• October 22, 2018  

    Immunotherapy Effective Against Hereditary Melanoma Bookmark

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt:

    “Individuals with an inherited form of skin cancer often have a poor prognosis. The type of immunotherapy that was awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is, however, particularly effective in this patient group, research from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows. The study is published in the Journal of Medical Genetics.

    “Congenital mutations of the CDKN2A gene are the strongest known risk factors for inherited . Individuals with  who carry mutations in this gene also have , according to previous research.”

    Go to full article published by Medical Xpress on Oct 8, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  • October 22, 2018  

    FDA Approves Vizimpro for EGFR-Mutated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Bookmark

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Healio:

    “The FDA approved dacomitinib for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors have EGFR exon 19 deletion or exon 21 L858R substitution mutations.

    “Dacomitinib (Vizimpro, Pfizer) is a once-daily oral pan-human EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor.”

    Go to full article published by Healio on Sep 28, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  • October 22, 2018  

    Can Trastuzumab Duration Be Shortened in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer? Bookmark

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Cancer Network:

    “Adding to a growing list of similar results, the Short-HER study was unable to show noninferiority of 9 weeks of trastuzumab compared with the standard 1 year when given along with chemotherapy in women with HER2-positive breast cancer. Shorter administration does, however, reduce the risk of cardiotoxicity.

    ” ‘Adjuvant pivotal trials with 1-year trastuzumab have significantly improved the prognosis of HER2-positive early breast cancer,’ wrote study authors led by Pierfranco Conte, MD, of the Istituto Oncologico Veneto in Italy. Several studies have attempted to reduce the duration of trastuzumab, though most have failed to show noninferiority.”

    Go to full article published by Cancer Network on Oct 1, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  • October 16, 2018  

    TLR and STING Agonists: A New Venture in Cancer Immunotherapy

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Immunotherapy includes a number of strategies that harness the immune system to help treat disease. Immunotherapy for cancer, as we know it, now relies on the activation of specific immune system cells known as T cells. Cancer drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors act by removing the brakes imposed on T cells by tumors or by the body’s natural mechanisms for limiting their activation to… Read more »

  • October 1, 2018  

    LOXO-292 Safe, Effective for RET-Altered Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Bookmark

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Healio:

    “LOXO-292 appeared well tolerated and demonstrated antitumor activity among patients with heavily pretreated RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer, according to updated interim results of a global, phase 1/phase 2 trial presented at International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s World Conference on Lung Cancer.

    “Researchers reported initial clinical data from the LIBRETTO-001 dose escalation/expansion study of LOXO-292 (Loxo Oncology) — an oral and selective agent in clinical development for cancers that harbor abnormalities in the rearranged during transfection (RET) kinase — at ASCO Annual Meeting in June.”

    Go to full article published by Healio on Sep 27, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  • October 1, 2018  

    Novel Agent Active in ROS1-Mutant NSCLC Bookmark

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from MedPage Today:

    “Three-fourths of patients with ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) had objective responses lasting an average of 2 years with an investigational multikinase inhibitor, a preliminary trial showed.

    “Overall, 41 of 53 patients responded to treatment with entrectinib, including 17 of 33 patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases at baseline. Responses had a median duration of 24.6 months among patients without CNS metastases and 13.6 months among those with CNS metastases.”

    Go to full article published by MedPage Today on Sep 25, 2018.

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  • October 1, 2018  

    AstraZeneca Buoyed as Imfinzi Cuts Lung Cancer Deaths by a Third Bookmark

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Reuters:

    “AstraZeneca’s immunotherapy drug Imfinzi cut the risk of death in patients with mid-stage lung cancer by nearly a third in a closely watched clinical study, reinforcing the case for using the drug in earlier disease.

    “The encouraging overall survival data boosts prospects for a medicine that was approved this week in Europe and has already had a promising U.S. commercial launch, based on its ability to slow disease progression.”

    Go to full article published by Reuters on Sep 25, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  • October 1, 2018  

    Roche’s Tecentriq, Trailing Rival Drugs, Lifts Lung Cancer Survival Bookmark

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Reuters:

    “A drug cocktail with Roche’s Tecentriq added two months to small-cell lung cancer patients’ lives, according to a study, aiding the Swiss group’s bid to win approval in a niche disease area before rivals that now dominate the immunotherapy market.

    “Patients with untreated extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), where cancer has spread, lived a median 12.3 months after getting Tecentriq plus chemotherapy.”

    Go to full article published by Reuters on Sep 25, 2018.

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  • October 1, 2018  

    Pembrolizumab Alone or With Chemotherapy for PD-L1–Positive NSCLC? Bookmark

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Cancer Network:

    “Researchers found that in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and a Tumor Proportion Score (TPS) ≥ 50, pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy failed to improve overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS) compared with pembrolizumab alone.

    “Results from the study were presented in a poster presentation at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer, held September 23–26 in Toronto.”

    Go to full article published by Cancer Network on Sep 24, 2018.

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  • October 1, 2018  

    Brigatinib Superior to Standard of Care Crizotinib in ALK+ NSCLC Bookmark

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt from Targeted Oncology:

    “Adult patients with ALK-positive, locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had not received a prior ALK inhibitor experienced a more than 50% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death with treatment with brigatinib (Alunbrig), compared with the first-line standard of care, crizotinib.

    “Brigatinib demonstrated superior progression-free survival (PFS) compared with crizotinib, corresponding to a 51% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death (HR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.33-74; P = .0007), according to first interim analysis results presented at the 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.”

    Go to full article published by Targeted Oncology on Sep 26, 2018.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.