Cancer research meeting postponed due to COVID-19, plus more top stories in hematology/oncology

The American Association for Cancer Research’s board of directors announced that they are postponing the annual meeting, which was scheduled for April 24-29 in San Diego, due to COVID-19 concerns. It was the top story in hematology/oncology last week.

Another top story was about a study that showed genetic testing may benefit some postmenopausal women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

Read these and more of last week’s top stories in hematology/oncology below:

AACR postpones annual meeting due to COVID-19 concerns

The American Association for Cancer Research’s board of directors has postponed the AACR Annual Meeting due to concerns related to the novel coronavirus. Read more.

Genetic testing may benefit some postmenopausal women with breast cancer

Postmenopausal women with breast cancer had a threefold higher prevalence of pathogenic variants in breast cancer-associated genes than their cancer-free counterparts, according to results of a case-control study published in JAMA. Read more.

Trial of three-agent combination for multiple myeloma misses endpoint

A randomized phase 3 trial designed to evaluate the addition of elotuzumab to lenalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone for a subset of patients with multiple myeloma failed to meet its primary endpoint, according to the agent’s manufacturer. Read more.

Cancer death rates continue to decline, but ‘more work ahead’ toward prevention

Cancer death rates declined between 2001 and 2017 in the United States for all cancer sites combined, according to the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer published in Cancer. Read more.

Phase 3 trial in relapsed ovarian cancer misses primary endpoint

The combination of cediranib and olaparib failed to extend progression-free survival compared with platinum-based chemotherapy for a subset of women with ovarian cancer, according to topline results of a randomized phase 3 trial. Read more.