Daniel HayesStuart B. Padnos Professor of Breast Cancer Research,University of Michigan Rogel Cancer CenterBecause we have been siloed into tissue-of-origin treatment bins (melanoma, lung, colorectal, breast, etc) over the last 100 or more years, we have applied these therapies based more on where the cancer was derived than on the biology of the cancer itself.Obviously, the field of immune-oncology has been one of the great success stories in our field over the last five years, based on our molecular understanding of the mechanisms of immune tolerance (or checkpoints) and how to disrupt that. Not only has ASCO declared Checkpoint Inhibition (as well as cellular-based immunotherapy) the “Advance of the Year,” the Nobel Committee awarded this year's Prize to Drs. Allison and Honjo for their fabulous observations that led to these great breakthroughs.
Matthew Ong spoke with Larissa Korde.
Tecentriq, Genentech's PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor, is the first immunotherapy agent to report positive outcomes in breast cancer in a phase III trial—providing proof of principle that these drugs are active in treatment of triple-negative breast cancer.
FDA has approved BRACAnalysis CDx to be used by healthcare professionals to identify patients with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer who have a germline BRCA mutation and are eligible for treatment with Pfizer's PARP inhibitor, Talzenna (talazoparib).
FDA announced the availability of the draft guidance titled “Hematologic Malignancies: Regulatory Considerations for Use of Minimal Residual Disease in Development of Drug and Biologic Products for Treatment.”
Some European countries take more than twice as long as others to reach health technology assessment decisions to reimburse new cancer drugs following their approval by the European Medicines Agency.
AbbVie said FDA has accepted its supplemental New Drug Application for Priority Review for Imbruvica (ibrutinib) in combination with obinutuzumab (Gazyva) in previously untreated adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma.
The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Xyphos Biosciences announced a collaboration to create universal CAR-T therapies to treat multiple cancer types using the company's “convertibleCAR” platform.
PanTher Therapeutics announced an agreement with MD Anderson Cancer Center and the appointment of a new senior clinical advisor. The collaboration will support preclinical testing of PanTher's lead product for pancreatic cancer, PTM-101, and is intended to demonstrate readiness for future human clinical trials.
The pivotal phase III KEYNOTE-426 trial investigating Keytruda (pembrolizumab), Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, in combination with Inlyta (axitinib), Pfizer's tyrosine kinase inhibitor, met both primary endpoints of overall survival and progression-free survival in the first-line treatment of advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
