Does knowing your molecular mutation in earlier stage lung cancer have any significance in selecting a treatment modality? Is there any difference between external and internal factors that lead to gene mutations in lung cancer? Live from the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago, Drs. Liza Villaruz and Charu Aggarwal sat down with host, John Ratzenberger, for an Ask the Lung Cancer Expert discussion that covered questions submitted by lung cancer patients and their families. Get email alerts | http://www.patientpower.info/alerts Subscribe on YouTube | http://www.youtube.com/patientpower Like on Facebook | http://www.fb.com/patientpower.info Follow on Twitter | http://www.twitter.com/patientpower Follow…
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An expert panel, led by Dr. Tomasz Beer, explores research discussed at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago. The group explains updates related to biomarkers, chemotherapy and hormonal approaches. Get email alerts | http://www.patientpower.info/alerts Subscribe on YouTube | http://www.youtube.com/patientpower Like on Facebook | http://www.fb.com/patientpower.info Follow on Twitter | http://www.twitter.com/patientpower Follow on Google+ | http://www.google.com/+patientpowerinfo
What is the latest news on lung cancer immunotherapies? On location at ASCO 2016, lung cancer expert Dr. Charu Aggarwal of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital gives an update. Dr. Aggarwal gives a brief glimpse at the results of combination immunotherapy data, including crizotinib (Xalkori) and alectinib (Alecensa). Get email alerts | http://www.patientpower.info/alerts Subscribe on YouTube | http://www.youtube.com/patientpower Like on Facebook | http://www.fb.com/patientpower.info Follow on Twitter | http://www.twitter.com/patientpower Follow on Google+ | http://www.google.com/+patientpowerinfo
Dr. Laura Chow discusses new combination therapies and molecularly targeted therapies, specifically in head and neck cancers.
At the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC), held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 9 to 11 March 2016, Oleg Gluz, MD, from the West German Study Group, Mönchengladbach, Germany, discusses the development of evidence-based gene expression profiling to better classify breast cancer subtypes for optimising therapeutic decisions for patients with breast cancer. This content is supported by Genomic Health, Inc. European Medical Journal Website: http://emjreviews.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EMJReviews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emjreviews
Robert Dreicer, MD at University of Virginia Health System talks about how the Atezolizumab FDA approval will spur more studies in the future
Heather Wakelee, MD at The Stanford University Medical Center outlines the therapeutic options currently available for RET altered NSCLC from ASCO 2016
Alexander Spira, MD of Virginia Cancer Specialists goes over the future of Next-Gen sequencing and who will respond and who will not to therapy
Nathan Pennell, MD at Cleveland Clinic discusses how to chose the most effective second line PD-1 or PD-L1 therapy in lung cancer
At the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC), held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 9 to 11 March 2016, Oleg Gluz, MD, from the West German Study Group, Mönchengladbach, Germany, discusses the development of evidence-based gene expression profiling to better classify breast cancer subtypes for optimising therapeutic decisions for patients with breast cancer. This content is supported by Genomic Health, Inc. European Medical Journal Website: http://emjreviews.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EMJReviews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emjreviews
Omid Hamid, MD at The Angeles Clinic Combi-d and BRIM7 trials and the extended follow-up results
Arjun Balar, MD of NYU Langone gives an overview of IMvigor 210 cohort one data and results
Justin Stebbing, MD, MA, FRCP, FRCPath, PhD from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK discusses developments in anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 drugs presented at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL. Prof Stebbing discusses a study on nivolumab and ipilimumab in 220 patients with small cell lung cancer and how these drugs might change the outlook for this disease. He further discusses the presentation on the OX40 agonist MOXR0916 and the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab in patients with advanced solid tumors and what this might mean for the future use of chemotherapy.
