ASCO 2023 Highlights

Improving clinical outcomes in the second line of treatment in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer remains an important goal, and researchers have been exploring various therapeutic targets, including HER2, an oncogene that creates a protein that encourages cell growth and accelerates the spread of cancers.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has issued an update to its guidelines for the practical assessment and management of vulnerabilities in patients aged ≥65 years receiving systemic cancer treatment.

Chicago, IL—It is well documented that clinical trials thus far have for the most part excluded underserved populations, and that means the results of these trials cannot be generalized to society at large. Fortunately, the federal government and medical societies have taken aim at remedying this imbalance in accrual for clinical trials.

Chicago, IL—The presidential theme for the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting was “Partnering With Patients: The Cornerstone of Clinical Care and Research.”

Chicago, IL—The addition of the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib (Kisqali) to endocrine therapy significantly improved invasive disease-free survival in patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative, early breast cancer, according to interim results from the phase 3 NATALEE trial, which were presented at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

Chicago, IL—The addition of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab (Avastin) resulted in a substantial and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival (OS) in patients with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer, according to the final OS analysis of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-826 trial.

Chicago, IL—Interim results from the phase 3 COMMANDS trial demonstrated that first-line treatment with luspatercept-aamt (Reblozyl) increased hemoglobin levels and enabled nearly twice as many patients with transfusion-dependent, lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) to avoid red blood cell transfusions during the first 24 weeks of the study compared with standard-of-care epoetin alfa.