Bempedoic Acid Gets ‘Huge’ Win for Primary Prevention in the Statin-Intolerant
SAN DIEGO — Bempedoic acid (Nexletol) prevented cardiovascular events in high-risk, statin-intolerant patients who had not yet had an event, a subgroup analysis from the CLEAR Outcomes trial confirmed. In these patients, bempedoic acid was associated with a large decrease in risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) compared with placebo over a median 39.9 […]
Trial Suggests Optimal Approach to Unresectable CRC Liver Mets
For patients with initially unresectable colorectal cancer liver metastases, FOLFOXIRI plus bevacizumab (Avastin) was the “preferred” systemic induction regimen for those with a right-sided or RAS- or BRAF V600E-mutated primary tumor, according to a phase III randomized trial. Among these patients, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 9.0 months in those receiving FOLFOX or FOLFIRI […]
Hemodiafiltration Reduced Dialysis Mortality in Kidney Failure
High-dose hemodiafiltration improved survival compared with standard hemodialysis for patients with kidney failure resulting in the need for kidney-replacement therapy, according to the randomized CONVINCE trial. High-dose hemodiafiltration cut all-cause mortality to 17.3% compared with 21.9% on conventional high-flux hemodialysis over a median 30 months of follow-up (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.65-0.93), reported researchers led […]
Base-Edited CAR-T Product ‘Potent’ in Relapsed Childhood T-Cell ALL
The use of base editing to generate universal off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in patients with relapsed T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) should be further investigated based on promising interim results from a phase I study. In one of three patients — a 13-year-old girl who had relapsed T-cell ALL after allogeneic stem […]
Pre-Existing Depression, Anxiety Tied to Worse DLBCL Prognosis
Patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who also had pre-existing depression, anxiety, or both had a worse prognosis than those without these pre-existing mental health conditions, according to results from a population-based study. Among over 13,000 patients at a median follow-up of 2 years, the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 27% for patients […]
Airlines Need to Let Wheelchair Users Use Them on Planes, AMA Members Say
CHICAGO — Airlines need to do more to help patients in wheelchairs use them on the plane, members of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) House of Delegates said here Sunday, but they were divided on how to make that happen. Delegates attending a Sunday morning reference committee meeting were debating a resolution from two specialty […]
FGFR Inhibitor Stakes Claim to Post-Anti-PD-1 Role in Advanced Bladder Cancer
CHICAGO — Patients with FGFR-mutated advanced urothelial cancer that progressed after anti-PD-1/L1 therapy lived significantly longer if they received the selective FGFR inhibitor erdafitinib (Balversa) instead of chemotherapy, a randomized trial showed. Median overall survival (OS) increased from 7.8 months with physician’s choice of chemotherapy to 12.1 months with the targeted agent. Progression-free survival (PFS) […]
Is Getting Test Results Online Right Away a Good Idea? Yes, Patients Say
Patients who receive test results online before their physician has had a chance to review them should have immediate access to resources to help them adjust to bad news, an expert suggested. “We need to do more to wrap patients in support and information tools and technology when that result is scary, when that result […]
Second-Line Axi-Cel Bests Standard in Relapsed/Refractory Large B-Cell Lymphoma
CHICAGO — Patients treated with the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta) in the second line for early relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma had significantly longer overall survival (OS) than those treated with standard care, according to an analysis of the ZUMA-7 trial. At a median follow-up of 47.2 months […]
Chemo-Free Approach Works in Subset of Patients With HER2+ Early Breast Cancer
CHICAGO — An “adaptive response” treatment strategy identified a subset of patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer who benefited from a chemotherapy-free treatment plan, according to the phase II PHERGain trial. The strategy is based on evaluating an early response to a dual HER2 blockade with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and pertuzumab (Perjeta) with 18F-FDG PET imaging […]