The Onco'Zine Brief

In this edition of The Onco’Zine Brief, recorded during the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago, Illinois, June 1 - 5, 2018, Peter Hofland and Sonia Portillo talk with Michael Pehl, President and Chief Executive Officer of Immunomedics, a leading biopharmaceutical company in the area of antibody-drug conjugates (ADC).

At this year’s ASCO meeting, nearly 40,000 attendees gathered to discuss the growing body of data on advanced, difficult to treat diseases that do not have many treatment options.

Hofland and Portillo speak with Pehl about some of the exciting developments that are taking place at this year’s meeting, including some of the data that his company presented about advancements in the development of targeted anti-cancer drugs such as antibody-drug conjugates.

Traditional chemotherapy often fails to treat advanced or metastatic forms of cancer. This is because while chemotherapy disrupts tumors, it also harms other, healthy cells. In turn, this makes it difficult to deliver a potent anti-cancer drug, without causing too much harm to healthy cells.

Antibody-drug conjugates on the other hand, are a form of targeted anti-cancer drugs that are able to target tumors cells, while sparing healthy cells. This means that more of an anti-cancer drugs can be delivered to the tumor, with less side effects.

However, developing successful antibody-drug conjugates has remained a challenge for several decades. And to date only 4 different antibody-drug conjugates have been approved for the treatment of various forms of cancer.

Hofland and Portillo ask Pehl how antibody-drug conjugate can be used for the treatment of advanced or metastatic triple negative breast cancer, a form of breast cancer that occurs in about 10% - 20% of all cases of breast cancer.

In this type of cancer, the tumor cells lack the expression or amplification of targetable biomarkers, such as receptors for estrogen, progesterone, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, also known as HER2. Because in this type of cancer the cancer does not have the most common types of receptors known to fuel most cancer growth, common treatments like hormone therapy and drugs that target estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 are ineffective.

Hence the name, triple negative.

Using chemotherapy to treat triple negative breast cancer is still an effective option. In fact, triple negative breast cancer may respond even better to chemotherapy in the earlier stages than many other forms of cancer.

But this type of cancer is extremely hard to treat, and – generally - has a poor prognosis. As many as 50% of patients diagnosed with early stage triple-negative breast cancer - that is stages 1 to 3 - experience disease recurrence, and 37% of patients die in the first 5 years after surgery.

And while, as mentioned earlier, patients with metastatic or advanced triple-negative breast cancer may respond to chemotherapy, they do not always respond very well to traditional chemotherapy. These patients typically see a median progression free survival of only 3 to 4 months after failure of first-line of chemotherapy.

Now, who are at risk for Triple negative breast cancer?

As mention earlier, the disease occurs in about 10-20% of patients diagnosed breast cancers. The disease is also more likely to affect younger people, African Americans, Hispanics, and/or those with a BRCA1 gene mutation. In general, triple negative breast cancer can be more aggressive and difficult to treat.

Also, the cancer is more likely to spread and recur. The stage of breast cancer and the grade of the tumor will influence the prognosis. For anti-cancer drug developers and oncologists treating this type of breast cancer, triple negative breast cancer is a major unmet medical need.

To try meet this need, Immunomedics recently submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a new antibody-body drug conjugate for the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic triple negative breast cancer who previously received at least two prior therapies for metastatic disease.

Hofland and Portillo speak with Dr. Pehl about some of the latest data his company presented about a first-in-class drug – and how precision medicines for cancer, including antibody-drug conjugates, can be used for the treatment of advanced or metastatic triple negative breast cancer.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.

This week in The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland and Sonia Portillo talk with experts in oncology about some of the results presented during the annual meeting for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held in Chicago, Ill, June 1 - 5, 2018.

The theme of this year’s ASCO conference is: Delivering Discoveries: Expanding the Reach of Precision Medicine. More than 40,000 people attended the meeting.

Hofland and Portillo interview Robert Dreicer, MD, MS, MACP, FASCO, the Associate Director for Clinical Research and the Deputy Director of the University of Virginia Cancer Center. Dreicer shares his perspective on a highly-anticipated presentations dealing with racial disparities when treating black men and white men with advanced metastatic prostate cancer.

