Prioritize Patients With Cancer for COVID-19 Vaccine, Orgs Say
February 19th 2021Leading organizations, cancer centers, and other institutions sent a letter to President Joe Biden and his administration, as well as other leading public health officials at state health departments advocating for priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine for patients and survivors of cancer.
Vicineum Granted Priority Review for High-Risk, BCG-Unresponsive Bladder Cancer
February 18th 2021The FDA has accepted and granted a priority review designation to the biologics license application for Vicineum for use in patients with high-risk Bacillus Calmette-Guérin–unresponsive non–muscle invasive bladder cancer.
Sotorasib Granted Priority Review for KRAS G12C–Mutated Advanced or Metastatic NSCLC
February 17th 2021The FDA has granted priority review to sotorasib for the treatment of patients with KRAS G12C–mutated locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer, after at least 1 previous systemic therapy.
FDA Approves Trilaciclib for Chemo-Induced Bone Marrow Suppression in Small Cell Lung Cancer
February 12th 2021The FDA has approved trilaciclib to reduce the frequency of chemotherapy-induced bone marrow suppression in adults receiving certain types of chemotherapy for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.
FDA Approves Cemiplimab for Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma
February 9th 2021The FDA approved cemiplimab-rwlc as the first immunotherapy for use in patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma that has previously been treated with a hedgehog pathway inhibitor (HHI) or for whom a HHI is not appropriate.
Better Care for Minorities, Improved Telehealth: Next Steps in Lung Cancer
February 8th 2021“We should never be complacent; we should never be skeptical,” said Lilenbaum. “We need to continue to pursue new treatments, and if nothing else, the past 2 decades are a testament to how we can actually make a difference in the natural history of the disease by appropriate interventions.”
Pembrolizumab-Ipilimumab Combo Boosts Toxicity, Not Survival in NSCLC
February 7th 2021Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) combined with ipilimumab (Yervoy) did not improve survival and had higher rates of toxicity compared with pembrolizumab monotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had a PD-L1 tumor proportion score (TPS) of 50% or greater, and did not harbor EGFR or ALK aberrations.
Cancer Drugs Spark Hope in Combatting COVID-19
February 5th 2021In response to the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, investigators around the world channeled their efforts into acquiring a better understanding of the virus so that they could rapidly identify any weapons that may be used in the fight against its spread; this included turning to tried-and-true cancer drugs to see whether they could be repurposed to address this pressing need.
mRNA Vaccines: From Cancer to COVID-19
February 4th 2021Recent progress made with messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines has led to amplified protein translation, stronger modulation of immunogenicity, and improved delivery, which has all contributed to an evolution in the application of these products in the field of cancer.
Patients Need Better Treatment Education, Study Finds
January 31st 2021Although survivors and patients with lung cancer felt that they were involved in the treatment decision-making process, nearly half of them reported that they knew what their treatment options were before making a decision, according to results from a study presented at the 2020 World Conference on Lung Cancer Singapore.
Shorter SBRT Treatment Is Safe, Efficacious in High-Risk Prostate Cancer
January 28th 2021A shorter course of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has been shown to have encouraging efficacy with favorable toxicity when used in patients with high-risk prostate cancer in a multi-institutional, international setting, according to findings from a study published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics.
Ilixadencel Gets Orphan Drug Designation for Soft Tissue Sarcoma
January 27th 2021The FDA has granted the cell-based, off-the-shelf immune primer ilixadencel an orphan drug designation for use as a treatment option in patients with soft tissue sarcoma (STS), according to an announcement from Immunicum AB.