KEYNOTE-204: Randomized, open-label, phase III study of pembrolizumab (pembro) versus brentuximab vedotin (BV) in relapsed or refractory classic Hodgkin lymphoma (R/R cHL)

Treatment with anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) more than brentuximab vedotin (BV) in patients with relapsed or refractory classic Hodgkin lymphoma (R/R cHL), including patients ineligible for transplant, according to findings from the phase III KEYNOTE-204 trial (NCT02684292) presented as part of the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.

Update on state-of-the-art therapy in lung cancer

Prof. Solange Peters shares her insight of new informations and data of lung cancer after theASCO 2020 meeting.

GU cancer highlights of ASCO 2020

Summarized topics: - Novelties in the treatment of bladder cancer. - Novelties in the treatment of kidney cancer. - Combination of TKI plus immunotherapy vs. double IO. - Future biomarkers. - How developments changed the landscape and the patient opportunities in the survival?

Melanoma highlights of ASCO 2020

Summarized topics. - Practice during the COVID pandemic. - ASCO virtual meeting. - New announcement on ASCO 2020. - Adjuvent trials - follow up of pembrolizumab, dabrafenib and trametinib. - Adjuvant settings - Choice of preference in BRAF+ patients. - Long term results of combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors or targeted therapies. 

Osimertinib as adjuvant therapy in patients (pts) with stage IB–IIIA EGFR mutation positive (EGFRm) NSCLC after complete tumor resection: ADAURA

Osimertinib is a 3rd-generation, CNS-active, EGFR-TKI with superior efficacy to comparator EGFR-TKI (gefitinib/erlotinib) in treatment-naïve EGFRm advanced NSCLC. Approx. 30% of pts with NSCLC present with early stage (I–IIIA) disease; surgery is the primary treatment. Adjuvant chemotherapy is standard of care in pts with resected stage II–III NSCLC and select stage IB pts; however, recurrence rates are high and other therapies are needed. ADAURA (NCT02511106) is a Ph III, double-blind, randomized study assessing the efficacy and safety of osimertinib vs placebo (PBO) in pts with stage IB–IIIA EGFRm NSCLC after complete tumor resection and adjuvant chemotherapy, when indicated. Following Independent Data Monitoring Committee recommendation, the trial was unblinded early due to efficacy; we report an unplanned interim analysis. https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2020.38.18_suppl.LBA5

Trifluridine/tipiracil or regorafenib in refractory metastatic colorectal cancer patients: An AGEO prospective “real life” study

Regorafenib (R) and trifluridine/tipiracil (T) have proved their efficacy in patients (pts) with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) refractory to standard chemotherapy and targeted therapies. However, it remains unclear which drug should be administered first.  https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2020.38.15_suppl.4036

Highlights of ASCO

Prof. Jeffrey Weber shares his insight on the therapeutic sequence and choice of treatment in melanoma therapy. In the last few years we witnessed huge improvements in therapeutic options, immune checkpoint inhibitors  and thargeted therapies, both monotherpaies and combinatios are available already.

First safety and efficacy results of PRADO: A phase II study of personalized response-driven surgery and adjuvant therapy after neoadjuvant ipilimumab (IPI) and nivolumab (NIVO) in resectable stage III melanoma

OpACIN-neo tested 3 dosing schemes of neoadjuvant (neoadj) IPI+NIVO and identified 2 cycles of IPI 1mg/kg + NIVO 3mg/kg (I1N3) as the most favorable with a pathologic (path) response rate (pRR) of 77% and 20% grade 3-4 irAEs. After 17.6 months median FU, 1/64 (2%) patients (pts) with path response vs 13/21 (62%) of the non-responders ( > 50% viable tumor cells; pNR) had relapsed. We hypothesized that therapeutic lymph node dissection (TLND) could be omitted in pts achieving a complete or near-complete path response (≤10% viable tumor cells; major path response, MPR) in the index node (largest LN metastasis: ILN), whereas additional adjuvant (adj) therapy might improve the outcome of pNR pts.   https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2020.38.15_suppl.10002

Maintenance avelumab + best supportive care (BSC) versus BSC alone after platinum-based first-line (1L) chemotherapy in advanced urothelial carcinoma (UC): JAVELIN Bladder 100 phase III interim analysis

Platinum-based chemotherapy is an active 1L regimen for advanced UC; however, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) are generally short because of chemotherapy resistance. This randomized, phase 3 trial (JAVELIN Bladder 100; NCT02603432) evaluated avelumab (anti–PD-L1) as maintenance therapy following response or stable disease with 1L platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced UC. https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2020.38.18_suppl.LBA1

Carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (KRd) versus bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (VRd) for initial therapy of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM): Results of ENDURANCE (E1A11) phase III trial

Bortezomib (btz) combined with lenalidomide (len) and dexamethasone (dex) (VRd) is a standard initial therapy for NDMM. Carfilzomib (cfz), a next-generation proteasome inhibitor, in combination with len-dex (KRd) has shown higher efficacy in phase II trials. This randomized phase III trial was designed to examine if KRd improves progression free survival (PFS) compared to VRd in NDMM (current results), and whether indefinite maintenance with len improves OS compared with two-year maintenance (to be analyzed once data matures).  https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2020.38.18_suppl.LBA3

Updated results from BELLINI, a phase III study of venetoclax or placebo in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma

Venetoclax (Ven) is a selective, potent, oral BCL-2 inhibitor. In the Phase 3 BELLINI trial, addition of Ven to bortezomib (B) + dexamethasone (d) significantly improved response rates and progression-free survival (PFS) vs placebo (Pbo) and showed significant efficacy in patients (pts) with either t(11;14) or BCL2high gene expression. Here we present updated safety and efficacy data from the prespecified second interim overall survival (OS) analysis. https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2020.38.15_suppl.8509

Pembrolizumab Versus Chemotherapy for Microsatellite Instability-High/Mismatch Repair Deficient Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: The Phase 3 KEYNOTE-177 Study

KEYNOTE-177 (NCT02563002) is a phase 3, randomized open-label study evaluating the efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab (pembro) versus standard of care chemotherapy ± bevacizumab or cetuximab (chemo) as first-line therapy for patients (pts) with microsatellite-instability high/mismatch repair deficient (MSI-H/dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). We present results of the final PFS analysis.  https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2020.38.18_suppl.LBA4

Immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in colorectal cancer

Prof. Andre speaks about the lessons we learned from CheckMate-142 and KEYNOTE 177 trials.