The November issue of The Oncology Pharmacist (TOP) contains the latest news and updates relevant to today’s pharmacy professionals working in the field of oncology. We begin our coverage with highlights from key sessions held during the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress 2022, where experts presented data from clinical trials assessing new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies aimed at improving outcomes for patients with cancer.
In one of these sessions, Deb Schrag, MD, MPH, George J. Bosl Chair, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City, discussed promising results from the PATHFINDER trial, which evaluated the efficacy of multicancer early detection blood tests in individuals aged ≥50 years (see here).
“These results are an important first step in early cancer detection tests, because they showed a good detection rate for people who had cancer and an excellent specificity rate for those who did not have cancer,” Dr Schrag told attendees during her presentation.
In another noteworthy session, researchers discussed the discovery of a new mechanism through which small pollutant particles in the air may trigger lung cancer in individuals who have never smoked. These late-breaking findings were presented during the Presidential Symposium by Charles Swanton, BSc, PhD, FRCP, Chief Clinician, Cancer Research UK, London, and Principal Group Leader, Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London (see here).
“The same particles in the air that derive from the combustion of fossil fuels, exacerbating climate change, are directly impacting human health via an important and previously-overlooked cancer-causing mechanism on lung cells,” Dr Swanton explained.
This issue of TOP also features important updates from other premier oncology meetings, where experts presented clinical trial data that continue to guide treatment decisions for medical professionals who care for individuals with cancer.
During the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, for example, Timothy Joseph Whelan, MD, FASCO, Professor of Oncology and Canada Research Chair, Health Services Research in Cancer, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, presented findings from the LUMINA trial, which suggest that endocrine therapy after breast-conserving surgery may be the only treatment necessary for certain women with lower-grade luminal type A breast cancer (see here).
“Previous studies have…suggested that radiation can be omitted for older women aged 65 or older with low-grade breast cancer. The LUMINA results show that women with luminal type A breast cancer and low levels of the Ki67 biomarker can avoid outcomes related to radiotherapy, including significant acute and late effects, such as fatigue and rare life-threatening side effects of cardiac disease and second cancers,” he said, adding that these findings may be “practice-changing.”
As with every issue, we also provide readers with an overview of new cancer drugs and new indications approved by the FDA.
As always, we hope you will enjoy this issue of TOP, and we invite you to visit www.TheOncologyPharmacist.com to share your feedback about this issue with us or send comments to