Dr. Evan Yu, MD of University of Washington School of Medicine notes that smoking does not predispose higher response rate to Atezolizumab according to the IMvigor210 data. ASCO 2016
Dr. Heather Wakelee, MD of The Stanford University Medical Center Wakelee_MET in NSCLC including its over expression increased copy number and MET exon 14 alterations
Bruce Johnson, MD, from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, discusses the challenges associated with developing effective treatments for patients with solid tumors. Prof Johnson discusses the efforts that are being made in terms of defining subgroups of patients and relevant therapy approaches for common tumors such as breast cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer. He also talks about how for unusual tumors, the challenge is to identify therapy targets and recruit sufficient numbers of patients for trials. Recorded at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Rafael Fonseca, MD from the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ discusses the cost of drugs in multiple myeloma (MM) and the debate around the issue. According to Prof Fonesca, the costs associated with drug development have to be accounted for and a more data-driven and free market approach are needed to solve the issue of drug affordability. Recorded at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL.
Rafael Fonseca, MD from the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ discusses highlights in multiple myeloma (MM) at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL. Prof Fonesca mentions presentations looking at the role of stem cell transplant vs conventional therapy, a meta-analysis on the use of maintenance with lenalidomide and a presentation on a dynamic approach to monitoring patients with smouldering myeloma.
Anas Younes, MD from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY discusses the place of nivolumab and pembrolizumab in the current treatment landscape for relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma. According to Prof Younes, the approval by the FDA is very specific and requires that patients have had a failed autologous stem cell transplant and brentuximab vedotin. He further discusses how the new combinations may change the treatment landscape. Recorded at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting, in Chicago, IL.
Bruce Johnson, MD of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA and recently elected president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), discusses the increasing cost of drugs and how he plans to address the issue as the president of ASCO. He mentions one of the abstracts presented at the ASCO 2016 Annual Meeting, in Chicago, IL, which showed that the cost of drugs can vary more than 5-fold from one country to another. Prof Johnson further discusses new developments, in particular biosimilars.
Constantine Tam, MBBS, MD from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia gives an overview of the preliminary results of the Phase II AIM study of ibrutinib and venetoclax (ABT-199) in relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (NCT02471391) presented at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. Dr Tam outlines how of the eight patients who have completed a four month course, five are in complete remission (CR), two patients in partial remission, and one patient did not respond. Dr Tam further discusses the promise of this drug combination and the associated toxicities.
Alexander Spira, MD of Virginia Cancer Specialists discusses mutation load and gene profiles appear to have a significant impact on response rates and survival
Dr. Robert Dreicer, MD of the University of Virginia Health System gives an overview of PD-L1 expression on cancer cells and how they impact the endpoints and ability to respond in the IMvigor210 study
Arjun Balar, MD of New York University Langone comments on deficient mismatch repair within urothelial cancer
Dr. Evan Yu, MD of the University of Washington School of Medicine outlines the IMvigor210 trial design and patient populaiton
Dr. Heather Wakelee, MD at The Stanford University Medical Center remarks on the E1505 trial results from ASCO 2016
Alexander Spira, MD of Virginia Cancer Specialist remarks on the many different combinations of immunotherapy drugs that are being being tested due to the low toxicity of these drugs
Omid Hamid, MD Director of the Melanoma Center at The Angeles Clinic goes over the advantages and disadvantages with Binimetinib combined with Encorafenib
Dr Robert Dreicer, MD of University of Virginia Health System highlights the importance of the FDA approval of Atezolizumab at ASCO 2016
Dr. Arjun Balar, MD of NYU Langone Medical Center discusses Bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy in metastatic urothelial cancer at ASCO 2016
William Wierda, MD, PhD from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX discusses his highlights for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) from the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL. Dr Wierda mentions the update on venetoclax in patients who have relapsed or are intolerant to ibrutinib or idelalisib, the idelalisib plus ofatumumab as well as the bendamustine plus rituximab and idelalisib randomized trials.
