There is a lack of funding for research into certain cancer types, such as lung and pancreatic cancer, compared with others. Speaking from the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) 20th Annual Symposium 2017 in Glasgow, UK, Islam Elkonaissi of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK emphasizes the necessity of encouraging and supporting pharmacists, nurses and other healthcare professionals to get into research to help overcome this obstacle.
Author: Editor
Speaking from the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) 20th Annual Symposium 2017 in Glasgow, UK, Islam Elkonaissi of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK discusses how pharmacists play an important role in the introduction and effective utilization of new drugs for pancreatic cancer. Mr Elkonaissi highlights how meetings such as BOPA aid in this process.
Exciting clinical updates for lung and pancreatic cancer were presented at the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) 20th Annual Symposium 2017 in Glasgow, UK. In this interview, Islam Elkonaissi of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK, gives a summary of the highlights from these sessions, including novel immunotherapies and the role of pharmacists in championing these.
In this presentation from the ‘Looking Closely at New Therapeutic Options for Hepatocellular Carcinoma’, Dr. Bruno Daniele discusses the latest advances in translational medicine for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Earn CME credit for a related activity at the following location: http://elc.imedex.com/ELC/Specialty-Search.aspx?search=gastrointestinal © 2017 Imedex, LLC.
In this presentation from the ‘Looking Closely at New Therapeutic Options for Hepatocellular Carcinoma’, Dr. Jordi Bruix discusses novel treatment approaches for patients with advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Earn CME credit for a related activity at the following location: http://elc.imedex.com/ELC/Specialty-Search.aspx?search=gastrointestinal © 2017 Imedex, LLC.
In this presentation from the ‘Looking Closely at New Therapeutic Options for Hepatocellular Carcinoma’, Dr. Luigi Bolondi discusses the latest advancements in locoregional therapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Earn CME credit for a related activity at the following location: http://elc.imedex.com/ELC/Specialty-Search.aspx?search=gastrointestinal © 2017 Imedex, LLC.
Joseph M. Connors, MD from British Colombia Cancer Agency discusses the progress that has been made combatting Hodgkins lymphoma and a more effective recipe new analyses and insights for treatments at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
Robert Z. Orlowski, MD from MD Anderson Cancer Center discusses further research in Multiple Myeloma and adapting to a minimal residual disease driven approach at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
John M. Burke, MD from Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers discusses new conjugate CD 79 and relapsed refractory B-Cell at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
Aziz Nazha, MD from the Cleveland Clinic discusses predicting Survival Myelodysplastic Syndrome and using the Random Survival Forest Algorithm at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
Alok Khorana, MD from the Cleveland Clinic discusses studies in 2018 and CASSINI and Apixaban for the prevention of VTE at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
Sattva S. Neelapu MD, from MD Anderson Cancer Center discusses beyond ZUMA-1 and evaluating Axi-Cel efficacy at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
Robert Z. Orlowski, MD, PhD, from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center discusses multiple myeloma studies for 2018 data from daratumumab with carfilzomib, lenalidomide etc at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
The production of novel anti-cancer treatments has taken cancer therapy to a point that was previously unimaginable. Here, Jeff Evans, MD from the University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK talks us through innovations in anti-cancer therapies and clinical trials at the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) 20th Annual Symposium 2017 in Glasgow, UK. Prof. Evans touches upon the potential future treatment methods and the opportunity to use more personalized treatments.
Joseph M. Connors, MD from British Colombia Cancer Agency discusses results of the Echelon-1 Trial and new chemotherapy that is a combination of brentuximab vedotin, and AVD at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
When helping patients through their treatment, CRUK and Macmillan Cancer Support act as fantastic allies for pharmacists. In this interview, Jackie Lewis, BPharm, MRPharmS, PhD of Lewis Pharmacy, Devon, UK describes the key resources offered by CRUK and Macmillan Cancer Support, and their success in providing helpful information for healthcare professionals, which can then be passed onto patients. This video was recorded at the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) 20th Annual Symposium 2017 in Glasgow, UK.
Jackie Lewis, BPharm, MRPharmS, PhD of Lewis Pharmacy, Devon, UK discusses the evolution of cancer care in community pharmacies. Dr Lewis explains how communication between primary and secondary care is improving with enhanced cancer care approaches and discusses the opportunity for pharmacists to administer specific drug treatments, such as monoclonal antibodies. This video was recorded at the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) 20th Annual Symposium 2017 in Glasgow, UK.
As the demand on healthcare services increases, novel and innovative ways to meet that demand need to be created. In this interview, Jeff Evans, MD from the University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK explains how pharmacists are essential in clinical trials and the subsequent delivery of new therapies, and the future of pharmacist-led clinics and services. This interview was recorded at the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) 20th Annual Symposium 2017 in Glasgow, UK.
Speaking from the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) 20th Annual Symposium 2017 in Glasgow, UK, Jackie Lewis, BPharm, MRPharmS, PhD of Lewis Pharmacy, Devon, UK discusses how community pharmacists can support cancer patients both during and post-treatment, and the cross-talk between secondary and primary care. Dr Lewis highlights the importance and relevance of meetings like BOPA for community pharmacists in the enhancement of their work.
Aziz Nazha, MD from the Cleveland Clinic discusses algorithm picks relevant variables and variables help predict survivability with myelodysplastic syndromes at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
There are now many drugs available for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); however, there is only limited data regarding the best order and combination to administer them in. Here, Matthew Davids, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, discusses the factors that can be used to determine what therapeutic agent is the best choice. Dr Davids covers sequencing to detect specific mutations, such as those in the TP53 and IGHV genes. He also highlights what variables should be considered in patients without these more well-characterized mutations. This video was recorded at the American Society of Hematology (ASH)…
The optimal treatment for younger patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) depends on a number of factors, including what was given as the frontline treatment. Speaking from the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2017 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, GA, Matthew Davids, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, discusses the options available to this group on patients. Dr Davids covers the prospect of continuing chemoimmunotherapy, the agents he typically advises, alternative options and what he predicts to be the case in the future.
There are now many effective therapies to choose from for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Thus, a recent area of therapeutic development in CLL is the creation of time-limited regimens and curative treatment plans. In this interview, Matthew Davids, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, discusses the Phase II study of ibrutinib plus FCR as a frontline therapy for CLL patients (NCT02251548), with the exciting aim of improving cure rates in low- and high-risk patients. Dr Davids provides an overview of the impressive results regarding response rate, response depth and MRD negativity. He also highlights exciting future plans for…
Richters transformation remains a challenge in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In this interview, Matthew Davids, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, discusses the key approaches being developed to address this issue, include immunotherapy and chemosensitivity enhancement. Dr Davids discusses promising recent and ongoing studies in these areas, including those investigating immune checkpoint inhibitors and venetoclax. This video was recorded at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2017 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, GA.
John M. Burke, MD from Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers discusses Atezolizumab + Bendamustine & Obinutuzumab and no major safety signals in follicular lymphoma at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
Targeted therapies have revolutionized the treatment of cancer; however, under the selective pressures exerted by these therapies, tumor cells with mutations conferring resistance will gradually dominate, leading to relapse. Gilteritinib, a novel FLT3/AXL inhibitor, has emerged as a highly effective drug for the treatment of FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in clinical trials. Now, researchers and clinicians are keen to determine what the mechanisms of resistance to this drug will be. Speaking from the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2017 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, GA, Dr Levis discusses an abstract that he presented at the meeting, which analyzed…
TAK-659 is a novel FLT3 inhibitor in the initial trial stages for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Interestingly, TAK-659 also inhibits SYK, a target that is more common in the treatment of B-cell malignancies. In this interview, Mark Levis, MD, PhD, of Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, discusses the pharmacokinetics and promising preliminary results of the Phase I trial of this agent (NCT02323113) in patients with relapsed or refractory AML. This video was recorded at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2017 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, GA.
Although our knowledge of the underlying genetic causes of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and their consequent molecular results has progressed drastically over the past decade, there is still much to learn. In this interview, Mark Levis, MD, PhD, of Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, discusses his highlights in this regard from the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2017 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, GA. Speaking from the meeting, Dr Levis highlights abstracts investigating how DNMT3 mutations work and follow-up data from the RATIFY study of midostaurin (NCT00651261).
