”

An update on the labeling changes from the FDA.

The FDA has granted accelerated approval to nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

A side-effect of some lung cancer treatments is turning some patient's gray hair darker again.

Checkpoint inhibitors against PD-1 and PD-L1 have shown promise, both as monotherapies and in combination with chemotherapy for patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

The FDA has approved ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of patients aged ≥ 12 years with unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

Peer Exchange

The immunotherapy agent, avelumab (Bavencio) is the first drug to receive approval to treat Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare form of skin cancer. Carrie Best was the first patient to enroll in a clinical trial of avelumab, the first to receive the drug for Merkel cell carcinoma, and the first to become cancer-free.

Hair repigmentation in patients receiving anti-PD-1/anti-PD-L1 treatment may be a response marker.

Nivolumab (Opdivo) improved quality of life scores in most patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

The Insitute for Clinical Immuno-Oncology (ICLIO) are supporting multidisciplinary cancer teams to better deliver new and emerging cancer therapies.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has been granted accelerated approval for certain solid tumors.

The FDA has granted approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for use in combination with pemetrexed plus carboplatin as a frontline treatment for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Rajni Kannan, BS, MS, RN, APN-BC, discusses the management of patients receiving combination immunotherapy.

The FDA has granted accelerated approval to avelumab (Bavencio) for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

Nurses at Smilow Cancer Hospital leveraged their electronic medical record system to improve care and management of patients receiving immunotherapies.

While patients with stage III or IV melanoma who received a higher dose of ipilimumab did live longer than those on a lower dose, there was also greater toxicity.

Jose Lutzky, MD, discusses the importance of proactive patient monitoring with patients receiving immunotherapy treatments.