The study presented on Saturday, June 2nd, revealed that when black men and white men with advanced prostate cancer are treated with the same standard treatment for advanced disease, black men were more responsive and showed better results. However, In the United States, black man are twice as likely as white man to die from prostate cancer. Prostate cancer
incidence rates are 60% higher for black man, and they are more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age.

In a second interview, Hofland and Portillo interview Jed Katzel, a medical oncologist at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara, CA., who is the senior author of this study.

In this interview they talk about disparities in oncology and differences found in treatment and outcomes for head and neck cancer in men vs. women

An analysis of cancer registry data from a hospital system in California revealed that women with head and neck cancer were less likely to receive intensive chemotherapy and radiation when compared to men. The findings from this study raise the possibility that women with head and neck cancer may be undertreated.

In the final interview in today's program, Sonia Portillo talks with Kimberly Blackwell, MD, the vice president of early phase development and immune-oncology at Lilly Oncology.

In this interview they talk about the results from 30 oral presentations, poster presentations and e-publications underscoring Lilly Oncology's focus on making a meaningful difference in the lives of people living with cancer through clinical development and collaboration.

Portillo also ask Dr. Blackwell about the MONARCH studies presented by Lilly that evaluated a new drug to treat different patient subgroups of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.

Explaining the significance of these study results, Dr. Blackwell mentioned the company’s focus on understanding and serving the needs of women with disease characteristics that are typically associated with a less favorable prognosis, and how doctors can better understand these clinical characteristics – which may help them optimize treatment and treatment decisions for women with advanced disease.

Finally Hofland and Portillo talk about an interactive exhibit and reception hosted by Lilly Oncology called: “Portraits of Resolve,” which provided doctors a unique perspectives of people living with cancer.

Through words and pictures this unique exhibit reflects the experience of people living with cancer – what they look like, how they feel, who they are and what they are saying. The unyielding and often very determined spirit of the patient is the main theme throughout the exhibit.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.

In this Edition of the Onco'Zine Brief, Peter Hofland and Sonia Portillo talk with Dr. John B. Kisiel, Assistant Professor of Medicine and a Consultant in the, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

The overall goal of Dr. Kisiel is to improve the clinical outcomes of patients with gastrointestinal illness by providing excellent bedside care and conducting clinical and translational research. His primary research focus is the prevention and early diagnosis of cancers and pre-cancers in high-risk patients.

In today’s program Hofland and Portillo talk with Dr Kisiel about finding cancer early– which is part of an evolution of cancer diagnostics since the signing of the National Cancer Act and the start of the ‘War on cancer’ in the 1970’s. Over the last decades the development of new technologies designed to detect cancer early, has become a priority in research.

The clear advantage of being able to treat cancer sooner, is that it may lead to better results and offer a survival advantage. And with an early diagnosis, treatment may also be less invasive. At the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Dr. Kisiel is among a select number of physicians working on the development of these novel tools.

Together with a multidisciplinary team of doctors and scientists Dr. Kisiel validated, for example, the use of stool DNA to detect cancers and pre-cancers. These diagnostic tests use state-of-the-art molecular genetic techniques, and are developed in collaboration with industry partners, including Exact Sciences, and various centers of medical excellence.

The collaboration between Exact Sciences and Mayo Clinic started in 2009. One of the results of this collaboration was the development of the Cologuard, a stool-based, advanced-DNA screening test for colorectal cancer. This non-invasive test was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2014 and has been used by more than 1 million patients.

Stool DNA testing, which has been validated in the general population for detecting colon cancers and polyps, shows promise for detecting cancers throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Kisiel and his colleagues are working to develop this technology to noninvasively screen for cancers that are difficult to detect by currently available tools. With this effort, they hope to reduce patient discomfort, improve patient care and – which is also a key consideration - lower costs of care.

Among other types of novel diagnostics tests being developed by Dr. Kisiel and his coworkers at Mayo Clinic is a new test designed to identify a blood-based DNA Biomarker panel to accurately diagnose hepatocellular carcinoma.

Data Presented at the Digestive Disease Week, held June 2 – 5, 2018 in Washington, DC, shows that a panel of six biomarkers is 95% sensitive for most common type of liver cancer. Working together with researchers at Exact Sciences, Dr. Kisiel and his coworkers announced significant progress toward developing a panel of novel, blood-based, DNA biomarkers that could accurately detect hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common cancer that originates in the liver.

The researchers detailed their findings during a presentation at Digestive Disease Week, the world’s largest gathering of gastroenterologists and scientists in this field. The biomarker panel was shown to be 95 percent sensitive for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma across all stages. Sensitivity among patients with curable-stage disease was 91%. The panel has overall specificity of 93%, demonstrating its ability to discriminate between normal and diseased patients. Sensitivity and specificity are the most important statistical measures of a cancer detection test’s performance. These results are further validation of advanced DNA technology and the multi-biomarker approach for the detection of the deadliest forms of cancers.

Hepatocellular carcinoma accounts for nearly 90% of all liver cancers and is the fastest-growing cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Mayo Clinic experts predict that liver and bile duct cancers will be the third-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States by 2030 due, in part, to the obesity epidemic. Individuals diagnosed with cirrhosis have the greatest risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma, and it is recommended that they undergo ultrasound and blood monitoring every six to 12 months. The three-year survival rate for patients regularly tested is approximately 60 percent, compared to approximately 30 percent for those who are not regularly tested .

When hepatocellular carcinoma is detected early and treated, patient survival rates improve significantly.

Researchers a Exact Sciences estimates that more than 3 million Americans are eligible for hepatocellular carcinoma testing and surveilance. Because current options for monitoring at-risk patients are “sub-optimal”, the potential of an accurate, non-invasive blood test that can identify early-stage disease could potentially transform the way patients are monitored and lead to the identification of many more curable-stage tumors.

Today fewer than half of at-risk patients are tested regularly, and some estimates suggest the monitoring rate is less than 20 percent in primary care settings, where most people get their care.

Using DNA extracted from the blood samples of 244 people, including 95 diagnosed across all stages of hepatocellular carcinoma, 51 with cirrhosis, and 98 healthy volunteers, researchers tested the samples against 15 biomarkers to identify the combination of six biomarkers that yielded the most accurate detection of hepatocellular carcinoma. Researchers must now confirm the accuracy of the biomarkers they’ve studied for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma.

But in the end, they are seeking to apply this DNA assay technology to detects all cancers, and the findings presented at the Digestive Disease Week – focusing on hepatocellular carcinoma - are an important step toward that goal.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.

In this edition of The Onco’Zine Brief, Sonia Portillo talks with Neil Canavan about the people involved in developing novel, advanced – and sometimes – highly personalized - anti-cancer treatments.

Canavan is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years of experience reporting on science and medicine. For the last 5 years he has reported exclusively on issues related to drug development in cancer.

In his new book "A Cure Within - Scientists Unleashing The Immune System to Kill Cancer," published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Neil Canavan writes about the power of the immune system and his reasons and motivation to write the book.

Canavan explains how the way we treat cancer is about to change forever. He writes about a revolution--and it is precisely that--which was sparked not by the invention of a new drug, but by the evolution of an entirely new way of thinking about and managing cancer.

Going forward, doctors will not use pharmaceuticals to attack tumors--not directly. Rather, the oncologist will treat the patient's immune system with a drug, and then the patient's own immune system will kill the tumor.

Based entirely on interviews with the investigators, Canavan tells the story of the pioneers of immuno-oncology. It’s a story of failure, resurrection, and success. It’s a story about science, it’s a story about discovery, and intuition, and cunning. It’s a peek into the lives and thoughts of some of the most gifted medical scientists on the planet.

Canavan's new book is not a textbook; It's a 'life' book. Precision medicine will save, is saving lives, and the book celebrates the living, breathing, thinking, charming, arrogant, funny, obstinate, amazing human beings who are making immuno-oncology happen.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.

In the edition of The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland and Sonia Portillo review some of the most exciting and important study to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), to be held in Chicago, June 1 - 5, 2018.

The theme of this year’s conference is: Delivering Discoveries: Expanding the Reach of Precision Medicine. More than 2,500 abstracts were accepted for presentation while an additional 3,350 abstracts were accepted for online publication.

Approximately 40,000 oncology professionals from around the world will be attending this meeting.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.

