This episode is from the European Cancer Congress that took place in Vienna, Austria from September 25-29, 2015.
You will hear leading experts talk about the latest cancer immunotherapy data. Professor Tom Powles (Barts, London) discusses the exciting data presented for renal and bladder cancer.
Dr Martin Reck (Grosshansdorf, near Hamburg) talks about the lung cancer immunotherapy data presented in Vienna and the new checkpoint inhibitor data at the meeting. He offers his perspective on the importance of quality-of-life in clinical decision making, and what role biomakers may play in Europe.
We’ve published commentary and analysis about the latest “Controversies in Lung Cancer Immunotherapy” on Biotech Strategy Blog (subscription required).
Dr Nora Disis (University of Washington, Seattle) takes us through her ovarian cancer poster and offers insights into how we may get checkpoints to work better in tumors that are not hypermutated (like melanoma, renal, bladder) but are immunogenic i.e. able to elicit an immune response.
The podcast interview is and excerpt of a longer one previously published on Biotech Strategy Blog, “Potential of Checkpoint Inhibitors in Ovarian Cancer.”
You’ll also hear short excerpts from interviews with:
Dr Jonathan Rosenberg (MSKCC, New York) who presented clinical trial data for atezolizumab in metastatic bladder cancer.
Dr Leora Horn (Vanderbilt, Tennessee) who presented clinical trial data for nivolumab in non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer.
Dr Christian Rommel (Roche) who offered his strategic perspective.
New England Journal of Medicine Papers
Three of the clinical trials talked about in this episode had the results simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine (subscription required):
Nivolumab versus Everolimus in Advanced Renal-Cell Carcinoma. Robert J. Motzer, Bernard Escudier, David F. McDermott, et al. N Engl J Med 2015; Online First – September 25, 2015. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1510665
Cabozantinib versus Everolimus in Advanced Renal-Cell Carcinoma. Toni K. Choueiri, Bernard Escudier, Thomas Powles, et al. N Engl J Med 2015; Online First – September 25, 2015. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1510016
Nivolumab versus Docetaxel in Advanced Nonsquamous Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer. Hossein Borghaei, Luis Paz-Ares, Leora Horn, et al. N Engl J Med 2015; 373:1627-1639. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1507643
Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer 2015 Annual Meeting
The SITC 2015 annual meeting took place at National Harbor, MD just outside of Washington DC from November 4 to 8. This year the organization was celebrating 30 years of advancing Cancer Immunotherapy.
On Saturday November 7, there was an immunotherapy patient forum for the treatment of melanoma, leukemia, lymphoma, lung and genitourinary cancers. It’s being organized in collaboration with the Melanoma Research Alliance and Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education (GRACE).
Aim of Forum:
“To educate cancer patients and their caregivers about the latest advances in immunotherapy treatment. Leading experts in the cancer immunotherapy field will present on how immunotherapy works and explain the latest treatment options available now and on the horizon.”
The line-up of speakers was impressive, several of whom you’ve heard on the podcast. Link to further information.
If you weren’t able to attend, GRACE will most likely make the presentations available in due course. Do check-out the patient education resources on their website.
There’s also commentary and analysis from SITC 2015 on Biotech Strategy Blog (subscription required).
Podcast Music
The music in this podcast episode is by electric violinist and composer David Schulman from his album Quiet Life Motel.
Sponsorship
This podcast episode is sponsored by Genentech. We’re grateful for their support.