Three Adjuvant Immunotherapy Trials Flop in Renal Cell Carcinoma
PARIS — While pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has been approved as an adjuvant treatment for patients with high-risk renal cell carcinoma (RCC), three phase III studies presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) annual congress here failed to support the immune checkpoint inhibitor in this setting. In Part A of the CheckMate-914 trial, the median […]
Tecovirimat Safe in Monkeypox, but Efficacy Is Less Clear
Tecovirimat (Tpoxx) was well tolerated among patients with monkeypox virus infection, though its efficacy in monkeypox is currently unclear, CDC researchers said. Among over 300 patients taking tecovirimat under the FDA-regulated Expanded Access Investigational New Drug (EA-IND) protocol, 6.9% were hospitalized after symptom onset, with a median duration of hospitalization of 4 days, reported Farrell […]
‘Potential New Standard’ for Progressing Desmoid Tumors
PARIS — Progression-free survival (PFS) was significantly prolonged in patients with progressing desmoid tumors treated with an investigational gamma secretase inhibitor in a phase III trial. In the international DeFi study of more than 140 patients, risk for disease progression or death was reduced by 71% in the group randomized to nirogacestat, with a median […]
People With HIV More Likely to Be Hospitalized With Monkeypox?
Co-infection with HIV may increase the risk of hospitalization in patients with monkeypox, CDC researchers said, though other research did not confirm this. Among over 1,300 patients with monkeypox in eight U.S. jurisdictions, hospitalization was more common among those with HIV (8%) than those without the virus (3%), reported Kathryn G. Curran, PhD, of the […]
Mucus Too Sticky? NAC Injections May Help
BARCELONA — Patients with heavy mucus secretions that they couldn’t readily expectorate obtained some relief with IV N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a researcher said here. After 7 days of treatment in a randomized trial conducted in China, mean sputum viscosity scores declined by 0.24 points more with NAC than placebo injections (P<0.001), and scores for expectoration difficulty […]
10-Year Follow-Up Confirms Benefit of Chemoradiotherapy in MIBC Patients
Long-term results confirmed that the benefit of adding chemotherapy to radiotherapy was maintained in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) in a follow-up to the phase III randomized BC2001 trial. Over a median follow-up of about 10 years, locoregional control was significantly improved by adding 5-fluorouracil and mitomycin C to radiotherapy, with a 5-year recurrence-free […]
First-Line HIV Treatment Proves Mettle in Pregnant Patients
The HIV agent dolutegravir (Tivicay) was tied to greater viral suppression for pregnant patients with HIV-1, according to a cohort study. Among patients who used dolutegravir during pregnancy, viral suppression at delivery was achieved in nearly 96.7% of participants, reported Kunjal Patel, DSc, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and […]
Doctors May Have Found A Way To Reduce The Effects Of Alzheimer’s
A ‘pacemaker’ for the brain has helped a number of Alzheimer’s patients regain some of the cognitive function that they had previously lost because of the disease. The process involves placing tiny electrical wires deep within the frontal lobes of the brain and then applying a small electrical current.
Can Pre-Op Chemo Set Stage for Organ-Sparing Surgery in Early Rectal Cancer?
Three months of induction chemotherapy resulted in successful downstaging for certain patients with early-stage rectal cancer, enabling them to undergo organ-sparing therapy, according to a phase II trial. In 33 of 58 patients, induction with modified folinic acid, fluorouracil, oxaliplatin 6 (FOLFOX6) or capecitabine-oxaliplatin (CAPOX), followed by transanal excision surgery, resulted in downstaging to ypT0/1N0/X […]
Far Fewer Deaths During Omicron for Seniors Treated With Paxlovid
Older patients treated with nirmatrelvir boosted by ritonavir (Paxlovid) for COVID-19 had lower rates of hospitalization and death compared with those not treated with the antiviral during the Omicron wave, according to an observational retrospective cohort study from Israel. Among patients ages 65 and older, the rate of hospitalization due to COVID was 14.7 cases […]