TOP - May 2022 Vol 15, No 3

Updates to the screening guidelines for colorectal cancer (CRC) from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) include lowering the initial screening age for average-risk individuals and second- and third-degree family members with CRC, as well as an extension in the interval for surveillance colonoscopy for low-risk individuals.

The addition of sacituzumab govitecan (Trodelvy), an antibody–drug conjugate, to the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) showed encouraging antitumor activity in checkpoint inhibitor–naïve patients with metastatic urothelial cancer, according to an analysis of the results of cohort 3 from the phase 2 TROPHY-U-01 clinical trial, which were presented at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium by Petros Grivas, MD, PhD, Clinical Director, Genitourinary Cancers Program, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle; and Associate Professor, Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) added to best supportive care (BSC) improved outcomes including overall survival (OS) versus BSC alone in Asian patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) previously treated with sorafenib (Nexavar), according to final results from the KEYNOTE-394 trial.

The May issue of The Oncology Pharmacist (TOP) features news and insights relevant to today’s pharmacy professionals working in the field of oncology.

Treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) in the neoadjuvant setting plus adjuvant nivolumab resulted in a high rate of pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients with resectable microsatellite instable (MSI)/mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) oeso-gastric junction (OGJ) adenocarcinoma, according to findings from the GERCOR NEONIPIGA clinical trial, which were presented by Thierry André, MD, Professor, Medical Oncology, Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Saint Antoine, Paris, France, at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

Trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu; T-DXd) continues to show superior antitumor activity and improved survival compared with standard chemotherapy in patients with advanced HER2-expressing gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer, according to updated results from the phase 2 DESTINY-Gastric01 trial.

This section provides a brief overview of new cancer drugs and new indications approved by the FDA between February 28 and March 31, 2022.

Continuous treatment with the androgen receptor inhibitor enzalutamide (Xtandi) in combination with docetaxel significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) compared with placebo plus docetaxel in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) whose disease progressed while receiving enzalutamide alone in the phase 3b PRESIDE clinical trial.

Neoadjuvant therapy with enfortumab vedotin (Padcev) showed promising antitumor activity in patients with MIBC who were ineligible for cisplatin therapy, based on the preliminary findings for cohort H from the phase 1b/2 EV-103 clinical trial.

According to results presented at the 2021 ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, new sequencing technologies may overcome previous limitations of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) profiling in patients with central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma. Using ultrasensitive sequencing, researchers were able to diagnose the disease based on ctDNA mutational profiles.