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VIDEO: Speaker offers key takeaways in head and neck cancer from the ASCO Annual Meeting
CHICAGO — Barbara Ann Burtness, MD, professor of medicine at Yale Cancer Center and a HemOnc Today Editorial Board member, offers key takeaways from studies that evaluated targeted therapy and traditional cytotoxic agents for the treatment of head and neck cancers at the ASCO Annual Meeting.
First, Burtness discusses survival outcomes from the phase 3 randomized E1305 trial, designed to evaluate chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech) in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
“It appears as if bevacizumab is active in this disease, and yet in the continuum of care with other second-line therapies that are now available to patients, first-line use of bevacizumab does not advance survival,” she said.
In addition, Burtness discussed the use of chemoradiation in high- to intermediate-risk disease, various biomarkers associated with afatinib (Gilotrif, Boehringer Ingelheim) treatment, and the potential effects of administering cisplatin in conjunction with radiation. – by Kristie L. Kahl
Disclosure: Burtness receives consultant and advisory fees from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Debiopharm Group, MedImmune, Merck and VentiRx; and research funding from Merck.