American Society of Clinical Oncology, May 29-June 2

The Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology

The annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology was held virtually from May 29 to June 2, and attracted participants from around the world, including clinicians, academicians, allied health professionals, and others interested in oncology. The conference featured the latest advances in clinical cancer research, including 250 oral abstract presentations and 2,500 poster presentations in 24 disease-based and specialty tracks. Presentations focused on novel targeted therapies as well as improvements in chemotherapy and radiation therapy approaches.

In a phase II study, Benoit You, M.D., Ph.D., of the Centre Hospitalier Lyon-Sud and Lyon Investigational Center for Treatments in Oncology and Hematology in France, and colleagues found that firstline avelumab shows potential for treating gestational trophoblastic tumors resistant to single-agent chemotherapy with methotrexate or actinomycin-D.

“About 50 percent of patients resistant to single-agent chemotherapy experienced human chorionic gonadotropin normalization, enabling avelumab discontinuation, without any further relapse, despite stopping treatment. These patients are likely to be cured, and the safety profile was favorable,” You said. “Avelumab may be an option in low-risk gestational trophoblastic tumor patients who have resistance to either or both standard single-agent chemotherapy regimens (methotrexate and/or actinomycin-D) and who have an indication of polychemotherapy because they have high human chorionic gonadotropin greater than 1,000 IU/L, resistance to monochemotherapy, or contraindication to the other single-agent chemotherapy.”

The study was funded by EMD Serono-Pfizer, the manufacturer of avelumab.

Abstract No. LBA6008
Press Release

As part of the INdividualized Therapy FOr Relapsed Malignancies in Childhood (INFORM) registry, Cornelis van Tilburg, M.D., Ph.D., of Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg in Germany, and colleagues explored the clinical potential of precision oncology by providing state-of-the-art molecular diagnostics in children and evaluating clinical outcomes.

“INFORM gave children a chance to benefit from off-label targeted drugs and enrollment in biomarker-driven clinical trials,” Tilburg said. “This is the first time clinical outcomes were assessed in a real-world setting (not a clinical trial) of a large-scale, multinational personalized pediatric oncology platform.”

The investigators found that high-priority level targets identified by INFORM provided therapeutic opportunities (e.g., off-label adult drugs or enrollment in clinical trials) and resulted in prolonged progression-free survival for subgroups of children.