June 2019, Vol 9, No 6

The increased availability of wearable technologies has enabled patients to track and report their health outcomes, and, in ­theory, has helped healthcare providers manage their patients’ symptoms and utilize resources more effectively. Read Article ›

Healthcare is a highly competitive industry that continues to undergo significant changes, including an increase in digital technologies and other innovations that offer patients new ways to customize their care and find more convenient options for health services tailored to their needs, lifestyles, and finances. As these advancements usher in a new area of healthcare, we need to ask ourselves, “Are we missing the boat?” “Are we about to lose the battle for patient healthcare in the same way that taxis have gradually lost their market for the traveling public to on-demand transportation services such as Uber?” Read Article ›

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has had dramatic results in hematologic malignancies, but so far, getting CAR T-cells to work in solid tumors has proved elusive. That may be about to change if promising results from a phase 1 clinical trial are confirmed by further studies. The results of this pivotal study were presented at the 2019 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting. Read Article ›

The investigational PI3K inhibitor umbralisib had encouraging activity as monotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory marginal-zone lymphoma in an analysis of the phase 2 UNITY-NHL trial. Interim results were presented at the 2019 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting. Read Article ›

Moving combination immunotherapy into the neoadjuvant setting for patients with stage III melanoma induces a higher rate of pathologic response than adjuvant therapy, said Christian U. Blank, MD, PhD, Division of Molecular Oncology & Immunology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, ­Amsterdam, at the 2019 ASCO-­SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium. Read Article ›

Many patients with leukemia or lymphoma who receive treatment with anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy achieve minimum residual disease (MRD) negativity, and many are in complete remission well beyond 12 months. As such, CAR T-cell therapies are curing these patients, said David L. Porter, MD, Director, Cell Therapy and Transplantation, Penn Medicine, Abram­son Cancer Center, Philadelphia, at the 2019 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium. Read Article ›

The combination of the PD-1 inhibitor durvalumab (Imfinzi) and the investigational CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab plus best supportive care improved overall survival (OS) by more than 2 months versus best supportive care alone in a phase 2 clinical trial of patients with refractory colorectal cancer (CRC), reported Eric Xueyu Chen, MD, PhD, Staff Oncologist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada, at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Read Article ›

Patients with ovarian cancer can respond to immunotherapy, but rationally designed synergistic combinations will be necessary to enhance upfront efficacy and to sustain durability, said Daniel J. Powell Jr, PhD, Scientific Director of Immunotherapy, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Center for Cellular Immunotherapy, University of Penn­sylvania, Philadelphia, at the 2019 ASCO-­SITC Clinical Immuno-­Oncology Symposium. Read Article ›

Results with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy have been less robust in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) compared with B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Preliminary studies presented at ASH 2018 ­suggested that a strategy of using CAR T-cell therapy to augment the response to ibrutinib (Imbruvica) holds promise in patients with CLL. Read Article ›

With price tags approaching $1 million or more for delivery of certain immune cell therapies, new payment models will be needed to ensure access to these therapies and to further innovations. This was a key issue addressed at a roundtable discussion at the 2019 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Conference. Ensuring access to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy emerged as a top area of concern. Read Article ›