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Immunotherapy again named ASCO’s ‘Cancer Advance of the Year’
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For the second year in a row, ASCO has named immunotherapy as its cancer advance of the year, according to “Clinical Cancer Advances 2017: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer.”
“In less than a decade, immunotherapy has gone from being considered a promising theoretical treatment to one that has become a standard of care that is helping extend or improve the lives of thousands of patients,” Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FACP, FASCO, president of ASCO and professor of internal medicine and director of the breast oncology program at University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in a press release. “Today, increasing knowledge about both cancer and immunology is leading to more and smarter use of treatments that activate a patient’s own immune system. Federal funding has made these life-saving advances possible and remains essential to increasing the pace of discovery and progress.”
The annual ASCO report — released today on Capitol Hill, just days ahead of World Cancer Day on Feb. 4 — places an emphasis on sustaining annual increases in federal funding for cancer research. Congress recently approved 2017 funding increases for the NIH and NCI.
“Much work still lies ahead,” Hayes said. “After a decade of flat funding, we are encouraged by the recent increase in NIH support. Sustained federal investment is needed to continue our momentum and build on the progress we’ve achieved. We need to catch up and keep up.”
ASCO named “immunotherapy 2.0” as the advance of the year, based on the expanding use of this class of drugs and a refined patient selection.
The most significant advances in immunotherapy in recent years have been in immune checkpoint inhibitors, which target specialized proteins that act as brakes on the immune system, ensuring that immune defenses are engaged only when they are needed and for as long as they are needed. Since 2011, the FDA has approved 15 uses for immune checkpoint inhibitors, including five in the past year for lung, kidney, bladder, and head and neck cancers, as well as Hodgkin lymphoma. The FDA’s approval of atezolizumab (Tecentriq, Genentech) marked the first new treatment for bladder cancer in more than 3 decades.
Immunotherapy progress in 2016 also focused on identifying patients most likely to benefit from these treatments, discovering mechanisms of resistance, and developing better means of reducing toxicities.
Other cancer-related advances in 2016 noted in ASCO’s annual report were precision medicine, liquid biopsies, and new web-based tools that help patients alert their cancer care teams when symptoms worsen.
“To conquer cancer, we must conduct research across the cancer care continuum, from screening to new treatments and strategies that help ease treatment side effects,” Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, FASCO, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-executive editor of Clinical Cancer Advances, said. “With World Cancer Day around the corner, I’m excited by the advances we've made in just this past year as they will help many patients around the world live longer, healthier lives.” – by Chuck Gormley