In patients whose cancer is primarily caused by a specific mutation, tests which enable the determination of variant allele frequency (VAF) provide a useful means to assess the depth of treatment response relative to mutational burden. In this insightful interview, Mark Levis, MD, PhD, of Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, discusses the assays that his group developed to measure VAF in patients with FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which utilize next-generation sequencing and capillary electrophoresis. These assays were used in a subpopulation from the CHRYSALIS study (NCT02014558), which tested the FLT3 inhibitor gilteritinib, with results presented at the…
Robert Z. Orlowski, MD, PhD, from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center discusses combinations well tolerated in multiple Myeloma and that benefits are better when compared to lenalidomide alone at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
Sattva S. Neelapu, MD, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center discusses how Axi-Cel is a milestone for treating B-Cell Lymphoma and the paradigm shift for future B-Cell Lymphoma treatment at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
Alok Khorana, MD of the Cleveland Clinic discusses the prevalence and consequences of VTE and increased chance of fatality and admissions to the hospital at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
Joseph M. Connors, MD, FRCPC from The BC Cancer Agency Research Centre discusses checkpoint inhibitors in Hodgkin’s lymphoma and immune system manipulation and car-t cells at the 2017 American Society of Hematology.
Although great strides have been made in cancer treatment and diagnosis, in many types of cancer these aspects are still underdeveloped. In this interview, Julia Schnabel, PhD, of Kings College London, London, UK, discusses how the latest cancer imaging methods could help understand a cancer at an earlier stage, identifying the best treatment course quickly, saving time and money spent on ineffective therapies, ideally before symptoms even appear. This interview was recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK.
There is a constant need for new knowledge discovery in cancer biology; we do not yet fully understand the underlying mechanisms or behaviors of cancer. Speaking from the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK, Julia Schnabel, PhD, of Kings College London, London, UK, discusses how trained neural networks have aided in reducing the workload in cancer imaging analysis, as well as in other fields, helping to uncover trends and extrapolate data where it would be too arduous for a human.
Modern machinery learning techniques allow for the processing of large quantities of cancer images, at a much faster rate than could be done manually. However, as Julia Schnabel, PhD, of Kings College London, London, UK, explains here, to unlock this potential there is the problem of manually producing a large enough database for the modern machinery to learn and process new data from. This interview was recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK.
Artificial neural networks that can process information have existed for a long time. However, in recent years greater computing power has allowed for the creation of deep learning convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which are capable of processing much larger data sets and producing more sophisticated results. Speaking from the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK, Julia Schnabel, PhD, of Kings College London, London, UK, discusses the advent of these deep learning neural networks and how they came about.
Although there are few data sets available to researchers in cancer imaging compared with other fields, experts are able to make the most of the data they have available, as explained in this interview with Julia Schnabel, PhD, of Kings College London, London, UK. Prof. Schnabel touches upon the modern machinery learning techniques used, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which have a close to human-level of performance for analyzing tumor images. This interview was recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK.
When studying patient data, many fields of cancer medicine will have large databases containing information from tens of thousands of patients to draw conclusions from. Here, Julia Schnabel, PhD, of Kings College London, London, UK, explains that this is not the case in cancer imaging. Rather, they focus on the quality of available datasets and use machinery that can glean a lot of information from single patient scans. This interview was recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK.
The immunoscore is a predictive tool that looks at a cancer patients adaptive immunity to predict survival and recurrence, amongst other uses. In this interview, Jerome Galon, PhD, of Cordeliers Research Center, Paris, France, gives an overview of how a low immunoscore, indicating a cold tumor with few immune cells in it, can be changed through treatments such as immunotherapy or anti-EGFR therapies to stimulate immune activity inside the tumor, and increase the patients immunoscore. This video was recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK.
An immunoscore is an evaluative test of a cancer patients adaptive immune activity towards their tumor, and can predict survival, recurrence and treatment response. Here, Jerome Galon, PhD, of Cordeliers Research Center, Paris, France, describes how the immunoscore could be used on tumor biopsies before, during and after a course of treatment to evaluate the efficacy of the therapy and monitor the patients wellbeing. This video was recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK.
The immunoscore is a predictive tool that scores cancer patients based on an evaluation of their adaptive immunity. In this interview, Jerome Galon, PhD, of Cordeliers Research Center, Paris, France, who helped develop the immunoscore, gives an overview of its current usage in the risk stratification of colon cancer patients in Europe, in addition to its potential in other types of cancer and as a predictive biomarker of treatment responses. This video was recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK.
It is important that we have accurate models for the risk stratification of cancer patients, in order to determine how best to treat them. Here, Jerome Galon, PhD, of Cordeliers Research Center, Paris, France, gives an overview of the immunoscore, an immunological assay that his team developed, which allows for the risk quantification of cancer patients based on adaptive immunity. The immunoscore has proven to be a useful predictor of survival and recurrence of cancer, and may eventually be used by many centers around the world. This video was recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held…
There are many ways of predicting cancer recurrence and survival; these include pathology-based tests, such as tumor grade, molecular markers, such as mutations, and the TNM staging classification. However, the recently developed immunoscore, which evaluates cancer recurrence and survival through analysis of the patients adaptive immunity, has recently shown to be a more powerful predictor than all of these, as explained here by Jerome Galon, PhD, of Cordeliers Research Center, Paris, France, at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK.
In recent years, the interest of the scientific community in the immune system as it relates to cancer has greatly increased, with the advent of immunotherapies being used as cancer treatments. In this interview, recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK, Jerome Galon, PhD, of Cordeliers Research Center, Paris, France, gives an introduction to his talk at the conference, the immunoscore, an evaluation of the immune response to cancer and the tumor microenvironment.
Knowledge is evolving regarding numerous clinical aspects of immune thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP), and there remains significant variability in clinical practice patterns for its management. This activity features ITP experts James Bussel, MD and Nichola Cooper, MD sharing their insights about data recently released in either abstract or full publication form pertaining to pharmacotherapy for ITP, with a focus on the use of thrombopoietin (TPO) receptor agonists. Earn CME credit for this activity at the following location: http://elc.imedex.com/ELC/Specialty-Search.aspx?search=Hematology © 2017 Imedex, LLC.
In this Key Insights activity, Drs. Corey J. Langer, MD and Joshua Bauml discuss the key take-home points from the 22nd Annual Perspectives in Thoracic Oncology meeting held November 17-18, 2017 in New York. Earn CME credit for this activity at the following location: http://elc.imedex.com/ELC/Specialty-Search.aspx?search=lung © 2017 Imedex, LLC.
Recent developments in research allowing for the DNA analysis of formalin-fixed samples have allowed for greater accessibility to tumor sample data, removing the limitation of only being able to analyze fresh samples. In this interview, Andrew Beggs, FRCS (Gen), PhD, of the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, discusses his groups contribution to the advancement of the DNA analysis of formalin-fixed materials through exome sequencing. Dr Beggs also highlights the potential of single cell sequencing and the benefits that it would bring to advancing our understanding of tumor biology. This video was recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI)…
Proton beam therapy is a high energy, localized form of radiation therapy that has the potential to greatly improve the treatment of certain types of cancer. In this interview, Adrian Crellin, MB, BChir, MA, FRCP, FRCR, of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK, gives an overview of the UKs new NHS-funded proton beam centers, the first of which is set to open in 2018. He discusses the main issues that they will deal with early on, namely identifying the patient cohorts for which the treatment is still cost-effective over conventional radiotherapy; and the lessons learnt from the commercial model…
Recent research has demonstrated that a lot of information about a cancer can be elucidated from a formalin-fixed sample, as opposed to having to use a fresh or frozen sample, as was previously the case when investigating tumor DNA. In this interview, recorded at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference, held in Liverpool, UK, Andrew Beggs, FRCS (Gen), PhD, of the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, discusses why these formalin-based advancements are so important, and why they will bring great benefits to laboratories and hospitals throughout the country.