The treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), a rare tumor type with an estimated incidence of 3,300 to 6,000 new cases per year in the United States, has seen exciting advances this year, first with the FDA's approval of avapritinib for metastatic GIST with platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA) exon 18 mutations, and more recently with last month's approval of ripretinib for the later-line treatment of metastatic GIST. Margaret von Mehren, MD, principal investigator o...
The FDA recently approved nivolumab for patients with unresectable advanced, recurrent, or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who have received prior fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-based chemotherapy. Ken Kato, MD, PhD, lead author on the study the approval was based on, spoke to i3 Health about the challenges of treating this patient population, in addition to the significance of this approval. What are the most challenging aspects of treating patients with advanced ESCC refra...
Metronomic capecitabine maintenance therapy has been shown to be more effective compared with observation for patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), according to a study led by Zhongyu Yuan, MD. Results of the study have been presented at the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Virtual Scientific Program. In this interview with i3 Health, Dr. Yuan shares insights on treating TNBC and future directions in the TNBC treatment landscape. What are the most challenging aspec...
In this interview, Nicholas Vogelzang, MD, speaks with i3 Health about the recent FDA approval of rucaparib (Rubraca®, Clovis Oncology, Inc.) for the treatment of patients with metastatic BRCA-mutated castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) who previously received one line of taxane-based chemotherapy and at least one line of androgen receptor-directed therapy. Dr. Vogelzang, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and one of the investigators of the TRI...
The FDA's recent accelerated approval of pomalidomide (Pomalyst®, Celgene) for Kaposi sarcoma in patients with and without HIV marked the first approval for this cancer in over 20 years. In this interview with i3 Health, Robert Yarchoan, MD, Chief of the HIV and AIDS Malignancy Branch at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and principal investigator of the phase 1/2 Study 12-C-0047, which served as the basis for the approval, discusses pomalidomide's efficacy and safety, as well as additional re...