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"The Voice of Oncology in Massachusetts"

Drugs

A carefully crafted resource to ensure that oncology professionals stay up-to-date with the most recent drug updates and FDA approvals. Here, you'll discover a collection of vital information, enabling you to make well-informed choices and provide advanced care to your patients. Keep up with the ever-changing world of oncology treatments with our extensive updates, guaranteeing that your practice stays at the forefront.

Latest Drug Updates

  • December 20, 2023 12:26 PM | Katy Monaco (Administrator)

    Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (Padcev, Astellas Pharma) in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck) for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (la/mUC). FDA previously granted accelerated approval to this combination for patients with la/mUC who are ineligible for cisplatin-containing chemotherapy. Read More

    Full prescribing information for Padcev and Keytruda will be posted here.

  • December 18, 2023 12:29 PM | Katy Monaco (Administrator)

    Food and Drug Administration approved belzutifan (Welireg, Merck & Co., Inc.) for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) following a programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) or programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor and a vascular endothelial growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (VEGF-TKI). Read More.

    Full prescribing information for Welireg will be posted here.

  • December 15, 2023 12:30 PM | Katy Monaco (Administrator)

    Food and Drug Administration approved eflornithine (IWILFIN, USWM, LLC) to reduce the risk of relapse in adult and pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma (HRNB) who have demonstrated at least a partial response to prior multiagent, multimodality therapy including anti-GD2 immunotherapy.

    This represents the first FDA approval of a therapy intended to reduce the risk of relapse in pediatric patients with HRNB. Read More

    View full prescribing information for IWILFIN.

  • December 11, 2023 2:05 PM | Katy Monaco (Administrator)

    U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Fabhalta® (iptacopan) as the first oral monotherapy for the treatment of adults with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH)1. Fabhalta is a Factor B inhibitor that acts proximally in the alternative complement pathway of the immune system, providing comprehensive control of red blood cell (RBC) destruction within and outside the blood vessels (intra- and extravascular hemolysis [IVH and EVH]). In clinical trials, treatment with Fabhalta increased hemoglobin levels (≥ 2 g/dL from baseline in the absence of RBC transfusions) in the majority of patients and in APPLY-PNH nearly all patients treated with Fabhalta did not receive blood transfusions. Read More.

  • December 04, 2023 12:32 PM | Katy Monaco (Administrator)

    Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca, Eli Lilly and Company) for adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) who have received at least two prior lines of therapy, including a BTK inhibitor and a BCL-2 inhibitor. Read More

    View full prescribing information for Jaypirca.

  • November 22, 2023 10:47 AM | Katy Monaco (Administrator)

    U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Augtyro™ (repotrectinib) for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Administered as an oral therapy, Augtyro is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) targeting ROS1 oncogenic fusions.

    Review the press release by clicking here and access the US Prescribing Information by clicking here

  • November 13, 2023 12:39 PM | Katy Monaco (Administrator)

    The Food and Drug Administration approved fruquintinib (FRUZAQLA™, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) for adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) who received prior fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin-, and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF therapy, and, if RAS wild-type and medically appropriate, an anti-EGFR therapy. Read More.

    Please see full Prescribing Information.  To learn more about FRUZAQLA, please visit fruzaqlahcp.com.

  • November 09, 2023 1:41 PM | Katy Monaco (Administrator)

    On behalf of Mirati, I’m excited to inform you that adagrasib (KRAZATI®) tablets has received two additional recommendations from the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®). Mirati is committed to advancing investigational uses of adagrasib across lines of therapy in a range of tumor types for the benefit of patients living with KRAS G12C-mutated cancer.

    The NCCN Guidelines® now include adagrasib (KRAZATI) as a systemic therapy option for patients with KRAS G12C-mutated advanced colon and rectal cancers (Category 2A). Please find the updated information on page 46 of the NCCN Guidelines for Colon Cancer V.3.2023 and page 59 of the NCCN Guidelines for Rectal Cancer V.5.2023.

    With this update, there are now five NCCN Guidelines recommendations for adagrasib (KRAZATI):

    NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER (NSCLC)
    NCCN Guidelines recommend adagrasib (KRAZATI) as a subsequent therapy option for patients with KRAS G12C-mutated advanced NSCLC after progression (Category 2A). For more information, please review page 44 of the NCCN Guidelines for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers.

    CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS) CANCERS
    NCCN Guidelines recommend adagrasib (KRAZATI) as a systemic therapy option for patients with KRAS G12C-mutated advanced CNS with brain metastases (Category 2A). For more information, please review page 60 of the NCCN Guidelines for Central Nervous System Cancers.

    PANCREATIC ADENOCARCINOMA
    NCCN Guidelines recommend adagrasib (KRAZATI) as a subsequent systemic therapy option for patients with KRAS G12C-mutated advanced NSCLC with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (Category 2A recommendation for ECOG PS 0-2 and NCCN Category 2B for ECOG PS 3-4). For more information, please review pages 51 and 52 of the NCCN Guidelines for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.

    COLON CANCER
    NCCN Guidelines recommend adagrasib (KRAZATI) plus cetuximab or panitumumab as subsequent therapy for KRAS G12C-mutated advanced or metastatic colon cancer (Category 2A). For patients unable to tolerate an EGFR inhibitor due to toxicity, single-agent adagrasib can be considered (Category 2A). See page 46 of the NCCN Guidelines for Colon Cancer.

    RECTAL CANCER
    NCCN Guidelines recommend adagrasib (KRAZATI) plus cetuximab or panitumumab as subsequent therapy for KRAS G12C-mutated advanced or metastatic rectal cancer (Category 2A). For patients unable to tolerate an EGFR inhibitor due to toxicity, single-agent adagrasib can be considered (Category 2A). See page 59 of the NCCN Guidelines for Rectal Cancer.

    A Category 2A recommendation is based upon lower-level evidence, and there is uniform National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) consensus that the intervention is appropriate. Category 2B is based upon lower-level evidence, and there is NCCN consensus that the intervention is appropriate.

  • November 03, 2023 8:20 AM | Katy Monaco (Administrator)

    Opdivo®(nivolumab) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the adjuvant treatment of adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older with completely resected stage IIB or IIC melanoma, expanding upon the existing adjuvant indication for Opdivo and further reinforcing the company’s legacy of providing treatment options for melanoma patients.1 The approval is based on the Phase 3 CheckMate -76K trial, which compared Opdivo (n=526) to placebo (n=264). Read More.

  • October 31, 2023 12:43 PM | Katy Monaco (Administrator)

    The Food and Drug Administration approved toripalimab-tpzi (LOQTORZ, Coherus BioSciences, Inc.) with cisplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic or recurrent, locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). FDA also approved toripalimab-tpzi as a single agent for adults with recurrent unresectable or metastatic NPC with disease progression on or after a platinum-containing chemotherapy. Read More.

    View full prescribing information for LOQTORZI.


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