Oncology News Central Peer-Spectives

Gerald Hsu, MD, PhD, UCSF’s hematology/oncology fellowship program director, joins Robert Figlin, MD, to talk about what fellowship programs are looking for in applicants, how trainees can find programs that are a good fit, and why preparing for an interview improves the odds you land at the right spot for you.

Michael B. Atkins, MD, and Robert Figlin, MD, discuss results from the EVEREST clinical trial as well as new data on TKIs, immunotherapy, and HIF-2 inhibitors. They also discuss adjuvant therapy and how depth of response differs between immunotherapy and TKIs, and look ahead to what the future holds.

Danielle Brander, MD, talks with Robert Figlin, MD, about selecting frontline treatments for CLL and how she talks with patients about their treatment options. “What I think is unique about the last few years is we’ve seen multiple randomized trials in the frontline setting that have shown not only superior progression-free survival … but several of those randomized studies also showing improvement in overall survival versus chemoimmunotherapy,” Dr. Brander said. “I think it’s really important for us to be considering these novel treatment options.”

William Gradishar, MD, talks with Robert Figlin, MD, about breast cancer research highlights from the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, including results from DESTINY-Breast04 and new data on CDK4/6 inhibitors from the PALOMA-2 and MAINTAIN trials.

Michael B. Atkins, MD, talks with Robert A. Figlin, MD, about the importance of sequencing therapies for patients with BRAF-positive metastatic melanoma. Data from the DREAMSeq trial, which Dr Atkins updated at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, show a significant survival advantage at two years for patients who receive ipilimumab plus nivolumab prior to receiving a BRAF/MEK inhibitor. But not all patients fit that paradigm. Listen as Dr Atkins shares which patients he starts on immunotherapy and when he thinks is the best time for crossover to a targeted agent.

Listen in as Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, shares with Robert Figlin, MD, how he approaches treatment for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer after the ADAURA and CHECKMATE-816 trials. They discuss different factors that influence use of adjuvant and neoadjuvant treatments, including stage, EGFR mutation status, and PD-L1 status.

Lori Leslie, MD, and Robert Figlin, MD, discuss the latest drugs and clinical trial data on CLL treatment. Dr. Leslie shares her strategy for sequencing agents, including various BTK inhibitors and venetoclax, and how she decides on treatment in patients whose disease progresses or are refractory.

Sapna Patel, MD, Associate Professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Robert Figlin, MD, Deputy Director at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, discuss the clinical implications of the DREAMseq trial, showing patients with BRAF-mutant metastatic melanoma live longer if they receive first-line ipilimumab plus nivolumab.

Rana McKay, MD, Allan Pantuck, MD, and Robert Figlin, MD, discuss the recent update to the Keynote-564 study investigating adjuvant pembrolizumab in RCC and the impact on high-, medium-, and low-risk patients.  They also talk about the Disease-Free Survival (DFS) endpoint, discussing the study with patients, and the recent NCCN guidelines update.

Daniel Petrylak, MD, Professor of Medicine at the Yale Cancer Center, and Robert Figlin, MD, of Cedars-Sinai Cancer discuss recent developments at ASCO GU in muscle-invasive bladder cancer and in particular the EV-103 clinical study while also discussing the future of MIBC treatment.