Bruce Johnson, MD of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA and recently elected president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), discusses one of his goals of bringing precision medicine from the academic centers to community practices. As part of this, physicians will need to be provided with the right tools that will allow them to transform the care patients receive around the world. Recorded at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting, in Chicago, IL.
William Wierda, MD, PhD from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX discusses the safety of idelalisib for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Dr Wierda outlines the risk of infection for previously untreated patients and discusses the higher incidences of deaths observed in patients treated with idelalisib in randomized trials comparing idelalisib with chlorambucil. According to Dr Wierda, idelalisib is probably not an appropriate first-line treatment but has a place in salvage therapy. In terms of infections, he discusses the need to give prophylaxis for herpes virus and pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) as well as the need for monitoring…
Bruce Johnson, MD of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA and recently elected president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), discusses the challenge of balancing the needs of the society’s national and international members. Prof Johnson discusses how ASCO has to be accountable to its US members in terms of implementing treatments, reimbursement, and ensuring federal and state policies are followed. For the international members, the challenge is to make sure that they feel integrated and that they have a voice within the society. Recorded at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting, in Chicago,…
Keith Stewart, MB, ChB from the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ discusses the issue of drug affordability and access in multiple myeloma (MM). Prof Stewart talks about how it is becoming more of a challenge to get access to novel drugs and how the situation differs between the US and other countries. Recorded at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL.
William Wierda, MD, PhD from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX gives an overview of his poster on the ‘Management of transaminase elevations in patients receiving idelalisib’ in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) presented at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL. According to Dr Wierda, transaminitis can be seen in patients who are initiating on idelalisib after approximately 2-4 weeks and is usually reversible. The management of this side effect is important in order to avoid damage to the liver.
Ruben Mesa, MD from the Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ talks about his highlights from the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL. In particular, Dr Mesa discusses why he is looking forward to hearing about key drugs in disease areas that are relevant to myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), which include acute leukemias and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). According to Dr Mesa, the data on immunotherapy and intercellular therapy in these areas is of interest. For MPNs, he highlights the five year update on the safety and efficacy of ruxolitinib.
Keith Stewart, MB, ChB from the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ summarizes the results of two Phase III trials of daratumumab in multiple myeloma (MM) reported at ASCO and EHA. The CASTOR study (NCT02136134) reported at ASCO 2016 looks at the combination of daratumumab with bortezomib and dexamethasone vs bortezomib and dexamethasone. The results show that the addition of daratumumab to bortezimib in relapsed patients, improves reponse rate and progression-free survival (PFS). The POLLUX trial (NCT02076009) looking at daratumumab with lenalidomide and dexamethasone vs lenalidomide and dexamethasone reported at EHA 2016, also show improved response and PFS. Recorded at the American…
Michael Thompson, MD, PhD of the Aurora Health Care, Milwaukee, WI shares some key Twitter tips for hematologists. Some of the tips Dr Thompson gives include staying authentic, deciding on what kind of presence you would like to establish and providing full disclosure on any potential conflicts of interest. Dr Thompson also mentions that Twitter may not be right for everyone and suggests other formats such as blogging. Recorded at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL.
Sagar Lonial, MD from the Emory University Winship Cancer Institute, Atlanta, GA gives an overivew of the session ‘Are We Ready for Personalized Therapy?’ in multiple myeloma (MM) held at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. According to Prof Lonial, the focus was on the assessment of risk and disease status as well as new treatment options. Some of the topics covered were risk assessment using new genetics and genomics information, use of minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment through next-generation sequencing (NGS) or flow cytometry and the use of new drugs in the relapse…
Ruben Mesa, MD from the Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ discusses updates to the Phase III PERSIST-1 trial of pacritinib for myelofibrosis presented at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL. Pacritinib is an oral JAK2/FLT3 inhibitor and the PERSIST-1 study (NCT01773187) looks at pacritinib vs best alternative therapy in patients who are JAK inhibitor naive and could have any platelet count at trial entry. Dr Mesa talks about the long-term data, which show improvements in splenomegaly and symptoms. He further discusses the concerns around the safety of the drug, in particular the number of…
Michael Thompson, MD, PhD of the Aurora Health Care, Milwaukee, WI discusses why hematologists should use social media. First Dr Thompson addresses some of the common reservations medical professionals might have about using social media. He then talks about its benefits, such as receiving highly curated information from other Twitter users, discussing opinions and influencing other people to affect change. Recorded at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL.
