Precision Medicine in Oncology

Using artificial intelligence to comb through electronic health records to look for the subtle signs that individuals often present with to their doctor in the years before a more advanced diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is made showed promise in a early trial to see if earlier detection is possible.

The decision comes almost exactly a month after results from KEYNOTE-177 were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Patients between the ages of 18 and 39 who are diagnosed with solid-tumor cancers are more likely than the general population to have germline mutations that could make them more susceptible to secondary primary cancers, according to new research.

Having lower socioeconomic status, comorbidities, or being covered by Medicare was associated with less receipt of immunotherapy for stage III melanoma.

Panelists at the AHIP Institute & Expo Online discussed whether algorithms will play a greater role in the future in reallocating health care resources.

We need the development of new, complex biomarkers to address the increasing complexity in treatment modalities that, in and of themselves, have characteristics of a continuous variable; they require innovation and outcomes data, which perhaps will be partly addressed by some of the emerging real-world evidence databases amassed by pairing sequence information and clinical outcomes. Tumor mutational burden is a great example of this innovation in practice.

The FDA today granted accelerated approval to the second biomarker-based indication for Merck’s pembrolizumab (Keytruda), an anti-PD-1 therapy, regardless of tumor type. A companion diagnostic to pembrolizumab, FoundationOne CDx was also today approved by the FDA as only approved companion diagnostic to measure tumor mutational burden.

Research at the European Hematology Association featured zanubrutinib as monotherapy and in combination with rituximab, and well as evaluations of biomarkers that signal responses.

The challenges in precision oncology in gastric cancer is driven by its inter- and intra-tumoral heterogeneity, leaving chemotherapy as the standard of care.

Features typically linked to immunotherapy response or resistance in other types of cancer don’t work the same way in advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma when treated with programmed death 1 inhibitors.

Physicians at a community oncology clinic center have an increased understanding of the clinical utility of molecular testing after implementing next generation sequencing and precision medicine, said researchers.

The therapy is for patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline somatic homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene–mutated cancer or for those whose cancer has progressed after prior treatment with enzalutamide or abiraterone.

The approval is the fifth for the immunotherapy in lung cancer and the fourth in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The FDA approved Deciphera Pharmaceuticals’ ripretinib (Qinlock), the first drug for fourth-line treatment of advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). The medication is only indicated for adults who have previously received treatment with 3 or more kinase inhibitor therapies, including imatinib.

A recent study describes the use of a liquid assay to uncover any links between response to treatment and tumor load score in patients with stage 2 or stage 3 cancer with solid tumors. Circulating tumor DNA is linked with more advanced cancer.

The FDA approved Eli Lilly’s selpercatinib (Retevmo) capsules to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and other thyroid cancer tumors. The treatment is indicated for patients whose tumors have an alternation, such as a mutation or fusion, in a specific gene (RET or 'rearranged during transfection'), marking the first approval of a therapy for cancer patients with the RET gene alterations.

The evolution of cancer treatment towards a precision-based approach has led to significant progress in cancer therapy. However, some challenges do arise when shifting from an organ-centric concept, guiding treatment choices to a more personalized approach, according to a review published in Cancers.

In recent years, targeted cancer therapies have increased in use. These individualized treatments are based on the genetic makeup of a patient's disease.

Artificial intelligence and deep learning have advanced to the point where they can play a significant role in cancer care, but fully integrating the technology into the clinic remains a challenge.

There's a way to boost participation in clinical trials and modernize the cumbersome process of patient accrual, noted current ASCO President Howard A. “Skip” Burris, MD, FACP, FASCO, on day 2 of Virtual COA 2020. It means shifting clinical trials out of hospitals and tertiary care centers and bringing them to the patients.

The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) recently spoke with Dinesh Kapur, MD, of Eastern Connecticut Hematology and Oncology, also known as ECHO, an advanced community oncology conference. Kapur spoke about how the value of community oncology, clinicial trials, and how staff are spending remote work days developing artificial intelligence (AI) tools for predictive patient analytics to improve care.

At the 2020 Community Oncology Conference, hosted by the Community Oncology Alliance, Howard "Skip" Burris III, MD, FACP, FASCO, president, chief medical officer, and executive director of drug development for Sarah Cannon Research Institute, will discuss "The Now and Future of Clinical Trials in the Community Oncology Setting." The American Journal of Managed Care® recently spoke with Burris, who is wrapping up his term as president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, about how the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is affecting clinical trials as well as other aspects of the future of patient care in community oncology settings.

A recent study showed how a next-generation sequencing (NGS) test, cloneSEQ, is being used in guideline-supported cancer care.

The 2020 Community Oncology Conference, hosted by the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), takes place virtually on April 23 and April 24. The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) is bringing you a series of previews so you can learn more about what you'll hear when you attend this virtual meeting. In this interview we're speaking with Lee Schwartzberg, MD, FACP, the chief medical director of West Cancer Center and the chief medical officer of OneOncology, and who is moderating a stakeholder panel discussion on genomic profiling in cancer.

MRD assessments are probably 1 of the most powerful predictors that we have to see how well a treatment has worked, said Elisabet Manasanch, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma and Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.