March 2021, Vol 11, No 3

As we continue to navigate through today’s evolving healthcare landscape, the need for thoughtful innovation is at an all-time high. As oncology administrators, we are responsible for leading our teams through change, which requires engagement, buy in, and input from our front-line workers. One strategy for navigating meaningful change, which has been gaining momentum in many industries, is the process of design thinking. Although the term “design” may create the impression that this process would be best served in engineering or product design, it adds a sense of creation and innovation that is critical to the process. Read More ›

On February 5, 2021, the FDA approved lisocabtagene maraleucel (Breyanzi; Bristol Myers Squibb), a new chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma after ≥2 lines of systemic therapy, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) not otherwise specified (including DLBCL arising from indolent lymphoma), high-grade B-cell lymphoma, primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma, and grade 3B follicular lymphoma. Read More ›

On February 5, 2021, the FDA granted accelerated approval to umbralisib (Ukoniq; TG Therapeutics), a dual inhibitor of PI3Kδ and CK1ε, for adult patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) who have received ≥1 previous anti-CD20–based regimens, and adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma who have received ≥3 previous lines of systemic therapy. Read More ›

The landscape of cancer and immunology has gone through major scientific advances in research over the past 2 decades. The emergence of immunotherapy as a treatment option for patients diagnosed with cancer has led to improvements in patient outcomes. Patients diagnosed with certain forms of cancer can now live longer and enjoy good quality of life. Although not widely used at present, therapeutic cancer vaccines are now available for select groups of patients, such as those with early prostate cancer. In this paper, we provide a brief background and an overview of cancer vaccine therapy, current research, clinical application, and current challenges. Read More ›