As a proud member of ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology), I am consistently impressed with the information they provide.

They recently held their Annual Event #ASCO21 and I wanted to take the time to provide some of the incredible information and data that resulted from that meeting. While the information provided is not specifically related to brain cancer, it is incredibly valuable and exciting information for the cancer community at large.

New Standard of Care for Select Patients With Early Breast Cancer

• One year of adjuvant olaparib following the completion of standard therapy improved both invasive and distant disease-free survival by 9% and 7%, respectively, in patients with high-risk, HER2-negative, early-stage breast cancer harboring germline BRCA mutations in the phase III OlympiA trial.
• Olaparib conferred these benefits without causing a marked increase in toxicity or negatively affecting patient quality of life.
• READ MORE

Reduction in the Risk of Disease Progression by 48% in Patients with Recurrent or Metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

• The addition of toripalimab to first-line gemcitabine/cisplatin followed by toripalimab maintenance reduced the risk of disease progression by 48% in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma, meeting the primary endpoint of the phase III JUPITER-02 trial.
• First-line toripalimab plus gemcitabine/cisplatin also conferred a 40% reduction in the risk of death compared with standard gemcitabine/cisplatin chemotherapy.
• READ MORE

Adjuvent Chemotherapy & it’s Lack of Effect on Cervical Cancer

• Adjuvant chemotherapy does not improve outcomes following chemoradiation in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer.
• Adjuvant chemotherapy should not be offered to any patients in this setting, according to experts, and more research is needed on other adjuvant options to improve survival.
• READ MORE

New Treatment Option Available to Men with Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

• The addition of ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 to standard-of-care therapy improved both OS and rPFS for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer ineligible for chemotherapy, meeting both primary endpoints of the phase III VISION trial.
• The findings warrant adoption of ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 as a new treatment option for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
• READ MORE

Improvement of Disease-Free Survival in Renal Cell Carcinoma

• In a first for this treatment setting, adjuvant pembrolizumab improved DFS over placebo in patients with locoregional RCC.
• Although further follow-up is needed to confirm the overall survival benefit, experts say this is likely a practice-changing result, offering a new option for patients.
• READ MORE

Great Effects from Atezolizumab  in Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Patients With High PD-L1 Expression

• In a planned interim analysis of IMpower010, adjuvant atezolizumab improved DFS in patients with PD-L1-positive, stage II-IIIA, fully resected NSCLC.
• Greater effects were observed in patients with high PD-L1 expression, while PD-L1-negative patients received no benefit from atezolizumab treatment.
• READ MORE

Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer Shows No Significant OS Improvement During Trial of TAK-700

• There is currently no role for TAK-700 in the treatment of metastatic HSPC based on the negative SWOG S1216 trial.
• The S1216 results suggest that men with metastatic prostate cancer are surviving far longer owing to treatment advances for castration-resistant disease.
• READ MORE

Pembrolizumab Shows Continued PFS Benefit in MSI-H/dMMR Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

• Pembrolizumab demonstrated continued PFS benefit, with a trend for OS benefit, as first-line therapy for patients with MSI-H mCRC, compared with chemotherapy, in the final analysis of KEYNOTE-177.
• Patient receiving pembrolizumab also experienced fewer TRAEs and clinically meaningful improvements in health-related quality of life, compared with those in the chemotherapy arm.
• READ MORE

Researchers Question the Value of Standard-of-Care for Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma

• New data call into question the advantages of the upfront ASCT approach in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.
• The FORTE study found a marked benefit with KRd_ASCT followed by KR maintenance in patients with multiple myeloma and high-risk cytogenetic abnormalities.
• READ MORE

Bone-Protecting Agents May Be Pivotal in the Treatment of Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

• The addition of BPAs in mCRPC appears to significantly reduce fracture incidence.
• The use of BPAs in this this population could have downstream effects on patient functioning and quality of life and may also be beneficial for hormone-sensitive metastatic prostate cancer populations.
• READ MORE

CAR T-Cell Therapy Provides Deep, Durable Responses in Multiple Myeloma

• The CAR T-cell investigational drug ciltacabtagene autoleucel appears safe and effective for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, a typically difficult-to-treat population, according to early data.
• BCMA-directed therapies, including CAR T-cell treatments, have shown promise in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, but further research is needed to confirm safety and efficacy as well as to better understand the occurrence of BCMA-related relapse.
• READ MORE

Intrinsic Biologic Differences Unlikely to Be Driving Prostate Cancer Disparities

• Differences in gene alterations exist between men of European and African ancestry with prostate cancer, but not in genes with therapeutic implications.
• Outcomes could become more equivalent with equitable treatment delivery.
• READ MORE

Study Suggests Radiotherapy Is Not Required for Patients With Bulky Early-Stage Hodgkin Lymphoma

• Omitting radiotherapy for patients with bulky stage I/II classic Hodgkin lymphoma who were PET2-negative was associated with high rates of 3-year progression-free survival and overall survival in the phase II CALGB 50801 (Alliance) study.
• Patients with bulky stage I/II classic Hodgkin lymphoma who are PET2-positive may benefit from escalation to four cycles of BEACOPP chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
• READ MORE

Surgical Outcome Data Reported for CheckMate-816

• Improved pathological complete response rates were observed in patients with resectable NSCLC treated with neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy compared to chemotherapy alone.
• Neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy was tolerated, with no increases in post-surgical complications observed.
• READ MORE