Oncology

Pharmacy Times interviewed Craig Freyer, PharmD, BCOP, and Andrew Lin, PharmD, BCOP, to discuss the updates in the prevention and treatment of cytokine release syndrome and neurologic toxicities for patients with multiple myeloma.

According to the investigators, treatment with ruxolitinib resulted in a significant improvement in ORR after 24 weeks, with an ORR of 49.7% in the ruxolitinib arm compared to 25.6% in the best available therapy arm.

The research team noted that although HCL has a good prognosis for the majority of patients, a small population will develop variants of the disease do not respond well to existing FDA-approved therapies or cannot tolerate the adverse effects of established therapies.

Axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) received accelerated FDA approval on March 5, 2021, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory FL after 2 or more lines of systemic therapy.

The combination of pertuzumab, trastuzumab and hyaluronidase–zzxf is indicated for adult patients with HER2-positive breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and for adult patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer.

The FDA has granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) to alrizomadlin (APG-115, Ascentage Pharma) for the treatment of stage IIB-IV melanoma.

Investigators have found that a small percentage of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor-resistant cancer cells are present in certain patients with non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), potentially explaining tumor regrowth in these patients.

The investigators said the ACA helped lower the financial burden for younger cancer survivors to its lowest estimated levels in 20 years.

The FDA has approved pembrolizumab in combination with lenvatinib for the treatment of advanced endometrial carcinoma that is not microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient

Venetoclax is already approved for the treatment of adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma, and in some adults with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia.

Patients treated with berubicin in clinical trials appeared to demonstrate positive responses, including 1 durable complete response in a phase 1 human clinical trial.

Pharmacy Times interviewed Craig Freyer, PharmD, BCOP, and Andrew Lin, PharmD, BCOP, to discuss the emerging data around BCMA-targeted CAR T-cell therapy in multiple myeloma.

Zydelig (idelalisib) is a kinase inhibitor approved in 2014 for 3 oncology indications.

Cabozantinib (Cabometyx, Exelixis) is a kinase inhibitor approved for indications such as advanced renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Clinicians cite long-term complications and younger patients with better prognoses as reasons to pull back on oropharyngeal cancer therapy.

Pharmacy Times interviewed Craig Freyer, PharmD, BCOP, a clinical pharmacy specialist at Penn Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and Andrew Lin, PharmD, BCOP, an oncology pharmacy specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, to provide an overview of current CAR T-cell therapies.

The FDA has granted Fast Track Designation to trilaciclib (Cosela) for use in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Despite a clear trend toward improvement among patients with tumors expressing programmed death-ligand 1, the trial did not meet its primary endpoints.

Pharmacy Times interviewed Craig Freyer, PharmD, BCOP, and Andrew Lin, PharmD, BCOP, to discuss their presentation at the recent ATOPP 2021 summit on re-examining the why, who, and where of CAR T therapy.

Research presented at the 2021 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Specialty Pharmacy Conference suggests overall medical expenses for oncology patients were significantly improved by using an integrated health-system specialty pharmacy (HSSP) care model.

A variety of methods can be used to create an individualized approach to removing barriers for patients with cancer.

Men with low-risk prostate cancer on active surveillance report fewer problems with sexual function than those on other treatments.

In an interview with Pharmacy Times®and Directions in Oncology Pharmacy®, Chad Hatfield, PharmD, MHA, BCPS, chief pharmacy officer at UC Davis Medical Center, discussed how data analytics are used in oncology pharmacy practice.

Brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus, Kite Pharma) is a cell-based gene therapy for the treatment of adult patients with mantle cell lymphoma who have not responded to or who have relapsed following other treatments.

The FDA has granted enfortumab vedotin-ejfv both a regular approval and a new indication expansion for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who are ineligible for cisplatin-containing chemotherapy and have previously received 1 or more prior lines of therapy.

The trial has successfully enrolled 17 patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma and has reported that the drug is well tolerated at doses of up to 525 mg weekly.

The ASCO-COA Oncology Medical Home standards offer a roadmap for comprehensive high-quality, patient-centered cancer care delivery.

Despite the encouraging progression-free survival findings, data on overall survival resulted in a partial clinical hold instituted by the FDA.

Margetuximab-cmkb (Margenza) was approved in December 2020 in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have previously received 2 or more anti-HER2 regimens, at least one of which for metastatic disease.

Results from the APOLLO trial showed a significant 37% reduction in the risk of progression or death, compared to pomalidomide and dexamethasone alone in patients with multiple myeloma.