Oncology News Central Peer-Spectives

“Great Therapies for All-Comers” in CLL: How Can Oncologists “Pick and Choose?”

As treatment options increase for patients with CLL, so do questions about which interventions, if any, are right for which patients and when. Bob Figlin, MD, and Nicole Lamanna, MD, discuss key considerations, ranging from cardiac toxicity to why Dr. Lamanna “won't just treat for a symptom.”

Pragmatica-Lung Tests a Treatment and a New Approach to Trials

The newly opened Pragmatica-Lung trial compares ramucirumab plus pembrolizumab versus usual care for treatment of stage IV or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer. The trial is designed to ease enrollment requirements and data collection needs, focusing on the key endpoint of overall survival. Listen as study lead Karen Reckamp, MD, professor and division director for Cedar Sinai Cancer and Medical Oncology, and Bob Figlin, MD, the Steven Spielberg Family Chair in hematology oncology at Cedar Sinai Cancer, talk about how the trial came about and why it could change how future studies are done across cancer types

The Best First Step in Metastatic NSCLC Care

With more than 10 known driver mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), testing is ever more critical, says Heather Wakelee, MD, division chief of medical oncology at Stanford University and president of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. Listen as she and Peer-Spectives host Bob Figlin, MD, the Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, talk about how she manages patients with metastatic disease or those who need adjuvant treatment, when she starts targeted therapy or immunotherapy, and more. “We can drastically change the course of disease for a patient by giving them the appropriate targeted treatment. So that testing is so critical,” Dr. Wakelee said.

Neo- and Adjuvant Treatments Are Changing Care in Early NSCLC

Treatment options are expanding quickly in early non-small cell lung cancer. Listen as Heather Wakelee, MD, division chief of Medical Oncology at Stanford University and president of the  International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, describes how she’s using new agents and incorporating trial findings into practice. She and host Bob Figlin, MD, the Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, explore the growing roles for neo- and adjuvant therapy and how to select patients for each therapeutic approach.

NALIRIFOX Changes Care in Pancreatic Cancer: Here’s How

After a decade of limited gains in metastatic pancreatic cancer, Zev Wainberg, MD, professor of medicine and co-director of the GI oncology program at the University of California, Los Angeles, presented the results of the NAPOLI-3 trial at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium last month. The data showed an improvement in overall survival and usher in a new standard for the hard-to-treat disease. Listen as Dr. Wainberg talks with Bob Figlin, MD,Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, and host of OBR’s Peer-Spectives podcast, about those data and which patients should receive the regimen. They also talk about what advances might be coming next in the metastatic setting and in earlier disease, and what factors influence Dr. Wainberg’s treatment choices.    

Matching Breast Cancer Patients to Therapies: Here’s How

The landscape for breast cancer treatment is shifting quickly, with an ever-increasingemphasis on targeted and hormonal therapies. Listen as Virginia Kaklamani,MD, professor of medicine in the division of hematology oncology at UT Health San Antonio, and medical directorof the breast oncologyprogram at UT Health San Antonio, MD Anderson Cancer Center,talks with Bob Figlin, MD, Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-OncologyatCedars-Sinai Cancer,about key findings coming out of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. She shares how she’ll use elacestrant following updated results from the EMERALD trial, how to select patients for ovarian suppression, and the expanding role of CDK4/6 inhibitors. “[T]here's no role for combination chemotherapy in first-line [estrogen receptor]-positive metastatic breast cancer anymore –even in patients that are deemed to have visceral crisis,”she said.    

Myelofibrosis Remains Tough to Treat, But New Drugs Are Paving the Way

Listen as Gabriela Hobbs, MD, clinical director of the leukemia atMass General, talks with Bob Figlin, MD, the Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer in Los Angeles, about the latest progress in the treatment of myelofibrosisand how she both assesses new patients and plans their treatment. New agents, including JAK2 inhibitors,are not curative but can have substantial effects on patients and open up further treatment options. Dr. Hobbs also talks about new drug classes on the horizon and what to expect at the upcoming ASH meeting.

KRAS Inhibition in NSCLC: When, How, and Why?

Melissa Johnson, MD,a medical oncologist with Tennessee Oncology and Director of Lung Cancer Research at Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville,joins host Robert Figlin, MD, Steven Spielberg Family Chair in HematologyOncologyat Cedars-Sinai Cancer, to talk about KRAS G12C inhibition in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)treatment. She talks about how she uses sotorasib (Lumakras), which is U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)approved for second-line treatment, why plasma-based genetic testing is so important, and how she explains to patients that even though she can’t start them off with this drug in the first-line, having it in reserve is a good plan.    

Strategies for Navigating a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship

The key steps to launching a successful and professionally fulfilling hematology/oncology fellowship is to “reflect, project, and adapt,” according to Gerald Hsu, MD, PhD, associate clinical professor of medicine and director of the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program at UCSF. Dr. Hsu spoke with Robert Figlin, MD, to discuss how new fellows can best navigate the opportunities they’re presented with. Dr. Hsu recommends reflecting on your areas of passion and interest, projecting what you’ll need 10 years down the road, and adapting your goals as your priorities and interests evolve.

Taking Aim at MET and KRAS in NSCLC

Tejas Patil, MD, assistant professor of medical oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, talks with Robert A. Figlin, MD, about new targeted therapies for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), particularly tepotinib (Tepmetko) for MET exon 14 and sotorasib (Lumakras) for KRAS G12C. The MET exon 14 skip mutation has attracted renewed attention because tepotinib and capmatinib (Tabrecta), which both target this mutation, recently received FDA approvals. But MET can be disrupted in other ways, as well. Listen as Dr. Patil discusses the different types of MET alterations, how to identify MET activation in patients, and best practices for using tepotinib to treat MET activation that arises as a resistance mechanism to the EGFR inhibitor osimertinib (Tagrisso).