Danielle Ternyila
Published Online 9:20 PM, Tue May 28, 2019
Ahead of the 2019 Annual ASCO Meeting, several oncology experts spoke with Targeted Oncology to highlight the top abstracts from this year’s meeting that they feel will have the biggest impact on clinical practice.
“ASCO is the super bowl for oncology where we network with our friends and colleagues from all over the place,” said Vivek Subbiah, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “We learn a lot in this meeting, so I am very excited.”
Many of the top abstracts are investigating the role of PARP inhibitors across various fields. Several PARP inhibitors have already gained FDA approval for the treatment of patients with breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and pancreatic cancer, among others. New data will be presented during the meeting for PARP inhibitors across several tumor types.
“I think in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers as a whole, there are many studies that revolve around major themes at ASCO,” said Pashtoon M. Kasi, MD, MBBS, MS, assistant professor of oncology and senior associate consultant in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Iowa, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center. “I think PARP inhibitors are the most exciting where you have many abstracts that are incorporating its use; it’s already been approved in ovarian cancer and germline patients with breast cancer or the BRCA gene, but it’s not just limited to those.”
Maurie Markman, MD, president of medicine and science at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, added, “It’s been a dead year [in gynecologic oncology], about as bad as it has been in a long time in terms of interesting and new things. However, you know, it’s all about PARPs. I am excited to see 3 oral presentations here.”
In an interview with Targeted Oncology, experts in gynecology, GI, genitourinary (GU), lung, and breast cancers spoke to the significance of the abstracts they are most looking forward to at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.
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