Virginia Powers, PhD

Articles

Combinations Show Promise in Overcoming Resistance to HER2-Targeting Therapy

March 16th 2017

C. Kent Osborne, MD, discusses current strategies for overcoming resistance to HER2-targeting agents in early breast cancer today.

PD-1 Blockade Potential Comes to Light in Sarcoma Subtypes

February 6th 2017

An immunohistochemistry analysis of a large patient population demonstrated that several subtypes of difficult-to-treat sarcomas may respond to treatment with PD-1 pathway inhibiting immunotherapies, according to findings presented at the 2017 European Cancer Congress in Amsterdam.

Ribociclib Both Active and Safe in Elderly Patients With HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer

February 3rd 2017

Ribociclib, an orally bioavailable, selective cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor, demonstrated similar clinical benefits and safety profiles for both elderly and younger patients with hormone-receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 negative advanced breast cancer.

Pembrolizumab Prolongs Survival in Second-Line Urothelial Carcinoma

February 2nd 2017

Treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab significantly prolonged overall survival over investigators’ choice of chemotherapy in patients with recurrent advanced urothelial carcinoma, according to results reported at the 19th European Cancer Congress.

S-1 Better Tolerated Than Capecitabine With No Loss of Efficacy in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

February 2nd 2017

The incidence of hand-foot syndrome was decreased following first-line treatment with S-1 compared to capecitabine in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, according to findings from the phase III SALTO study that were presented at the 2017 European Cancer Congress.

Treatment, Diagnosis Disparities Among Hospitals Impacts Survival of Patients With Colorectal Cancer and Peritoneal Metastases

February 1st 2017

Patients receiving the same diagnosis, colorectal cancer with synchronous peritoneal metastases, were offered different treatments that led to dramatically different outcomes based upon the institution in which they were diagnosed. Findings presented at the 19th European Cancer Congress revealed underutilization of a highly effective treatment, due to a lack of referral.

TRC105/Pazopanib Combo Shows Promising Antitumor Activity in Advanced Angiosarcoma

December 15th 2016

The combination of TRC105, an endoglin antibody, and pazopanib demonstrated promising antitumor activity in patients with advanced angiosarcoma

Nivolumab Shows Promise in Mesothelioma

December 14th 2016

Treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab showed promising results in patients with recurrent malignant pleural mesothelioma.

First Steps Taken Toward Harmonization of PD-L1 Immunohistochemistry Testing in France

December 8th 2016

Determination of the PD-L1 status of a patient’s tumor has become increasingly important for informing the clinical decision whether to offer certain immunotherapeutic agents, making standardization of the tests and antibodies used to determine the PD-L1 status necessary to provide accurate and consistent results.

Durvalumab Provides Durable Response in Heavily Pretreated Metastatic NSCLC

December 8th 2016

Durvalumab treatment in the second-line setting or beyond demonstrated clinical benefit and led to durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

Atezolizumab Improves Survival in Second-Line NSCLC

December 8th 2016

Treatment with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab significantly improved overall survival compared to standard chemotherapy in patients with non–small lung cancer who progressed on platinum-based chemotherapy.

Frontline Ceritinib Improves PFS Over Platinum-Based Chemo in ALK+ NSCLC

December 7th 2016

Frontline treatment with ceritinib (Zykadia) improved progression-free survival over standard chemotherapy in patients with ALK-rearranged non–small cell lung cancer.

Icotinib Improves Intracranial PFS in EGFR-Mutant NSCLC and Brain Mets

December 6th 2016

Treatment with icotinib more than doubled intracranial progression-free survival compared with whole brain irradiation combined with standard chemotherapy.

Improved PFS, ORR With Frontline Nivolumab and Nivolumab/Ipilimumab Combo in NSCLC

December 6th 2016

Findings from an efficacy update of patients participating in a study in the CheckMate series revealed that first-line nivolumab (Opdivo) demonstrated activity in advanced non–small cell lung cancer, and the addition of ipilimumab (Yervoy) resulted in enhanced activity, specifically in prolonged progression-free survival and higher objective response rates.

Early Results Positive for First-Line Avelumab in NSCLC

December 6th 2016

Treatment with first-line avelumab yielded promising clinical benefit and durable antitumor activity in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer.

Prognostic Factors Plus PD-L1 Expression May Be Linked With Early Survival Risk for Nivolumab in NSCLC

December 5th 2016

While treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo) significantly improved overall survival over docetaxel in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer in the CheckMate-057 trial, an analysis of deaths occurring within 3 months of initiation of therapy showed numerically more deaths in the nivolumab arm.

Novel HER2-Targeting Antibody-Drug Conjugate Shows Broad Antitumor Activity

October 20th 2016

A novel HER2-targeting antibody-drug conjugate showed promising antitumor activity across multiple tumor types, including HER2-postive breast cancer.

Long-Term Follow-Up Supports Frontline Dabrafenib/Trametinib in Melanoma

October 20th 2016

Co-inhibition of BRAF and MEK pathways with dabrafenib and trametinib continued to be superior to sole BRAF inhibition with vemurafenib in patients with unresectable metastatic melanoma at 3 years.

Nivolumab/Cabozantinib Combo Shows Promise in GU Cancers

October 18th 2016

Cabozantinib plus nivolumab demonstrated promising activity in the second-line setting and beyond at all dose levels tested in patients with advanced/refractory genitourinary cancers.

First-Line Pembrolizumab Shows Substantial Activity in Advanced Bladder Cancer

October 10th 2016

Early results from a pre-planned interim analysis in the KEYNOTE-052 phase II trial of first-line pembrolizumab in cisplatin-ineligible patients with metastatic urothelial cancer demonstrated antitumor activity and a favorable response rate.