Bristol-Myers Squibb's nivolumab achieved a 2-year survival rate of 24% among 129 heavily pretreated patients with non–small cell lung cancer in updated results from a phase I trial presented at the 15th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Sydney, Australia, on October 29. The PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor is being studied in more than 25 trials.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved obinutuzumab (Gazyva; Genentech) for use with chlorambucil to treat patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The drug is the first with a Breakthrough Therapy designation to receive the agency's approval.
Additionally, the FDA asked Ariad Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, MA, to suspend sales and marketing of its leukemia drug Iclusig (ponatinib) because of the risk of life-threatening blood clots and severe narrowing of blood vessels.
In a phase III trial among more than 14,000 females ages 16 to 26, Merck's V503 investigational human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine prevented approximately 97% of cervical, vaginal, and vulvar precancers caused by HPV types 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58, and generated immune responses to HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18 that were noninferior to those generated by the company's Gardasil vaccine. The company plans to submit a Biologics License Application for V503 to the FDA this year.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) released a checklist of 30 criteria for evaluating molecular tests that will guide decisions made during NCI-supported clinical cancer trials.
After state leaders lifted a moratorium, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) is moving ahead with new grants. CPRIT had awarded $836 million between 2009 and the start of the moratorium in December 2012.
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer officially classified outdoor air pollution as a group 1 carcinogen, after an expert group concluded that there is sufficient evidence that exposure to such pollution causes lung cancer.
For more news on cancer research, visit Cancer Discovery online at http://CDnews.aacrjournals.org.
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