Web Exclusives

Updates on patient eligibility and methods from the INDICATE phase 3 trial were presented at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.

Real-world study suggests prostate-specific antigen levels, race, and the use of androgen deprivation therapy are predictors of a positive FACBC PET/CT scan.

Personalized medicine has expanded the treatment options for patients with cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). At the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation (CCF), Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, MBA, Professor of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, discussed recent developments in personalized therapies, highlighting genomic alterations that are informing the new therapies for patients with CCA.

The demands of value-based care have continued to evolve since oncologists began transitioning from fee-for-service to fee-for-value reimbursement more than five years ago. For community-based oncology practices, more change is coming with the introduction of the Oncology Care First Model, the successor of the current Oncology Care Model (OCM). Following a one-year delay caused by the pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is expected to launch the Oncology Care First Model in 2022 and will likely include a larger number of practices than the OCM.

Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) have a high relapse rate and poor outcome after standard treatment. Capecitabine (Xeloda), a chemotherapy that has been used widely in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, is a potential maintenance treatment option for the prevention of TNBC recurrence based on results of a recent study.

Induction chemotherapy leads to remission in many patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) aged ≥60 years; however, the disease relapses in the majority of the patients, and the overall survival (OS) is poor. For patients who are not candidates for hematopoietic stem-cell transplant, effective maintenance treatments for AML are needed that can reduce the risk for relapse and improve OS, without causing unacceptable adverse events or compromising quality of life.

Patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma and disease progression after treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy and PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors have limited treatment options. Enfortumab vedotin (Padcev), a Nectin-4–directed antibody and microtubule inhibitor conjugate, demonstrated an objective response rate (ORR) in more than 40% of patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma who had progression after previous treatment.

David DeRemer, PharmD, BCOP, FCCP, FHOPA, Clinical Associate Professor, University of Florida College of Pharmacy, shares insights about cancer drugs and COVID-19 in this interview that followed a segment of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) webinar series COVID-19 Recovery, the Road Ahead, in which he recently took part.

On June 15, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of lurbinectedin (Zepzelca; Jazz Pharma/Pharma Mar), an intravenous alkylating drug, for the treatment of adults with metastatic small-cell lung cancer that has progressed during or after platinum-based chemotherapy. The FDA granted lurbinectedin an orphan drug designation for this indication.

On June 10, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of a new indication for nivolumab (Opdivo; Bristol Myers Squibb), a PD-1 inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with unresectable advanced, recurrent or metastatic esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma after fluoropyrimidine-based and platinum-based chemotherapy. Nivolumab has been previously approved for many indications, but this is its first indication for esophageal cancer.