SAN FRANCISCO – Nine studies exploring a variety of trends and approaches in immuno-oncology, including adaptive cell therapies, immune checkpoint inhibitors, the use of predictive biomarkers, and more, will be presented at the 2019 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium. The meeting will take place February 28 – March 2 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, California.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A single-arm, phase II trial in men with PSMA-positive metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) that progressed despite standard therapies, found that in the majority of men, the cancers were responsive to treatment with a novel, targeted radiation therapy called Lutetium-177 PSMA-617 (LuPSMA). This is the first prospective study of LuPSMA, part of a potential new class of treatments for men with metastatic prostate cancer. According to the researchers, men receiving the medication lived a median of 13.3 months after treatment, longer than the average 9-month survival time for men with this stage of disease. These findings will be presented at the upcoming 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, California.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Results from the randomized, phase III KEYNOTE-426 clinical trial show that first-line therapy with a combination of the PD-1 targeted immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and the VEGF-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor axitinib (Inlyta) extended both overall survival and progression-free survival for patients with clear-cell metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), compared with the current standard of care, sunitinib (Sutent). Findings from this international study will be presented at the upcoming 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, California.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Over the past year, major research advances provided new treatment options for patients with rare, difficult-to-treat cancers. In recognition of these achievements, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) names “Progress in Treating Rare Cancers” as the Advance of the Year. To continue the forward momentum, ASCO also debuts its list of Research Priorities to accelerate progress against cancer. These and additional milestones in cancer research are featured in ASCO’s annual Clinical Cancer Advances report, released today.

ASCO congratulates Anand Shah, MD, MPH, on being named Senior Medical Advisor for Innovation at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In his new role, Dr. Shah will lead efforts across CMS to advance medical innovation reporting directly to CMS Administrator Seema Verma.

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Alexandria, VA. & Chicago – The American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO) and Tempus announced today an agreement to support research sites participating in ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization (TAPUR™) Study. The TAPUR Study is a prospective, non-randomized clinical trial that aims to describe the performance (both safety and efficacy) of Food and Drug Administration-approved, targeted anticancer drugs that are used for the treatment of patients who have both advanced cancer and a potentially actionable genomic alteration. Tumor profiling testing by a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA)-certified, College of American Pathologists-accredited lab is required for patients to enroll in the study.