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Top Medical News
Drinking coffee, regardless of the variety, appears to have no significant role in the risk of ovarian cancer, according to the findings of a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Combining gefitinib with pemetrexed and carboplatin confers significant survival benefits in patients with nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that harbour an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation, extending progressive-free and overall survival although at the expense of increased toxicity, according to the results of an open-label phase III trial.
The risk of cancer is higher among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), a recent study has found. Among important risk factors are comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension and liver cirrhosis.
The PD-1* inhibitor nivolumab showed significant survival benefit and a favourable safety profile than taxane chemotherapy in patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) refractory or intolerant to previous fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-based chemotherapy, according to the findings of ATTRACTION-3** presented at ESMO 2019.
New drug applications approved by US FDA as of 01 - 15 October 2019 which includes New Molecular Entities (NMEs) and new biologics. It does not include Tentative Approvals. Supplemental approvals may have occurred since the original approval date.
There are no delayed treatment effects with folic acid supplementation, but it appears to be associated with a higher risk of sessile serrated adenomas/polyps (SSA/Ps), a study has found.
A combination of the CDK 4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib with fulvestrant improved overall survival (OS) in patients with HR+, HER2- advanced breast cancer (ABC), with a trend toward improved outcomes in patients with poor prognosis, according to results of the phase III MONARCH 2* trial presented at ESMO 2019.
Special Reports
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.
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 (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.
Recently, a Roche-sponsored dinner symposium was held in conjunction with the launch of atezolizumab (Tecentriq®, Roche) at Royale Chulan, Kuala Lumpur. Important insights into the evolving treatment landscape of anticancer treatment, and the increasingly prominent role of immunotherapy were gathered from a distinguished panel, including Dato’ Dr Mohamed Ibrahim, Professor Dr Rolf A. Stahel, Dr Voon Pei Jye, and Associate Professor Dr Tho Lye Mun. Here are the highlights of the meeting.
In advanced-stage, newly diagnosed classical, CD30-positive Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), front-line therapy has resulted in durable remission rates in up to 70–90% of patients, although approximately 25–30% of advanced stage HL patients are refractory or relapse following first-line treatment with ABVD (adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine) chemotherapy.1–3 The standard of care for patients with relapsed or refractory (r/r) classical HL is salvage therapy using second-line high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT), followed by autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant (ASCT) in eligible patients, which can induce a complete remission (CR) in about 50% of patients.4 Nevertheless, the prognosis of patients who relapse after the salvage HDCT/ASCT is exceedingly poor, with a median survival duration of approximately 1.2 years.5
At a recent dinner symposium held during the Abstral® Grand Launch at Le Meridien Putrajaya, Dr Michael Überall spoke on the management of breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) and highlighted the role of sublingual fentanyl ([SLF], Abstral®; A. Menarini Pte Ltd) in the optimization of BTcP in cancer patients.
At the recent American Society of Haematology Annual Meeting 2017, Professor François-Xavier Mahon reviewed recent studies related to tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) cessation in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) who have achieved sustained deep molecular response (DMR).
Conference Reports
The PD-1* inhibitor nivolumab showed significant survival benefit and a favourable safety profile than taxane chemotherapy in patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) refractory or intolerant to previous fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-based chemotherapy, according to the findings of ATTRACTION-3** presented at ESMO 2019.
A combination of the CDK 4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib with fulvestrant improved overall survival (OS) in patients with HR+, HER2- advanced breast cancer (ABC), with a trend toward improved outcomes in patients with poor prognosis, according to results of the phase III MONARCH 2* trial presented at ESMO 2019.
Denosumab can be of benefit to patients with unresectable giant cell tumour of bone (GCTB) and those who are likely to experience significant morbidity after surgical resection of GCTB.
Podcast: Dr Susana Benerjee says more women should be getting PARP inhibitors in the first-line setting
Podcast: Dr Peter Schmid on why KEYNOTE-522 has the potential to be a practice-changing trial
Podcast: Dr Maha Hussain highlights the relevance of molecularly targeted therapies in Asians with mCRPC in PROfound
Podcast: Dr Dennis Slamon says MONALEESA-3 supports the potential of CDK4/6 inhibitors in the first-line setting for HR+/HER2- breast cancer
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