Darlene Dobkowski, MA

With the second COVID-19 vaccine receiving emergency use authorization by the FDA, patients with cancer undergoing treatment should keep in mind how it may affect their therapy and the potential difference between the two vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

This treatment strategy contributed to a median progression-free survival of 13.93 months compared with 9.46 months in those treated with Velcade and dexamethasone.

The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine is delivered similarly to the Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine, with two doses a month apart. This adds a second vaccine to the arsenal for COVID-19 prevention.

This approval allows Tagrisso to be used after tumor resection in non-small cell lung cancer patients with tumors that have certain epidermal growth factor receptor mutations or deletions.

Orgovyx is the first oral drug to treat patients with advanced prostate cancer, who were previously treated with intravenous drugs that required clinic visits.

This treatment regimen of Xpovio with Velcade, approved for patients with multiple myeloma previously treated with at least one therapy, provides another option for patients with multiple myeloma to potentially close the treatment gap.

As treatment delays become more common – especially with the COVID-19 pandemic – delays as much as four weeks can impact the risk for mortality in seven different types of cancer.

This study also found that women with higher waist circumferences had a higher risk for cancer-related and all-cause death compared with those with lower waist circumferences.

Results from this blood test may help develop informed treatment plans for pancreatic cancer and potentially help patients avoid unnecessary treatment.

Tesetaxel, a novel agent, with Xeloda contributed to a median progression-free survival of 9.8 months, compared with 6.9 months with Xeloda alone, in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Women with higher diet adherence scores after diagnosis had a 33% lower risk for all-cause mortality and a 17% lower risk for mortality related to breast cancer compared with women with lower diet adherence scores.

The combination of ublituximab and umbralisib, two novel compounds, was able to safely prolong progression-free survival with low rates of toxicities in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia compared with standard of care chemoimmunotherapy regardless of prior treatment.

Most of the potential years of life lost, a measure of the impact of cancer-related deaths especially in younger patients, were attributed to cancers such as colon, lung and breast.

The benefit observed in patients with Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia treated with Imbruvica (ibrutinib) plus Rituxan (rituximab), compared with placebo and Rituxan, focused on survival and response to the treatment, both of which occurred despite prior treatment and genotypes.

Compared with patients assigned bendamustine with Rituxan, those assigned Venclexta with Rituxan maintained an overall survival benefit, with a five-year OS estimate of 82.1% for the Venclexta with Rituxan group vs. 62.2% for the bendamustine with Rituxan group.

The phase 3 trial found that this treatment improves progression-free survival (PFS) during 18.7 months of follow-up, although patients treated with Venclexta (venetoclax) a had increased mortality rates compared with those treated with placebo.

The reduced incidence in developing advanced cancer in patients at least 50 years and older was more prominent in those with normal weight vs. overweight or obesity.

Safety and efficacy observed in this real-world study for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma similarly reflect findings from previous pivotal trials.

Study results also determined that immune system status before treatment may predict outcomes post-treatment.

The drug has been approved to treat patients with advanced or metastatic RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer and RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer.

Predicting risk for recurrence and progression in patients with nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer may help when discussing management options with clinicians.

The radioactive diagnostic agent, Gallium 68 PSMA-11, can detect suspected prostate cancer metastasis or recurrence, providing another imaging option for these patients.

Several factors may lead to prolonged treatment duration for breast cancer including socioeconomic status, race, and barriers to care.

The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Danyelza comes as a result of two trials that assessed the efficacy of the drug in patients with relapsed or refractory high-risk neuroblastoma in the bone or bone marrow who did not have sufficient response to prior therapies.

This survival benefit was particularly observed in patients with node-positive disease, or cancer that spread to the lymph nodes according to pathology.

Despite a modest benefit in these patients, principal investigator Dr. Yuan Yuan said she is looking “forward to the future” with regards to therapies that integrate nonsteroidal selective androgen receptor modulators for this patient population.

This combined treatment, which includes bendamustine, ofatumumab, carboplatin and etoposide, may serve as an effective bridge to stem cell transplantation.

Patients with myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) may benefit from this combination treatment if they are in the accelerated or blast phase of the disease.

Among patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer, several groups were found to receive chemotherapy less often compared with White patients. They included Black, older and uninsured patients as well as those with nonprivate health insurance.

This treatment, which included dexamethasone, high-dose cytarabine and cisplatin, was well tolerated in this patient population, although longer-term follow-up is needed to see if the benefit persists.