In this episode of the Onco’Zine Brief, Peter Hofland, Ph.D and Sonia Portillo talk with Col. James E. Williams who, during the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), held April 14 - 18, 2018 in Chicago, Ill, received the organization's Distinguished Public Service Award for Exceptional Leadership in Cancer Advocacy.

Each year, the American Association for Cancer Research presents Special Recognition Awards to four individuals whose work made extraordinary contributions to the organization’s mission to accelerate the prevention and cure of all cancers through research, education, communication, and collaboration.

These AACR Awards recognize groundbreaking, innovative work across the entire cancer community, and they reflect a wide range of contributions to cancer science and medicine. This year’s award recipients, Anna D. Barker, PhD; C. Kent Osborne, MD; Phillip A. Sharp, PhD; and Col. James E. Williams, truly represent meritorious work in research, patient care, policymaking, and advocacy.

Williams, a retired Army colonel who served in the Vietnam War, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991.

After he beats the disease, he embarked on a passionate effort to educate men about the disease.

His advocacy efforts include serving as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the AACR’s Cancer Today magazine; serving as Chairman of the Board of The Intercultural Cancer Council (ICC); serving as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Prostate Cancer Coalition; participating on the Patient Advocacy Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology; and serving as a Board member of the Alliance for Prostate Cancer Prevention. Williams is an inspiration and a role model - not only to other cancer survivors, but also to the scientific community at large.

As a steadfast passionate advocate Williams increased funding and research dedicated to men’s health issues, with an emphasis on prostate cancer. His selfless efforts are also instrumental in improving outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities and the medically underserved.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.

In this edition of The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland and Sonia Portillo are talking with Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, the 2018 - 2019 president of the American Association​ for Cancer Research (AACR).

Dr. Jaffee’s, who's research is focused on the development of immune based therapies for pancreatic and breast cancers, is the deputy director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. She is also the leader of the Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C)-Lustgarten Foundation Dream Team: Transforming Pancreatic Cancer to a Treatable Disease.

In their interview, recorded during the annual meeting of the AACR, held April 14-18th, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois, Hofland and Portillo asked Dr. Jaffee about her work, her expectations and her plans as the current president of the AACR.

They also asked her about the importance of clinical trials and patient participation in these trials as being a key step towards progress in oncology.

Today only about 5% of cancer patients are expected to participate in a trial. The fact that only a limited number of patients participate in a clinical trial, goes beyond the (un)willingness of patients to participate, but has a lot to do with the fact that most patients have to travel to the nation’s major research hospitals in order to participate.

Another concern is that many patients may not realize that when they participate in a clinical trial, they will get that same level of care that they would with cancer treatments outside of a trial. Hence, Dr. Jaffee emphasizes that it is not only important to make sure that patients understand the difference between medical treatment and clinical research, but that it is also crucial to improve accessibility to clinical trials.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.

This week in The Onco’Zine Brief: Peter Hofland, Ph.D and Sonia Portillo talk with Otis Brawley, MD, MACP the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of the American Cancer Society.

Hofland and Portillo ask Dr. Brawley about the past, present, and future of the fight against cancer, including screening, diagnostics and treatment with novel, targeted drugs, and the role of the American Cancer Society in helping to prevent cancer.

In today’s interview they further address some of the most pressing issues in oncology today, such as cancer health disparities and access to healthcare in lower income areas, as well implementing healthy lifestyle choices and reducing cancer risk factors, in order to make the biggest impact possible on reducing the number of cancer-related deaths.

Hofland and Portillo also ask Dr. Brawley how to go about meeting the challenges in healthcare and find a solution for cancer health disparities, as well as how to educate the public on how to prevent and reduce risks of cancer in our daily lives - including the need of a healthy diet and to stop smoking.

This interview, took place during the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research held April 14-18th, 2018, in Chicago, Illinois.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.

Today in The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland and Sonia Portillo talk with Dr. Michael Caligiuri., MD

The Interview was recorded during the 2018 annual meeting of American Association​ for Cancer Research (AACR) held April 14-18th, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois.

