News

Rapid changes in the treatment landscape for melanoma have prompted the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) to issue updated consensus guidelines to help clinicians stratify patients, choose optimal treatment regimens, and manage immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in patients with stage II to IV disease.

The optimal duration of treatment for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer has been called into question by recent findings from the NSABP B-52, PERSEPHONE, and APT clinical trials.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to larotrectinib (Vitrakvi) for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with solid tumors that have an NTRK gene fusion without a known acquired resistance mutation, are metastatic or where surgical resection is likely to result in severe morbidity, and have no satisfactory alternative treatments or that have progressed following treatment.

The PD-L1 inhibitor avelumab did not induce a statistically significant improvement in overall survival or progression-free survival in patients with platinum–resistant/refractory ovarian cancer.

The PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has shown an overall survival advantage across 3 phase III clinical trials studying its use in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These positive results led to a frontline indication as a single agent and in combination with chemotherapy for both patients with squamous and nonsquamous NSCLC.

Patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who were treated with tivozanib (Fotivda) experienced a 26% reduction in the risk of progression or death compared with sorafenib (Nexavar), according to results from the phase 3 TIVO-3 trial.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted a priority review to the FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib for the treatment of relapsed or refractory FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the hedgehog pathway inhibitor glasdegib (Daurismo) for use in combination with low-dose cytarabine (LDAC) for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in newly-diagnosed patients who are aged 75 years or older or who are ineligible for intensive chemotherapy.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an accelerated approval to venetoclax (Venclexta) for use in combination with azacitidine or decitabine or low-dose cytarabine for the treatment of newly-diagnosed adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are aged 75 years or older, or who have comorbidities that preclude use of intensive induction chemotherapy.

Epoetin alfa-epbx (Retacrit), the biosimilar to epoetin alfa (Procrit/Epogen), has been launched in the United States at a significant discount. The shipment of the biosimilar to wholesalers throughout the United States began on Nov. 12, 2018.

Choosing frontline therapy for patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who do not harbor an actionable driver oncogene depends upon PD-L1 expression level and histology, according to Gregory J. Riely, MD, PhD.

Although few statistics are available to assess how patients with cancer are affected by prescription opioid use, a recent study found that 70% of patients with cancer use opiates after radiation.

Oncology Nursing News®, a digital and print media enterprise dedicated to bringing the oncology nursing community together by providing them with the latest nursing news, clinical insights and resources, welcomes registered nurse Deborah A. Boyle as its editor in chief following the retirement of Lisa Schulmeister.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the approval of eltrombopag (Promacta) in combination with standard immunosuppressive therapy to include first-line use in newly diagnosed adult and pediatric patients aged 2 years and older with severe aplastic anemia.

The clinical trials program at the Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute grew exponentially in a short period of time. A great problem to have, certainly, but challenging to the organization.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in combination with chemotherapy for the frontline treatment of patients with CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) for use in combination with chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).

Sexuality after cancer is an under-discussed topic between healthcare providers and patients, and nurses especially have an important role to play in raising the subject with patients, according to Anne Katz, PhD, RN, FAAN.

Scientists, physicians and patients collaborate to improve treatment for rare cancer.

The Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation (AAMDSIF), the world's leading non-profit health organization dedicated to serving patients afflicted with bone marrow failure disease, announced today that Neil Horikoshi has been named the Foundation's new Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted a priority review to atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) for frontline use in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) whose disease expresses the PD-L1 protein.

The FDA has granted a priority review designation to a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for olaparib (Lynparza) tablets for use as a maintenance therapy in patients with newly-diagnosed, BRCA-positive advanced ovarian cancer who achieved a complete or partial response to standard frontline platinum-based chemotherapy.

The FDA has granted pembrolizumab (Keytruda) an accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have previously received sorafenib (Nexavar), according to Merck, the manufacturer of the PD-1 inhibitor.

The fast pace of development in the immunotherapy and targeted therapy space has outstripped the availability of head-to-head comparative data for adjuvant melanoma treatment. Therefore, Hussein Tawbi, MD, PhD, recommended for healthcare professionals to communicate the relative merits and risks of both options to patients and making a shared decision.

Selinexor has been granted a fast track designation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat previously treated patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who are ineligible to receive high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.

There is an increasing need for board-certified genetic counselors in the United States, says Stephanie A. Cohen, MS, LCGC, and she is looking to nurses to help improve patient access to hereditary cancer risk assessment and genetic testing.

The combination use of adjuvant dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus trametinib (Mekinist) has continued to show a significant relapse-free survival benefit among patients with resected stage III BRAF-mutant melanoma.

Low NR2F1 expression in disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) that is found in bone marrow may be indicative of developing metastatic breast cancer, according to results of a study published in Breast Cancer Research.

Patients with advanced cancers associated with NTRK gene fusions showed an 80% objective response rate (ORR) with larotrectinib, a TRK inhibitor, according to pooled results from 3 small trials.

The FDA has approved elotuzumab (Empliciti) for use in combination with pomalidomide (Pomalyst) and low-dose dexamethasone (EPd) for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma following 2 or more prior therapies, including lenalidomide (Revlimid) and a proteasome inhibitor.