Anita T. Shaffer

Associate Director of Editorial, Print
Anita T. Shaffer is your lead editorial contact for OncologyLive®, a twice monthly clinical news publication. A 10-year veteran of MJH Life Sciences™, she has been at the helm of the publication since shortly after joining the company in 2010. Before becoming an oncology journalist, she held a variety of editorial positions at The Times of Trenton, including metro editor. Email: anitashaffer@onclive.com

Articles

The New Front Line in Melanoma: Immunotherapy or Targeted Agents?

March 16th 2016

The bounty of choices is good news for patients with melanoma, several key questions have emerged: Should immunotherapy or targeted agents be the first-line choice for metastatic melanoma?

Immunology Biomarkers Taking Shape in Breast Cancer

February 15th 2016

The search for immune system biomarkers that could prove clinically useful in treating patients with breast cancer is yielding promising results, particularly in triple-negative subtypes.

Next-Generation BTK Inhibitor Taking on Ibrutinib in CLL

December 8th 2015

Acalabrutinib has demonstrated a 95% response rate and durable remissions with a favorable safety profile in a phase I/II study for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Pembrolizumab Combo Generates High Response Rate in Refractory Myeloma

December 7th 2015

The addition of pembrolizumab to an established multiple myeloma regimen elicited responses in 76% of 17 patients with relapsed/refractory disease.

Venetoclax Sparks High Response Rate in Poor-Risk CLL Subtype

December 6th 2015

Venetoclax, demonstrated an overall response rate of nearly 80% among patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia harboring the chromosome 17p deletion.

Daratumumab Combo Sparks 81% Response Rate in Myeloma

December 6th 2015

The addition of daratumumab to a standard multiple myeloma regimen generated responses in 81% of patients with relapsed or refractory disease that were "rapid, deep, and durable" without introducing any new safety concerns.

Study Suggests Role for CAR Therapy After Transplant in Advanced B-cell Cancers

December 5th 2015

Gene therapy has the potential to deliver long-lasting remissions for patients with advanced B-cell malignancies who already have undergone an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

PD-1 Inhibitors Advance Rapidly for Broad Cohort in NSCLC

December 1st 2015

As the class of agents targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway expands in nonâ€“small cell lung cancer, so does the potential population of patients who would be candidates for the groundbreaking immunotherapy.

'Groundbreaking' Global Brain Cancer Trial Planned

November 22nd 2015

An international coalition of experts is planning an innovative clinical trial aimed at speeding up the development of new treatments for patients with glioblastoma multiforme, putting into motion a biomarker-driven approach that has been employed in other malignancies.

Expert Examines Nuances of Switching Therapies in Progressive EGFR-Positive NSCLC

November 9th 2015

Patience is a virtue when it comes to deciding whether to switch therapies for individuals with metastatic nonâ€“small cell lung cancer who appear to be progressing on an EGFR-targeting regimen.

Nivolumab Demonstrates Broad Efficacy in NSCLC

November 7th 2015

The latest FDA approval for nivolumab in nonâ€“small cell lung cancer means that the drug potentially can be administered to any patient in the second-line setting, regardless of tumor histology or PD-L1 expression level.

PD-1 Immunotherapy Combos May Be Next Step in Hodgkin Lymphoma Therapy

October 29th 2015

The prospect of combining PD-1 inhibitors with existing therapies, particularly brentuximab vedotin, is emerging as the most exciting new development in advancing the treatment of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, raising the possibility of improving the cure rates in a disease where standard strategies have already produced notable results.

Personalizing Cancer Drugs: The Next Front in Diagnostics

October 28th 2015

Less than a decade after the FDA set the ground rules for developing assays that pair molecular targets with new drugs, experts say there have been strides in personalizing anticancer therapies but that many hurdles remain before next-generation sequencing and other precision medicine advances are incorporated into the diagnostic paradigm.

Evidence Builds for Multigene Testing for Hereditary Cancers

October 20th 2015

The use of multigene assays to screen patients for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer risk yields clinically valuable information beyond single-gene BRCA testing, but confusion about accurately interpreting the results presents a challenge for clinicians even as panel testing becomes more widely adopted.

Lilly Expanding NYC Research Hub to Focus on Immunotherapy Combos

October 9th 2015

Eli Lilly and Company is planning to expand its lab space at the Alexandria Center for Life Science in New York City to include a translational immuno-oncology hub that will serve as a "portal" for collaborating with researchers from nearby academic medical centers and biopharmaceutical companies.

Cetuximab Improves Survival in EGFR-Positive Squamous NSCLC

September 9th 2015

The addition of cetuximab (Erbitux) to chemotherapy reduced the risk of death by 44% for patients with advanced squamous nonâ€“small cell lung cancer whose tumors test positive for EGFR gene amplification.

PARP Inhibitors Move Into the Limelight

August 21st 2015

Research evidence has been mounting that PARP inhibitors are not just for gynecologic malignancies-or for patients whose tumors harbor inherited BRCA defects.

Effort to "Harmonize" PD-L1 Assays Launched in NSCLC

August 14th 2015

Amid continuing excitement over the potential for immunotherapies targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, two major questions have loomed over PD-L1 expression levels as a biomarker for this emerging new class of drugs.

Practical Advice for Immunotherapy Era Emerges From ASCO

June 22nd 2015

For clinicians, a central message from 2015 ASCO is that a framework for managing immune-related adverse events in patients who receive these immune checkpoint agents is taking shape.

Largest-Ever Precision Medicine Oncology Trial Ready for Launch

June 1st 2015

A landmark clinical trial that will channel patients into treatment arms based on molecular abnormalities rather than cancer types aims to test the efficacy of more than 20 drugs simultaneously in an ambitious National Cancer Institute plan to further propel oncology drug discovery into the precision medicine era.