Oncology News Central Peer-Spectives

Oncologists are struggling with the rising cancer mortality rate among millennial patients. "I think treating people our own age is definitely a trigger for a lot of people," said Sunita Puri, MD , a palliative-care physician and author. She spoke with Robert A. Figlin, MD , the Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology at the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center in Los Angeles, about her recent...

Thoracic oncology was a major focus of the  2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting , says  Sandip P. Patel, MD , a medical oncologist and professor of medicine at the University of California San Diego. Practice-changing data were presented in both non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC), Dr. Patel told  Robert A. Figlin, MD , the Steven Spiel...

The biggest data at the  2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting  in kidney cancer focused on biomarkers, says  Brian I. Rini, MD , chief of clinical trials and the Ingram Professor of Cancer Research at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. He discussed data from  KEYNOTE-426  and several other key trials with  Robert A. Figlin, MD , the Steven Spielberg Famil...

Enfortumab vedotin plus pembrolizumab (EV/pembro) has “become the elephant in the room” when it comes to bladder cancer care, says  Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD , chief of genitourinary oncology service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. At the  2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting , he discussed recent key advances in urothelial carcinoma treatment with ...

Immunotherapy in “Hardest Stage” of NSCLC: Putting Recent Advances Into Practice Our host, Robert A. Figlin, MD, FACP, welcomes Melissa L. Johnson, MD, as a guest  

From ASCO 2024.   When it comes to the use of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in breast cancer care, "we're past the inflection point," says Hope S. Rugo, MD , a breast cancer oncologist and professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of California San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

From ASCO 2024 The time it takes for a novel cancer therapy to go from investigational new drug application to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval is typically longer than a decade. “There has to be a better way,” says  Bob T. Li, MD, PhD, MPH , a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and associate professor of medicine at Cornell University in...

From ASCO 2024, Dr. Robert Figlin speaks with Dr. Samer Al Hadadi from University of Arkansas. "Very Important" Myeloma Data: ASCO Highlights, Smoldering Challenges, and More.

From ASCO 2024, Dr. Robert Figlin talks with Dr. Lauren Averett Byers from MD Anderson Cancer Center. Durvalumab's Benefit in SCLC "Beyond What We Might Have Expected"

From ASCO 2024 New Standard of Care in Melanoma? Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy Offers "Fantastic" Potential, Expert Says. Dr. Robert Figlin speaks with Dr. Christian Blank from Leiden University

From ASCO 2024, Dr. Robert Figlin welcomes Dr. Aditya Bardia from UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Should All Breast Cancer Patients Get T-DXd? "Results of DESTINY-Breast06 Do Suggest That"

Especially in rural areas, the growing oncologist shortage has “gotten to crisis level,” says Harsha Vyas, MD, president and founding partner of Cancer Center of Middle Georgia in Dublin. “We just don’t have enough supply of medical oncologists/hematologists,” he tells Robert A. Figlin, MD, the Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology at the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center in Los Angeles. D...

The development of noncovalent Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors and other advances in chronic lymphocytic leukemia treatment signify that the “future is really exciting,” says Jennifer A. Woyach, MD, professor in the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University in Columbus. Dr. Woyach speaks with Robert A. Figlin, MD, the Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology at the Ce...

Given recent data, how should oncologists choose a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) in patients with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and when should chemotherapy be introduced? “It’s better to have choices than not,” explains Paul Bunn, MD , the Dudley Chair in Cancer Research at the University of Colorado in Aurora. Dr. Bunn discusses how recent trials influence treatment decision...

The treatment of biochemical recurrence in prostate cancer “is set for rapid development over the next few years,” says Edwin M. Posadas, MD , medical director of the Center for Uro-Oncology Research Excellence at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Data from the recent EMBARK trial have changed practice for the treatment of men with high-risk features. Dr...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent accelerated approval of a tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy in metastatic melanoma “is a real milestone,” after the approach was “pending for decades,” explains Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD , deputy director at the NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center. Dr. Weber, who was part of the team to first work with the treatment in the late 1980s, discusses t...

Recent advances in metastatic urothelial carcinoma have meant that optimistic outcomes are “not as much of a fairytale,” says Robert Dreicer, MD, deputy director of the UVA Cancer Center and professor of medicine and urology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville. From the recent approval of enfortumab vedotin plus pembrolizumab to other key findings recently presented...

Recent approvals by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and findings from pivotal clinical trials have changed care for patients with breast cancer that has progressed after frontline hormone therapy. Ruth M. O’Regan, MD , chair of medicine and Charles H. Dewey Professor at the University of Rochester in New York, highlights which recent developments regarding second- and third-line treatm...

Recent data on the use of immunotherapy and targeted treatments in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have introduced a myriad of questions. These include controversial topics and difficult decisions, like when to incorporate CTLA-4 inhibition and what patients can expect from immuno-oncology monotherapy in the metastatic setting. Edward B. Garon, MD, MS , professor in the d...

Belzutifan was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in previously treated adults with advanced renal cell carcinoma. How should this drug best be incorporated into practice? Eric Jonasch, MD , professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Robert A. Figlin, MD , the Steven Spielb...

CDK4/6 inhibitors “have really been a game changer” in metastatic breast cancer, according to Komal Jhaveri, MD , clinical director for early drug development and section head for endocrine therapy research at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City. However, optimal treatment strategies have been complicated by a lack of head-to-head trials. Dr. Jhaveri speaks with Robert A. Figlin, MD , the St...

From compelling data presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium to the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of capivasertib , 2023 saw numerous key advances in breast cancer care. Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH , director of the breast cancer research program at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and Robert A. Figlin, MD , the...

From the use of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron-emission tomography (PET) to advancements in targeted treatments, prostate cancer care is quickly evolving. Edwin M. Posadas, MD , director of the Experimental Therapeutics Program and director of the Center for Urologic Oncology Research Excellence at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, speaks with Robert A. Figlin, MD , the Steven Spiel...

Results of the recent EMBARK study show that both enzalutamide plus leuprolide and enzalutamide monotherapy significantly improved metastasis-free survival compared with leuprolide alone in patients with prostate cancer who have high-risk biochemical recurrence. Lead author Stephen Freedland, MD , associate director for education and training and director of the Center for Integrated Research in C...

Studies involving high-risk, early-stage ER-positive breast cancer are among the most eagerly anticipated at this year’s San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) , to be held Dec. 5-9. Virginia Kaklamani, MD , professor of medicine in the division of hematology and medical oncology at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center San Antonio and leader of the breast cancer program at the Mays...