Research news

Overall survival is significantly longer with single-agent pembrolizumab than with platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with previously untreated, locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer that has programmed cell death ligand 1 expression levels of at least 1%, according to the KEYNOTE-042 results.

Treatment with high-dose proton pump inhibitors and aspirin, especially when taken together, could prevent the progression of Barrett’s esophagus, trial results suggest.

Results from the IMpower131 trial show that patients with stage IV squamous non-small-cell lung cancer derive a significant progression-free survival benefit from combining atezolizumab with chemotherapy.

The JAVELIN Lung 101 study suggests that the PD-L1 inhibitor avelumab plus the third-generation ALK inhibitor lorlatinib may be a feasible combination in non-small-cell lung cancer patients with heavily pretreated, advanced ALK-positive disease.

Two opposing sets of phase III results regarding the effect of denosumab on the recurrence of hormone receptor-positive nonmetastatic breast cancer have been presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2018 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Adding atezolizumab to bevacizumab plus chemotherapy significantly delays disease progression and death among chemotherapy-naïve patients with metastatic nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer, phase III study data show.

Patient-reported outcomes from the IMmotion151 study favor atezolizumab plus bevacizumab as a first-line regimen for the treatment of patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Results of the phase III CARMENA trial show that treatment with sunitinib alone is as good as treatment with nephrectomy followed by sunitinib in patients with intermediate- or poor-risk metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

An updated analysis of the phase III COLUMBUS trial adds to the evidence supporting a combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib and the MEK inhibitor binimetinib in patients with advanced BRAF V600-mutant melanoma.

Patients with advanced non-small-cell cancer with activating EGFR mutations derive a significant overall survival benefit from first-line treatment with dacomitinib relative to gefitinib, the ARCHER 1050 trial shows.

Oxaliplatin-based hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy after cytoreductive surgery does not improve the survival of colorectal cancer patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis, the PRODIGE 7 investigators report.

Updated results from the phase III ALEX trial show that the progression-free survival benefit conferred by alectinib over crizotinib is maintained over time in treatment-naïve patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase alteration-positive, advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

Adjuvant treatment with a modified FOLFIRINOX regimen significantly improves survival relative to gemcitabine in patients with resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, according to findings presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2018, held in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Second-line pembrolizumab does not significantly improve survival compared with paclitaxel in patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer positive for programmed cell death ligand 1 expression, KEYNOTE-061 data show.

Patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer who receive neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy have better outcomes than their counterparts who proceed directly to surgery, suggest phase III trial results.

The selective RET inhibitor LOXO-292 has activity against tumors harboring a range of RET alterations, according to findings from the first-in-human LIBRETTO-001 trial.

Vigorous exercise in early adulthood is associated with a decreased risk for death among adult survivors of childhood cancer, according to findings presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2018 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Two studies reported at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2018 show that Black men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer fare as well as White men, if not better, when treated with abiraterone or chemotherapy in the clinical trial setting.

Adding ovarian suppression to tamoxifen significantly improves disease-free survival over tamoxifen alone in premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, the latest data from the SOFT and TEXT trials show.

Addition of olaparib to abiraterone is associated with increased radiographic progression-free survival in unselected patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, show study findings.