Michael A. Caligiuri is a renowned physician-scientist known for his work in immunology that is focused on human natural killer cells and their modulation for the treatment of leukemia, myeloma, and glioblastoma. To date over 1,500 cancer patients have been treated on clinical protocols that have originated from the Dr. Caligiuri laboratory.

Dr. Caligiuri is the president and physician-in-chief of City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California. Founded in 1913, City of Hope is one of only 49 comprehensive cancer centers in the United States, as designated by the National Cancer Institute. The center’s main campus is located just northeast of Los Angeles, with additional locations across Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, Orange and San Bernardino counties, and focuses on the treatment of patients with cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses.

Before joining City-of-Hope, Dr. Caligiuri was the director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and CEO of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio He was also the 2017 president of the American Association​ for Cancer Research – AACR – which is the world's oldest and largest professional association related to cancer research.

Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the AACR focuses on all aspects of cancer research, including basic, clinical, and translational research into the cause, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.

Last year, following his appointment as the AACR president, Peter Hofland and Sonia Portillo sat down with Dr. Caligiuri to ask him about his passion, his hopes, his drive and what he wanted to accomplish during his tenure as president of the American Association​ for Cancer Research during 2017 and the beginning of 2018.

This year, at the end of his tenure as president of the AACR, we again had the opportunity to sit down with him … This time Hofland and Portillo asked him about his experience, and how he was able to help solve some of the key challenges he had noted before. Dr. Caligiuri has been actively involved with the AACR since 1990, serving as a member, and more recently, chairperson of the Publications Committee and a member of the Clinical and Translational Cancer Research Committee, among other things.

One of Dr. Caligiuri main concerns – indicated in our interview in 2017 - is the problem of Cancer health disparities that represent a major public health problem in our country.

By promoting the exchange of novel ideas and information between the AACR and a wide range of professionals from academia, industry, government, and the community, Dr. Caligiuri hoped to drive a movement to help eliminate the disparities and harness the potential and maximize the many opportunities for bringing research on health disparities from bench to bedside or community, and back again.

As part of that effort, he wanted, during his tenure as president of the AACR, bring together scientists and other professionals working in a variety of disciplines to discuss the latest findings in the field and to stimulate the development of new research in cancer health disparities.

And it must be said… One of the challenges society faces today is how to ensure that everyone benefits equally from the groundbreaking advances in cancer treatment and prevention.

Cancer health disparities are indeed a huge problem.

For example, African-Americans have the shortest survival for most cancers compared with those in other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Hence, there is a large unmet need to do more to understand the reasons for disparities as well as ways to address them.

The issue of disparities is a complex, multifactorial problem that involves genetic, behavioral, and socio-economic factors, among others, and it will require a multifaceted, evidence-based approach to solving the problem.

In our interview, Dr. Caligiuri is addressing some of the problems as well as what he and the AACR hopes to accomplish in the upcoming years.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.

Today in the OncoZine Brief, Peter Hofland, Ph.D and Sonia Portillo talk with Jim Ratcliff, CEO of Chairman of Rowpar Pharmaceuticals, the developer, manufacturer and marketer of best-in-class oral care products, sold under the CloSYS brand in Australia and the United States and under private label in Europe and India.

In their interview with Dr.Ratcliff, Hofland and Portillo ask about the importance of oral care – and the link with cancer.

Patients receiving treatment for cancer can experience a number of potential side effects in response to the treatment they receive. Most clinicians and patients are aware of the adverse events that can result from administration of certain chemotherapeutics.

Without offering a complete list of side effects, known side effects include fatigue, alopecia – which affects many patients and is probably one of the most disturbing side effects, sometimes preventing people from accepting or refusing treatments based on chemotherapy. Other adverse effects include:

- Sexual dysfunction, which can be the result of chemotherapy and radiation therapy and affecting about 60% to 80% of patients receiving chemotherapy.
- Thromobocytopenia or low platelet count can affect clotting and cause bleeding.
- The gastrointestinal problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation


And, one of the most serious side effects, cardiotoxicity, which can occur early or late in treatment. But one of the often forgotten side effects are cutaneous toxicities can include skin rash and mucositis.

Mucositis is also one of the common side - is the painful inflammation and ulceration of the mucous membranes lining the digestive tract and may include mouth sores often affecting food intake.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.