Virginia Powers, PhD

Articles

Nab-Paclitaxel Alone and With Durvalumab Shows Promise in NSCLC

September 9th 2017

Nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) monotherapy has efficacy in patients with pretreated advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer that is not improved by the addition of CC-486.

Taselisib, Letrozole Combination Active for ER+, HER2- Early Breast Cancer

September 8th 2017

Taselisib added to standard letrozole (Femara) improved the objective response rate compared to letrozole with a placebo in postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive and HER2-negative early breast cancer.

Biomarker Analysis Identifies Prognostic Markers for Aflibercept Efficacy in CRC

July 6th 2017

Ziv-aflibercept (Zaltrap) prolonged overall survival compared to placebo across subgroups of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with wild-type and mutated RAS, KRAS, and BRAF genes.

CRC Patients With Liver Metastasis Receive Unanticipated Benefit From SIRT

July 6th 2017

While expected improvements in survival did not emerge with SIRT plus chemotherapy, an unanticipated benefit was observed with SIRT in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Napabucasin Clinically Active in Both Pancreatic and Colon Cancer

July 1st 2017

The novel stemness inhibitor napabucasin in combination with different standard chemotherapy backbones demonstrated promising activity in metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma and metastatic colorectal cancer.

Novel Bispecific Antibody Effective for Heavily Pretreated mCRC

July 1st 2017

CEA-TCB showed a favorable safety profile and promising efficacy in patients with heavily-pretreated microsatellite stable metastatic colorectal cancer, with enhanced efficacy when combined with atezolizumab.

Occurrence of Hand-Foot Skin Response May Signal Regorafenib Activity in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

June 30th 2017

Patients with unresectable HCC continue to show statistically significant improvement in overall survival with second-line regorafenib (Stivarga) treatment.

Advanced Age Presents No Barrier to Successful Nivolumab Treatment in HCC

June 30th 2017

Durable responses and improved long-term survival were demonstrated with nivolumab (Opdivo) that were not altered by the age of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma across all age groups of patients participating in the CheckMate 040 trial.

HA Levels Predict PEGPH20 Response in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

June 29th 2017

The addition of pegvorhyaluronidase alfa (PEGPH20) to standard nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine improved progression-free survival over standard therapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

AM0010 Plus FOLFOX Shows Promise in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

June 29th 2017

Combination therapy with AM0010, a PEGylated human interleukein (IL)-10, plus fluorouracil (5-FU), leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) demonstrated encouraging clinical activity in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Chemotherapy-Free Triplet Achieves 100% Response Rates in 3 Lymphoma Subtypes

June 27th 2017

The first known trial of combined ublituximab (TG-1101), ibrutinib (Imbruvica), and umbralisib (TGR-1202) showed that the combination was well tolerated and had activity across heavily pretreated patients with high-risk B-cell malignancies.

Ibrutinib/Venetoclax Yields Dramatic Blood Response in Patients With Relapsed/Refractory CLL

June 26th 2017

Combination ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and venetoclax (Venclexta) set the bar high and aims to achieve eradication of minimal residual disease within a year of treatment in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Combination of Obinutuzumab and CC-122 Demonstrates Response in R/R Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

June 25th 2017

The combination of obinutuzumab and CC-122 was well tolerated and demonstrated promising response rates and durable remissions in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, and marginal zone lymphoma.

CTL019 CAR T-Cell Therapy Strides Towards Approval in Pediatric and Young Adult Patients With ALL

June 25th 2017

CTL019, an investigational chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, demonstrated high response rates and a manageable safety profile in pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed and/or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Comparison of Induction Therapies Prior to ASCT Favors Novel Quadruple Over Triplet Regimens

June 24th 2017

Results from the phase III Myeloma XI study showed that patients with myeloma had deeper responses after induction and after allo-stem cell transplantation with outpatient-delivered quadruplet therapy than with sequential immunomodulatory triplet combinations.

Ixazomib Maintenance Shows Robust Activity in Multiple Myeloma

June 24th 2017

Patients with newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma who did not elect to undergo stem cell transplant but remained on single agent ixazomib maintenance fared as well as those who received SCT.

Response Rate Hits 100% for bb2121 in Multiple Myeloma

June 23rd 2017

All patients with multiple myeloma in a phase I study showed a response following treatment with an active dose of bb2121, an investigational anti–BCMA CAR T-cell construct.

Biomarkers Emerge for Severe Neurotoxicity Risk After CAR T-Cell Therapy

June 23rd 2017

Investigators reported the characterization of early clinical and serum biomarkers that may identify specific patients with ALL being treated with 19-28z chimeric antigen receptor T cells needing an early intervention to mitigate the development of severe neurotoxicity.

Pembrolizumab Plus Rituximab Promising in Follicular Lymphoma

June 17th 2017

Combining pembrolizumab with rituximab induced a high response rate in patients with relapsed follicular lymphoma.

Copanlisib Lymphoma Data Updated as FDA Considers Approval

June 17th 2017

Copanlisib showed an objective response rate of 59.2% without inducing major colitis events or elevation of hepatic transaminases in patients with relapsed or refractory indolent B-cell lymphoma.