Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab Administered Before Surgery Improves Outcomes of Melanoma Patients

A team of researchers from institutions across the United States, including Moffitt Cancer Center, launched a phase 2 clinical trial evaluating a new treatment option for this patient population. Their results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, show that treating resectable stage 3 and 4 melanoma patients with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab both before and after surgery greatly improves outcomes when compared to pembrolizumab given only after surgery.

Cutting-edge combination shows promise in patients with chemotherapy-resistant urothelial cancer

A combination of two types of cancer-fighting treatments – the immunotherapy agent pembrolizumab and a nanoparticle-bound form of the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel – may provide an urgently needed new treatment approach for patients who do not respond to or can’t receive standard chemotherapy for advanced urothelial cancers, reports a preliminary study in The Journal of Urology®, an Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

Next-Generation Immunotherapy Drug Shows Continued Promise in Several Advanced-Stage Cancers

Initial study results show that an experimental drug, called nemvaleukin alfa, when used alone or in combination with another anticancer drug (pembrolizumab) may be effective in treating several types of late-stage cancers in some patients.

MD Anderson Research Highlights: ESMO 2021 Special Edition

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights provides a glimpse into recent studies in basic, translational and clinical cancer research from MD Anderson experts. This special edition features oral presentations by MD Anderson researchers at the virtual European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2021 on novel therapeutic approaches, including cell therapy for solid tumors, antibody drug conjugates targeting TROP2 and neoadjuvant pembrolizumab for advanced solid tumors with mismatch repair deficiencies.

Use of Pembrolizumab Provided Long-Term Benefits in Patients With Metastatic Melanoma, 10-Year Look Shows

A new 10-year analysis led by Igor Puzanov, MD, MSci, FACP, Director of Early Phase Clinical Trials and Chief of Melanoma at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and published today in the journal JAMA Oncology provides new insights into an important question: whether BRAF V600E/K mutation status or previous BRAF inhibitor (BRAFi) therapy with or without a MEK inhibitor (MEKi) affects response to pembrolizumab (brand name Keytruda) in patients with advanced melanoma.

Study Shows Promise for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Who Require New Treatment Options

A new type of immunotherapy treatment for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is being tested by Missak Haigentz, Jr., MD, medical director of hematology and oncology for Atlantic Health System. Early results appear promising in this phase 1/2 clinical trial of ADXS-503 being developed by Advaxis, Inc., a new type of cancer therapy which targets “hotspot” mutations that commonly occur in specific cancer types, both by itself and in combination with immunotherapy Keytruda® (pembrolizumab), which is commonly used to treat this type of lung cancer. Dr. Haigentz and colleagues published early results of this study in conjunction with ASCO 2020, the world’s premier scientific meeting for clinical research in oncology.

Radiation/immunotherapy combo shows promise for recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancers

A new phase II trial finds that a combination of radiation therapy and immunotherapy led to encouraging survival outcomes and acceptable toxicity for patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The combination of radiation and pembrolizumab may offer a new treatment option for patients who are ineligible for cisplatin chemotherapy, part of standard treatment for the disease. Findings will be presented at the 2020 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.

Yale Cancer Center Study Shows Long-Term Survival Benefit for Certain Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer

According to the results of a large, global study led by Yale Cancer Center researchers, even a tiny amount of a biomarker known as PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand1) can predict a long-term survival benefit from using pembrolizumab (Keytruda).

Addition of Immunotherapy to Standard Treatment for Advanced Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer is Safe and Tolerable as First-Line Therapy

Research from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey shows administering the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab together with chemotherapy given at the same time as radiation treatment (chemoradiation) is safe and tolerable as a first-line therapy for patients with stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Atlantic Health System Cancer Care Enrolling Patients in Innovative Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trials

November is national Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month. This year alone, more than 56,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic tumors are particularly aggressive and hard to treat “due to a mutational profile that makes it resistant to therapies that work better for other tumor types,” explains Angela Alistar, MD, medical director of GI oncology at Morristown Medical Center. Dr. Alistar, an internationally known expert on pancreatic cancer, is now enrolling patients in five clinical trials aimed at pancreatic cancer.