This week's cancer news spans policy, drug approvals, and lab findings. The NIH is making a "big bet" on an accelerated initiative for therapeutic cancer vaccines, most of which rely on mRNA technology. In breast cancer, the FDA approved tucatinib (Tukysa) in combination with trastuzumab and pertuzumab for first-line maintenance treatment of metastatic HER2-positive disease.
In multiple myeloma, a first-stage analysis of the phase III EXCALIBER-RRMM trial found that iberdomide plus daratumumab and dexamethasone improved minimal residual disease-negative complete response rates compared with bortezomib-based therapy in relapsed or refractory disease. By contrast, ArriVent's investigational firmonertinib missed its primary progression-free survival endpoint in first-line nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations.
Other findings include a noninvasive RNA urine test that may outperform standard methods for bladder cancer diagnosis and treatment response assessment, and a genetic alteration that may help explain resistance to CAR T-cell therapy in some large B-cell lymphomas. A study of nearly 40,000 unselected patients with solid tumors found germline sequencing uncovered pathogenic variant carriers who would have been missed by testing only patients under 50. The source also notes that Caribou Biosciences is discontinuing two off-the-shelf CAR-T programs, and that exercise can improve cancer survival but access to such programs remains limited.