Oncology

The FDA approved the combination of Tafinlar and Mekinist for solid tumors with a BRAF V600E mutation. This is the first therapy to be approved that is tumor agnostic for patients with this mutation.

A study in the journal Blood has found that the cost-effectiveness of the Polivy treatment regimen used to treat patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma would decrease if the five-year progression-free survival decreased.

Trial results showed overall survival was shorter compared with chemotherapy. The move doesn’t affect other indications.

Sierra Oncology is seeking approval of momelotinib as a treatment for patients with myelofibrosis, a bone marrow cancer.

But investigators found that U.S. approvals often come before publication of results.

The FDA needs time to review additional clinical data submitted by BeiGene for the leukemia/lymphoma indication. The new date is Jan. 20, 2023.

The FDA has set a PDUFA date of Jan. 29, 2023, but Merck indicated additional data may be provided to regulators that extends this date.

The FDA approved Orgovyx in December 2021 to treat patients with advanced prostate cancer.

If biosimilar acceptance is to grow, it’s going to take a great deal of work to improve the levels of trust between payers, patients, and oncologists.

The label now includes a new section about the risk of substituting an oral azacitidine product, Onureg, for the injection therapy.

More than 5,700 trials worldwide are investigating PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, and new trials of these therapies were of combination regimens.

The FDA indicated the risk of death outweighs the benefits of Ukoniq, which was approved in February 2021 to treat specific lymphomas.

Opdivo-based treatments are now approved for five indications in upper gastroesophageal cancers.

Kymriah is now approved in three indications and is the only CAR-T cell therapy approved in both adult and pediatric settings.

The Access to Oncology Medicines Coalition brings together pharma companies and other organizations to help countries develop the capacity and access to essential cancer medicines.

This is the fifth biosimilar of Neulasta and the third biosimilar from Amneal to receive FDA approval.

Tibsovo is the first therapy targeting cancer metabolism for patients with newly diagnosed IDH1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia.

Launched last year, Prime’s MedDrive is an integrated drug management solution that leverages biosimilars to help reduce drug spend.

The FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date of Nov. 28, 2022.

While regulatory flexibility is important for drugs for rare diseases, investigators are concerned the trend toward surrogate endpoints decreases confidence that new drugs can improve patient outcomes.

The label for Imbruvica now includes information about the possibility of cardiac failure, which has occurred in 1% of patients. Imbruvica is used to treat B-cell blood cancers.

Research and discussion about the high cancer rates among Black Americans used to be dominated by genetics and the search for biological differences. Now attention has shifted to the social determinants of health.

Bortezomib is part of the company’s KabiConnect program, a recent expansion of its KabiCare patient support program

The FDA’s Prescription Drug User Fee Act action date for its regulatory decision for Imfinzi for BTC is during the third quarter of 2022.

The FDA’s accelerated approval of Enhertu in later line HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer has now converted to regular approval.

The FDA would like Hutchmed to conduct a multi-regional trial that includes patients who are more representative of the U.S. patient population and aligned to current U.S. medical practice.

The regulatory agency has requested a quality process change for toripalimab, which is being developed to treat nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Lenvima is approved to treat thyroid cancer, renal cell carcinoma and in combination with Keytruda for metastatic kidney cancer.

Patients with cancer who have a poor prognosis may face obstacles in accessing critical pain medications.

Vonjo is the first therapy that specifically addresses the needs of patients with cytopenic myelofibrosis, a bone marrow cancer.