Solid Tumors



When combined with systemic ipilimumab (Yervoy), the investigational oncolytic viral immunotherapy HF10, a mutation of the HF strain of the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), has local and systemic activity in patients with metastatic melanoma, said Robert Andtbacka, MD, CM, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, during a poster presentation at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting. He added that HF10 substantially improves the response rate of ipilimumab alone and does not exacerbate ipilimumab toxicity.
Read Article

Adding capecitabine chemotherapy to gemcitabine after pancreatic cancer resection was associated with longer overall survival (OS) than gemcitabine chemotherapy alone, according to results from the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (ESPAC)-4 clinical trial. For the small proportion of patients with pancreatic cancer who are candidates for surgery, adjuvant gemcitabine chemotherapy is the current standard of care worldwide, said John P. Neoptolemos, MD, Chair of Surgery, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, during an oral abstract session at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. “We thought that the combination of gemcitabine plus capecitabine…may be better than gemcitabine alone, and launched the phase 3 ESPAC-4 trial,” he stated.
Read Article


Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Nearly half of patients with locoregional pancreatic cancer do not undergo potentially curative surgery, primarily because of nonclinical factors, according to the results of an analysis of data from the National Cancer Institute database by Amy T. Cunningham, MPH, a doctoral candidate at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and colleagues.
Read Article

Approximately 33% of older women with early-stage breast cancer are not being tested for bone mineral density (BMD) before starting aromatase inhibitor therapy, according to a new and to date the largest population-based study on this topic (Charlson J, et al. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2016;14:875-880).
Read Article

Patient-reported outcomes had significant associations with survival in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), suggesting potential implications for clinical management, reported Tomasz M. Beer, MD, Oregon Health & Science University, Knight Cancer Institute, Portland, and colleagues, at the 2016 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research annual meeting.
Read Article

The incidence of metastatic prostate cancer increased by >70% from 2004 to 2013, including >90% in the age-group most likely to benefit from definitive treatment, according to a new analysis of a national database (Weiner AB, et al. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2016 Jul 19. Epub ahead of print).
Read Article

The first study to assess the addition of temozolomide (Temodar) chemotherapy during short-course radiation therapy, followed by monthly maintenance of temozolomide in elderly patients with glioblastoma showed a significantly reduced risk for death, said the study co-author James R. Perry, MD, FRCPC, The Crolla Family Endowed Chair in Brain Tumour Research, Odette Cancer and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centres, Toronto, Canada, in a plenary session at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.
Read Article

Page 5 of 16