New Immunotherapies for Multiple Hard-to-Treat Cancers

New Immunotherapies for Multiple Hard-to-Treat Cancers
Research at ASCO’s Annual Meeting Helps Identify Patients Likely to Benefit
May 29, 2015
Peter Wilson
571-483-1364
Peter.Wilson@asco.org

CHICAGO – Findings from four clinical trials released today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) 51st Annual Meeting show a promising new role for immunotherapy in patients with a wide range of common, solid tumor cancers. The new study results demonstrate the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs targeting the PD-1 protein in advanced liver, head and neck, lung, and colorectal cancers. Several of the studies also identified genomic markers that can be used to determine which patients stand to benefit most from these new therapies.

“The field of targeted immunotherapy gets more exciting every year,” said ASCO Expert Lynn Schuchter, MD, FASCO. “With these trials, we’re rapidly moving past the era in which immunotherapies are seen as breakthroughs for melanoma alone. Remarkably, these drugs are proving effective in other cancers where practically no other treatments work. Just as important, it’s possible that we’ll be able to pinpoint, in advance, which patients are the best candidates for these therapies.”

Studies include:

A phase II study reports that a specific genomic abnormality called mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency predicts response to the anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab. This marker predicted responses in patients with colorectal, endometrial and several other types of cancer.
A phase I/II study identified a potential new role for nivolumab in advanced liver cancer – a disease where just one FDA-approved treatment exists. Approximately one in five patients responded to this immunotherapy.
A new study identifies a promising role for the anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab in patients with head and neck cancer. One in four patients responded to pembrolizumab, irrespective of PD-L1 biomarker status.
A randomized phase III study establishes nivolumab as a possible standard second-line treatment option for non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. Patients treated with nivolumab were more likely to respond, lived longer and saw fewer side effects than those treated with standard docetaxel chemotherapy – especially those with high PD-L1 levels.

Media Resources:

Online Annual Meeting Media Resource Center: Visit ASCO.org/AMMRC for press releases, the press briefing schedule, embargo policies, high-resolution photos, and the Virtual Press Room, an online repository of corporate and institutional press materials from third-party organizations.

CancerProgress.Net: ASCO’s interactive website chronicling the progress achieved in clinical cancer research, including an in-depth timeline that tracks major research milestones in 18 of the most common cancers.

Cancer.Net: ASCO’s cancer information website for patients, providing doctor-approved information on more than 120 cancer types.