Emerging Therapies

Results of a phase 1 clinical trial showed that approximately 66% of patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) had a major cytogenetic response (MCyR) to the novel oral BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) vodobatinib, regardless of whether they previously received ponatinib therapy.

Sotorasib, an investigational small-molecule inhibitor of the KRAS p.G12C mutation, demonstrated promising activity and encouraging safety in patients with advanced solid tumors, in particular those with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), in the preliminary phase 1 CodeBreaK 100 trial.

Xevinapant, an investigational antagonist of IAPs (inhibitor of apoptosis proteins), prolonged overall survival (OS) in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma (HNSCC) when added to chemoradiotherapy, according to an updated analysis of a phase 2 clinical trial that was presented at the 2020 European Society for Medical Oncology congress.

Asingle infusion of the investigational agent lifileucel—an immunotherapy using cryopreserved autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs)—induced responses in more than 33% of patients with advanced melanoma whose disease progressed with multiple previous therapies, including PD-1 and BRAF/MEK inhibitors.

A novel intratumoral chemotherapy agent delivered by direct injection permits the dispersion of cytotoxic drugs into cancer cells to eradicate tumors.

The small molecule inhibitor of tyrosine kinase WEE1 adavosertib demonstrated promising clinical activity in a single-arm, phase 2 study of patients with unselected uterine serous cancer (USC), with an objective response rate of 29.4%, said Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH, Director of Clinical Research, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

San Francisco, CA—The combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus the investigational drug sitravatinib improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with pretreated metastatic clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) and the historical disease control rates compared with nivolumab alone, according to the results of a phase 1/2 clinical trial reported at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

San Francisco, CA—Treatment with the novel agent MK-6482 led to promising results in a phase 1/2 clinical trial of patients with metastatic clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (RCC).