Michael Thompson, MD, PhD of the Aurora Health Care, Milwaukee, WI talks about the quality of the ASCO and ASH conference social media networks and how this might make them valuable to medical professionals. Dr Thompson discusses the quality of the ASCO and ASH networks in terms of 9 metrics such as connectivity and diversity and how they are expanding. Apart from Twitter, he also mentions the use of Snapchat, Periscope and Instagram. Recorded at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL.
Jennifer Brown, MD, PhD from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA outlines the side effects that may occur in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients treated with idealisib and how to manage them. Side effects to look out for include neutropenia, bacterial infections, immunologic toxicitiy and diarrhea colitis. Recorded at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL.
Keith Stewart, MB, ChB from the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ gives an overview of his talk on the management and treatment of high-risk multiple myeloma (MM) patients. According to Prof Stewart, high-risk features can be found in approximately 15-25% of patients and include the 17p deletion, serum translocations, and the alleviation of LDH in the peripheral blood. Prof Stewart further discusses how to treat high-risk patients and this includes triplet therapy, the importance of achieving a molecular complete remission (CR), the role of a second transplant and the promise of immunotherapy. Recorded at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016…
Jennifer Brown, MD, PhD from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA gives an overview of her talk on targeted therapy in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) held at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. Dr Brown adresses unanswered questions such as how to salvage patients who relapse on the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib and how to optimize the management of toxicities some patients experience. Dr Brown further discusses the issues around the trial of the PI-3 kinase inhibitor idelalisib, in particular infections in the setting of neutropenia.
Elias Jabbour, MD from the The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX gives an overview of the results of the INO-VATE trial of inotuzumab ozogamicin (InO) for relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) presented at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. Dr Jabbour explains the mechanism of action inotuzumab ozogamicinm, which is a monoclonal antibody that targets CD22 and the design of the INO-VATE trial (NCT01564784), which is a randomized Phase III trial. Patients received either standard of care or inotuzumab and the primary endpoint was response to therapy and overal survival…
Anas Younes, MD of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY talks about Checkmate 205, a registrational trial of nivolumab for the treatment of relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma, which lead to the approval of this treatment by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Checkmate 205 was initiated based on a previous Phase I study with 23 patients that showed response rates of 70%, contrasting with other studies that presented lower response rates (2030%). Based on the promising data from the Phase I trial, two registrational trials were initiated, one with nivolumab, and one with pembrolizumab, seeking potential FDA approval. Checkmate…
Noopur Raje, MD from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA discusses highlights on the in vivo drug screening session in multiple myeloma (MM) held at the Myeloma 2016 meeting in Boston, MA with Constantine Mitsiades, MD, PhD from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA and Caroline Heckman, PhD from the University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Dr Heckman provides an overview of her talk on stratifying myeloma by in vivo drug response. According to Dr Heckman, it is important to work with real patient samples as the disease is very hetergenous. With a high throughput screening assay it is possible to…
Chng Wee Joo, MB, ChB, PhD, FRCP, FRCPath, FAMS from the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore discusses the current status of genomics in multiple myeloma (MM) at the Myeloma 2016 meeting in Boston, MA with Gareth Morgan, MD, FRCP, FRCPath, PhD of the UAMS Myeloma Institute, Little Rock, AR and Michele Cavo, MD from the University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. First, they discuss how the data on genomics in MM might be used in clinical practice. According to Prof Morgan, it has implications for treatment as it shows the need to use combinations of drugs to overcome interclonal heterogeneity. Also,…