American Society of Clinical Oncology Issues Report Card on Fight Against Cancer

An independent review of the cancer research advances of 2011 was released this week by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The report, titled Clinical Cancer Advances 2011: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer, identifies oncology trends with the most potential and provides insights from experts on the future of cancer care.

“We’ve made significant strides in clinical cancer research over the past year and this report adds renewed hope for patients,” said Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD, Co-Executive Editor of the report. “More personalized treatment approaches and advances in early detection are helping patients live longer, healthier lives. But we must improve the nation’s clinical research system and expand access to quality cancer care to accelerate the pace of progress.”

Top research advances of 2011 include new therapies for reducing cancer recurrence, progress against hard-to-treat cancers, and improvements in cancer prevention and screening. Also highlighted in the report are new drug approvals that allow for more effective therapies among genetic subgroups of patients with cancer.

The top 5 advances selected by the editors are:

• A Phase III study finding that vemurafenib (Zelboraf), by targeting a common gene mutation in melanoma(BRAF), improved overall survival in patients with advanced melanoma, compared to standard chemotherapy
• A large national screening trial including more than 50,000 current and former heavy smokers that showed 3 annual low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans reduced the lung cancer death rate by 20% when compared to those screened with 3 annual chest X-rays
• FDA approvals on therapies for 2 hard-to-treat cancers:
  • Crizotinib (Xalkori) was approved for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer who harbor a specific type of alteration in the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene
  • Ipilimumab (Yervoy) – an immune therapy that activates the immune system’s T cells – was approved for patients with previously untreated metastatic melanoma.
• Conclusive evidence that an aromatase inhibitor reduced the risk of a first breast cancer, thus making exemestane (Aromasin) an option for preventative treatment among postmenopausal women at high risk for the disease

The report identifies a total of 54 advances in clinical oncology over the past year. It includes the full spectrum of patient care, including cancer disparities, advanced cancer care and survivor care.

Source: ASCO.