Sunil Verma, MD, senior vice president and global head of oncology, medical at AstraZeneca, summarizes the benefits and safety findings discovered in the HIMALAYA study.
Sunil Verma, MD, senior vice president and global head of oncology, medical at AstraZeneca, summarizes the benefits and safety findings discovered in the HIMALAYA study.
Transcript
What are the benefits of a dual immunotherapy combination in treating HCC [hepatocellular carcinoma] compared with combining immunotherapy with another type of therapy?
So in this case, with the outline, the standard of care is TKIs [tyrosine kinase inhibitors]. So either lenvatinib or sorafenib. Now, sorafenib or lenvatinib, they are not easy drugs, and there are side effects that are associated with those therapies and with that standard of care. Combining it, we're really not getting rid of the side effects, because the patients potentially aren't suffering through those side effects. Our approach was really replacing the standard of care in this setting to see, can we have an immune therapy combo or immune therapy alone approach that will lead to a better outcome both from an efficacy as well as, much more critically, from a side effect profile.
Can you explain the safety findings?
Anytime when we look at a therapeutic index, we want to be able to improve the outcomes for patients both from efficacy, but also have a more tolerable regimen to offer them. So in the HIMALAYA study, not only was there an improvement in median overall survival with the combination of tremelimumab and durvalumab, as compared to standard of care. But as you noted, there were also fewer grade 3 and 4 adverse events noted with that combination compared to the standard of care. I think that, to me, is the most meaningful result and outcome that we want to be able to offer specifically in this patient population with other cellular cancers, which tend to be more frail, tend to be sicker, and can potentially be associated with significant other adverse events such as higher rates of bleeding risk. If we were to come up with a regimen, and this is what the data shows, that extends and improves survival including long term durable survival at 3 years without those side effects, I think that's a meaningful advance.
Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity: Urban Health Outreach
May 9th 2024In the series debut episode of "Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity," Mary Sligh, CRNP, and Chelsea Chappars, of Allegheny Health Network, explain how the Urban Health Outreach program aims to improve health equity for individuals experiencing homelessness.
Listen
Tackling Health Inequality: The Power of Education and Experience
April 30th 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. Welcome to our final episode of this limited series and our conversation with Janine Jelks-Seale, MSPPM, director of health equity at UPMC Health Plan.
Listen
Study Reveals Link Between Ovarian Cancer, Subsequent Dry Eye Disease Incidence
May 13th 2024Patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer (OC), particularly those older than 60 years or with a disease duration exceeding 5 years, had a higher incidence of subsequent dry eye disease (DED), suggesting a potential correlation between OC and DED.
Read More