Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Sarcoma Alliance appointed William Tseng, MD, to its board of directors.

The FDA granted orphan drug designation to annamycin for the treatment of patients with soft tissue sarcoma, according to a manufacturer-issued press release.

The FDA granted fast track and orphan drug designations to PTC596 for treatment of leiomyosarcoma, according to the agent’s manufacturer.

Published results showed inferior overall survival among pediatric, adolescent and young adult patients with soft tissue sarcoma who had low-income public insurance compared to patients with private insurance.

A 5-day regimen of neoadjuvant radiotherapy appeared as effective and safe as the conventional 5-week regimen for patients with soft tissue sarcoma, according to results of a prospective phase 2 study published in Clinical Cancer Research.

The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee, or ODAC, today voted 11-0 in favor of approval of tazemetostat for the treatment of adults with metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma who are not eligible for curative surgery.

LAS VEGAS — Use of radiotherapy in patients with soft tissue sarcoma of the hand was not associated with worse functional outcomes compared with patients who did not receive radiotherapy, according to results presented here.

The FDA’s warning that some breast cancer treatments could cause severe lung inflammation and the announcement that it granted orphan drug status to a T-cell therapy for soft tissue sarcoma were among the top stories in hematology/oncology last week.

A 75-year-old woman with a medical history significant for obesity, diabetes mellitus type 2 and coronary artery disease presented with a 6-month history of constitutional symptoms, multiple hospitalizations for dehydration and electrolyte imbalances, and a precipitous functional decline. She was noted on several occasions to have a marked leukocytosis and was treated with various antibiotic regimens without a known infectious source. A CT scan of the chest/abdomen/pelvis revealed what was thought to be an enlarged inguinal lymph node (Figure 1).

The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to ADP-A2M4, an investigational specific peptide-enhanced affinity receptor T-cell therapy, for the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas.