Triplet in First-Line Kidney Cancer Thwarts Disease Progression
PARIS — Adding the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) cabozantinib (Cabometyx) to dual immune checkpoint inhibition improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the phase III COSMIC-313 trial found. Among 550 patients with untreated intermediate- or poor-risk disease, those treated with the triplet therapy had a median PFS that was not […]
Chemo-Free Maintenance Combo Promising in Pancreatic Cancer
Pairing a PARP inhibitor and immune checkpoint inhibitor together may be a viable non-cytotoxic maintenance therapy option for patients with platinum-sensitive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), according to findings of a single-center phase Ib/II study. At a median follow-up of 23.0 months, combining the PARP inhibitor niraparib (Zejula) with the anti CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab (Yervoy) achieved […]
Regulating the regulators of the immune system
Checkpoint inhibitors have become important tools in the cancer-fighting arsenal. By blocking proteins that normally restrain the immune response, these drugs can help the immune system destroy cancer cells. But they don’t work in all patients. And now a new study in Nature Immunology led by researchers from Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine suggests a […]
Another China-Developed PD-1 Inhibitor Makes Its Case in NSCLC
Adding the investigational PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor toripalimab to chemotherapy in first-line significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients without EGFR/ALK mutations, according to results from a study conducted in China. Median PFS improved from 5.6 months with chemotherapy alone to 8.4 months with the toripalimab-based combination (HR 0.49, 95% […]
Pre-Op Atezolizumab Promising in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer
The use of a checkpoint inhibitor combined with chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting appeared to be effective for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), according to results from a phase II trial. Among 39 patients, the addition of the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) to gemcitabine and cisplatin resulted in a non-muscle-invasive downstaging rate of 69% […]