Five Under 5: Top Oncology Videos for the Week of 4/6

Welcome to The Five Under 5, your go-to roundup of the top 5 videos of the week.

These short videos are designed for busy oncologists to view on the go, and feature expert insights on breaking news, regulatory updates, practice-changing data shared at medical meetings, and other key topics in the realm of oncology.

Here’s what you may have missed:

Personalizing Treatment Strategies for Patients With Myelofibrosis: Raajit Rampal, MD

Raajit Rampal, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discussed how treatment selection for myelofibrosis depends on a patient’s symptom burden and clinical profile. He explained that patients with significant symptoms and splenomegaly may benefit from JAK inhibitors like ruxolitinib (Jakafi) or fedratinib (Inrebic), which received FDA approval in 2011 and 2019, respectively. For patients with anemia, momelotinib (Ojjaara)—approved in 2023—may offer better outcomes, while those with thrombocytopenia may respond more favorably to pacritinib (Vonjo), which gained FDA approval in 2022. Rampal emphasized treatment choices should be tailored to individual patient characteristics and cited clinical trial data supporting each agent’s efficacy.

Fixed-Duration Ibrutinib Plus Venetoclax in First-Line CLL: Paolo Ghia, MD, PhD

Paolo Ghia, MD, PhD, of Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele and IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, presented updated findings from a pooled analysis of the phase 3 GLOW trial (NCT03462719) and the phase 2 CAPTIVATE trial (NCT02910583) evaluating first-line, fixed-duration ibrutinib (Imbruvica) plus venetoclax (Venclexta) in treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He reported that the combination therapy yielded overall survival (OS) rates of 95%, 93%, and 91% at 36, 48, and 60 months, respectively, comparable to an age-matched general European population. