Oncology

CheckMate 238: Nivolumab still bests ipilimumab at 4 years in advanced melanoma

Pearl Toh, 10 hours ago

ThePD-1 inhibitor nivolumab continues to yield sustained recurrence-free survival (RFS) benefit over ipilimumab with better tolerability at 4 years in the adjuvant setting for patients with resected stage IIIB–C or IV melanoma, according to the CheckMate238 trial presented at ESMO 2020.

Doctor’s judgement falls short for assessing frailty in elderly cancer patients

2 days ago

The physician’s clinical judgement is insufficient for the assessment of frailty among elderly cancer patients, and should be complemented with more structured tools, such as the geriatric assessment, a recent study has found

Nivolumab-ipilimumab displays potential in malignant pleural mesothelioma

Roshini Claire Anthony, 5 days ago

For patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), nivolumab plus ipilimumab in the first-line setting demonstrated greater overall survival (OS) than standard-of-care (SoC) platinum chemotherapy, interim analysis of the phase III CheckMate743 trial revealed.

Venetoclax-azacitidine duo may benefit older patients with AML

Audrey Abella, 5 days ago

The addition of venetoclax to azacitidine improved survival and remission rates in previously untreated adults with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) who were ineligible for intensive induction chemotherapy (CT), the VIALE-A trial has shown.

Selpercatinib shows promise in RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer

5 days ago

Selective RET inhibition with selpercatinib has demonstrated durable efficacy with low-grade toxicity in medullary thyroid cancer patients harbouring RET mutation, according to the results of a phase I–II trial.

Breast cancer: When to screen, if at all?

Natalia Reoutova, 6 days ago

Breast cancer screening and the optimal age for offering mammography remain matters of debate. A randomized, controlled trial in over 150,000 women in the UK has found that yearly mammography before the age of 50 years, commencing at 40 or 41 years of age, is associated with a relative reduction in breast cancer mortality.

Ribociclib offers survival benefit in premenopausal women with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer

12 Jun 2020

Drawing from experience as a key investigator in landmark clinical trials (including PALOMA, MONALEESA and MONARCH), and his clinical experience with CDK4/6 inhibitors, Dr Rafael Villanueva Vázquez shares his insights into the current evidence of using CDK4/6 inhibitors to treat HR+/HER2- ABC.

Targeted therapy for haematological malignancies

13 Feb 2020

At the recent National Haematology Expert Meeting 2019, a panel of experts was convened to discuss the role of targeted therapy in the management of haematological malignancies. Highlights of their lectures are summarised below.

Role of tumour treating fields in the management of glioblastoma

Dr. Jay Zhu, Dr. Lai Fung Li, Prof. Chae-Yong Kim, 27 Nov 2019

The current standard of care for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive primary brain tumour with a rapid disease course, consists of maximum safe surgical resection followed by radiotherapy with concomitant temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy and subsequent TMZ maintenance. At the 16th Annual Meeting of the Asian Society of Neuro-Oncology (ASNO) in Taipei, Taiwan, experts reviewed the evidence and shared their clinical experience on the use of tumour treating fields (TTFields), a novel treatment modality for GBM.

Relationship between tumour response to systemic therapy and overall survival in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Dr Raghav Sundar, 09 Sep 2019

Overall survival (OS) is currently the primary criteria in assessing the efficacy of a cancer treatment. Dr Raghav Sundar, a consultant medical oncologist at the National University Hospital, Singapore, details the crucial role played by tumour response in evaluating treatment efficacy, with a focus on the multiple kinase inhibitor lenvatinib in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Optimizing Treatment Adherence in Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Case Study

14 Aug 2019

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common primary tumour arising from the kidney, constituting approximately 80–85% of primary renal neoplasms. According to the Malaysian National Cancer Registry Report 2007–2011, RCC accounts for 62.8% of all kidney cancers nationwide. RCC typically occurs approximately 50% more commonly in men compared with women, and predominantly occurs in the sixth to eighth decade of life.

Excerpts from the MY-COMPASSION Expert Meeting

30 Jan 2019

In March 2018, sublingual fentanyl citrate (SLF; Abstral®, Menarini) was made available in Malaysia. SLF is a rapid-onset opioid (ROO) indicated for the management of breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) episodes in patients that are opioid-tolerant. In July 2018, Menarini organized an expert meeting, aptly named Malaysian Collaborative Meeting of Pain Specialists to Improve Oncology Management (MY-COMPASSION), comprising of key figures in anaesthesiology, palliative care and oncology to discuss current insights into local BTcP management. Below are highlights from the meeting.

Comprehensive genomic profiling in oncology – from vision to reality

Dr. Jeffrey Ross, Dr. Rohit Lal, Prof. Alwin Krämer, Dr. Rebecca Dent, Prof. Rafal Dziadziuszko, 24 Jan 2019

Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) has emerged as a key driving force behind personalized cancer care. With the wealth of data available with CGP, medical oncologists now have in their armamentarium a tool that could enable them to provide patients with the optimum treatment. At a Roche Foundation Medicine-sponsored symposium held at the 2018 European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Munich, Germany, a panel of experts reviewed key data on CGP, with a focus on the treatment of advanced cancers.

Nivolumab-ipilimumab displays potential in malignant pleural mesothelioma

Roshini Claire Anthony, 24 Sep 2020

Sintilimab-chemo improves PFS in advanced NSCLC

Roshini Claire Anthony, 15 Sep 2020

Combining the anti-PD-1 antibody sintilimab with a pemetrexed-platinum chemotherapy regimen improved survival outcomes in patients with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), interim analysis of the phase III ORIENT-11* trial from China showed.

ANCHOR CRC: Triple therapy combo improves ORR in BRAF V600E-mutant mCRC

Elaine Soliven, 09 Sep 2020

The combination of encorafenib (ENCO) + binimetinib (BINI) + cetuximab (CETUX) improves objective response rate (ORR) in patients with BRAF^V600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) in the first-line setting, according to the ANCHOR CRC* trial presented at ESMO GI 2020.

eXalt3: Ensartinib trumps crizotinib in ALK+ NSCLC

Roshini Claire Anthony, 08 Sep 2020

In patients with locally advanced or metastatic ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), treatment with the ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitor ensartinib led to superior progression-free survival (PFS) compared with crizotinib, according to interim results of the phase III eXalt3* trial.

INVICTUS crossover analysis boosts potential of ripretinib for GIST

Audrey Abella, 08 Sep 2020

The novel switch-control tyrosine kinase inhibitor ripretinib delivered a clinically meaningful benefit for patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) following crossover from placebo, and had a safety profile consistent with that observed in the double-blind phase, according to the results of the crossover analysis of the INVICTUS trial presented at ESMO GI 2020.

Atezolizumab-bevacizumab improves OS in older HCC patients

Roshini Claire Anthony, 05 Sep 2020

Older patients (aged ≥65 years) with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may derive greater survival benefit with an atezolizumab + bevacizumab combination compared with sorafenib, according to results of a subgroup analysis of the IMbrave150 trial presented at ESMO GI 2020.

Nivolumab-ipilimumab combo may benefit Asian patients with advanced HCC

Elaine Soliven, 04 Sep 2020

A subgroup analysis of Asian patients enrolled in the CheckMate 040* trial presented at ESMO GI 2020 showed that the nivolumab + ipilimumab (NIVO + IPI) combination regimen had an efficacy and safety profile that was similar to that of the overall population.

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