End of the Line for a Failed Prostate Cancer Drug
The androgen synthesis inhibitor orteronel failed to improve survival in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) despite a twofold improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) versus standard androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), a large randomized trial showed. Patients randomized to ADT plus orteronel had a median overall survival (OS) of 81 months compared with 70.2 months with ADT plus […]
Drug Combination Promising as Pre-Sex Birth Control
A drug combination that uses emergency contraception and a cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor may effectively disrupt ovulation, making it the first potential candidate for on-demand, pericoital oral contraception, according to an exploratory pilot study. Among a group of nine patients, six demonstrated ovulation disruption after taking a combination drug of ulipristal acetate (UA) and meloxicam, reported […]
Dramatic, Durable Hair Growth With Oral JAK Inhibitor
BOSTON — An oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor produced significant, durable hair growth, including scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes in patients with severe alopecia areata, according to long-term data from two randomized trials. Almost 40% of patients achieved a Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score ≤20 (total percentage of hair loss) at 52 weeks with 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% […]
New treatment to combat obesity and heart disease
An interdisciplinary research team at The University of Texas at San Antonio has successfully developed an innovative inhibitor that shows promise in fighting obesity and potentially preventing heart disease. Francis Yoshimoto, an assistant professor in the UTSA College of Sciences’ Department of Chemistry, is leading a team that developed an anti-obesity drug that blocks the […]
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% […]
Erdafitinib Continues to Show Efficacy in Urothelial Carcinoma
The pan-FGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor erdafitinib (Balversa) was active and safe in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma, according to long-term follow-up of a phase II study. At a median follow-up of 24 months, the investigator-assessed objective response rate (ORR) was 40% among 101 patients with prespecified FGFR alterations treated with erdafitinib, reported […]
Zanubrutinib Tops Ibrutinib in Relapsed or Refractory CLL
Treatment with the second-generation Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor led to better oncologic outcomes compared with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) for patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), according to an interim analysis of the phase III ALPINE study. Over a median follow-up of 15 months, the overall response rate — the primary […]
Brepocitinib Shows Promise in Phase II Trial for PsA
The oral tyrosine kinase 2/Janus kinase 1 inhibitor brepocitinib showed efficacy for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in a phase IIb trial. At week 16, a 20% improvement on the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR20) was observed in 66.7% of patients receiving 30 mg brepocitinib daily as did 74.6% of those given 60 mg […]
Combo Treatment Extends Survival in HR+HER2- Advanced Breast Cancer
Adding the CDK 4/6 inhibitor ribociclib (Kisqali) to a first-line hormonal treatment prolonged survival by more than 1 year in postmenopausal women with HR-positive/HER2-negative (HR+HER2-) advanced breast cancer, according to results from the MONALEESA-2 trial. Final overall survival (OS) results showed that patients treated with ribociclib plus the aromatase inhibitor (AI) letrozole (Femara) achieved a […]