ESMO Highlights

New results from the PATHFINDER clinical trial suggest that a multicancer early detection blood test can accurately identify the presence of cancer in apparently healthy people.

Although it is well established that air pollution is associated with lung cancer, how this occurs has not been well described.

During the 2021 European Society for Medical Oncology virtual meeting, 5-year follow-up data from a clinial trial showed comparable results related to cardiac safety and long-term efficacy between trastuzumab (Herceptin) and the biosimilar trastuzumab-dttb (SB3; Ontruzant) in patients with HER2-positive, early or locally advanced breast cancer.

Results from a phase 3 clinical trial showed equivalence between the bevacizumab biosimilar, BCD-021, and the reference product, bevacizumab (Avastin), in terms of overall response rate (ORR) in patients with stage IIIB or IV nonsquamous non–small-cell lung cancer.

“This is truly a practice-changing study, not just for our patients but for the design of other studies. We can successfully identify candidates for olaparib. We saw a clinically meaningful improvement in outcomes for patients with HRR genetic alterations, driven mainly by BRCA2,” said Eleni Efstathiou, MD, PhD.

Barcelona, Spain—Late-breaking data from 2 clinical trials presented at ESMO 2019 will likely change the treatment paradigm for pre- or postmenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, regardless of menopausal status. The MONALEESA-3 study and the MONARCH-2 study showed an improved overall survival (OS) with the addition of the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib (Kisqali) or abemaciclib (Verzenio) to endocrine therapy as first- or second-line therapy. The results were presented at the Presidential Session of the meeting.