ASCO 2020

Close Monitoring, Full-Time Caregiver Recommended for 30 Days After CAR-T Therapy

By

Joyce Pagan

Readmissions for CRS, neurotoxicity, infection, and other adverse events are common after immunotherapy with axicabtagene ciloleucel.

Palliative Care in Phase 1 Trials is Essential for Patients and Their Caregivers

By

Joyce Pagan

Structured palliative care can ensure these patients and their caregivers have an optimal experience that does not hinder trial outcomes.

ASCO: Drop in Cancer Mortality Greater With Medicaid Expansion

Estimated 785 fewer cancer deaths in 2017 in states that expanded Medicaid.

Immune-Oncology Education Improved Patient Self-Efficacy

By

Jessica Nye, PhD

A patient education and monitoring program improved patients’ ability to manage and report adverse events related to treatment with ICIs.

Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis and CAR-T Cell Therapy

By

Jonathan Goodman, MPhil

Progression-free and overall survival were worse among patients with HLH receiving CAR-T cell therapy by 10-month follow-up.

Untreated Follicular Lymphoma: Obinutuzumab vs Rituximab Efficacy, Safety in Combination With Chemotherapy

By

Rita Aghjayan

Obinutuzumab plus chemotherapy showed more durable efficacy, safety, and longer progression-free survival for patients with untreated follicular lymphoma.

Fixed-Duration Venetoclax-Obinutuzumab for Untreated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

By

Rita Aghjayan

Promising follow-up data on safety and efficacy of fixed-duration venetoclax-obinutuzumab for patients with untreated CLL.

Treatment With Hydroxychloroquine-Azithromycin, Progressive Cancer Found to Increase Risk of Death for Patients With COVID-19

By

Andrea S. Blevins Primeau, PhD, MBA

Only 2 patients received hydroxychloroquine as part of a clinical trial, and about 10% were taking the drug at the time of their COVID-19 presentation.

KRd Fails to Improve Outcomes Compared With VRd in Newly Diagnosed MM

By

Andrea S. Blevins Primeau, PhD, MBA

Carfilzomib plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone failed to improve outcomes compared with bortezomib plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone among patients with newly-diagnosed MM.

C difficile Infection May Increase Graft vs Host Disease Risk

By

Jonathan Goodman, MPhil

Patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation who experience C difficile infections may have an increased risk for graft vs host disease.

Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Novel Scoring System May Aid in Determining Prognosis

By

Jonathan Goodman, MPhil

Using data from 108 patients, researchers designed MIPI-P, a novel scoring system for determining MCL prognosis.

Understanding Patient Needs May Increase Treatment Rates in AML

By

Jonathan Goodman, MPhil

Physicians noted that patients receiving best supportive care were more likely to be interested in low-intensity treatments if the risk for side effects was lower.

Promising Early Results for Use of an Oral THC/CBD Extract As Secondary Prophylaxis in the Setting of CINV

By

Susan Moench, PhD, PA-C

This phase 2 study used a crossover design in which study medication and placebo were administered to all patients in cycles A and B of chemotherapy, respectively.

Disconnect Between FDA Approval of Oncology Drugs and Publication of Results of Registration Trials

By

Susan Moench, PhD, PA-C

No systematic investigations have evaluated the publication timing of oncology drug registration trial results relative to the approval of these drugs by the FDA.

Are Adverse Events More Common After Radiotherapy With Immunotherapy?

By

Jonathan Goodman, MPhil

Researchers aimed to determine whether the addition of radiotherapy was associated with a risk for adverse events among patients treated with ICIs.

GC027 Shows Promise as Therapy for Adult Relapsed, Refractory T-Cell ALL

By

Jonathan Goodman, MPhil

All 5 patients had a complete response or complete response with incomplete hematologic recovery, and 4 of the 5 patients were minimal residual disease–negative.

Risk of Secondary AML May Be Increasing Among Patients With Refractory Anemia

By

Jonathan Goodman, MPhil

Despite survival improvements in refractory anemia compared with other subtypes of MDS, patients may still have an increased risk for secondary AML.

A Majority of Anticancer Drug Approvals Are Based on Trials With Core Limitations, Say Researchers

By

Leah Lawrence

Core limitations were defined as lack of randomization, lack of overall survival data, inappropriate use of crossover, and use of suboptimal control arms.

Patient Relapse Time After Auto-HCT in Chemosensitive DLBCL Does Not Appear to Influence PFS

By

Leah Lawrence

The data reinforce the need for direct comparison of CAR-T and autologous transplantation.

Head-to-Head: Zanubrutinib vs Ibrutinib in Waldenström Macroglobulinemia

By

Lauren Dembeck, PhD

Zanubrutinib demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful advantages in safety and tolerability in patients with WM compared with ibrutinib.