Community oncologists affiliated with the U.S. Oncology Network and U.S. Oncology Research shared findings from about 40 data presentations covering new approaches to several cancer specialties at the 53rd annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO 2017), at Chicago’s McCormick Place, June 2–6.
Participants shared these results and highlighted the importance of community–based cancer research in developing new therapies in specialty areas including blood diseases, breast cancer, and immune–related cancers such as lymphoma.
One of the highlighted presentations was by Debra Patt, MD, MBA, MPH, who participated in an expert panel titled, “More Medicine, Fewer Clicks: How Informatics Can Actually Help Your Practice.”
Other important presentations were part of the “Hematologic Malignancies: Lymphoma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia” session and included:
- David J. Andorsky, MD, titled “Phase IIIb randomized study of lenalidomide plus rituximab (R2) followed by maintenance in relapsed/refractory NHL: Analysis of patients with double-refractory or early relapsed follicular lymphoma (FL)”
- Jeff Sharman, MD, titled “Ublituximab and ibrutinib for previously treated genetically high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia: Results of the GENUINE phase 3 study.”
In 2015, then–U.S. Vice President Joe Biden launched the Biden Moonshot Cancer Program to accelerate progress in cancer research and increase prevention, diagnosis, and treatments.
“Inspired by the Biden Moonshot Cancer program’s commitment to developing new cancer technologies, community oncologists continue to make significant contributions in shaping the future of cancer care,” Michael V. Seiden, MD, PhD, the U.S. Oncology Network’s chief medical officer, said in a press release.
Speaking about recent advances in the treatment of follicular lymphoma, Andorsky said that groups of patients with this disease continue to have poor outcomes.
“Early results from the MAGNIFY trial of rituximab plus lenalidomide in high-risk patients with follicular lymphoma found that patients with poor outcomes include those whose disease relapses early (within 2 years of initial treatment) and who are refractory to both rituximab and alkylating agents. I’m committed to helping develop novel therapies that improve the quality of care for these patients,” Andorsky said.
Sharman said it is important to rapidly move discoveries into “meaningful clinical trials” to treat and cure hematologic malignancies and improve patient outcomes.
“Data from the GENUINE trial show that high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients who received a combination of ublituximab (UTX) and ibrutinib (IB) demonstrated a superior response rate compared to those who received IB alone without additional clinically significant toxicity,” Sharman said. “These results are a testament to the treatment advances being made, but there is still work to be done. We must think through our patients’ journeys, from start to finish.”
A complete list of U.S. Oncology Research affiliated studies and educational programs featured at ASCO 2017 can be found here.
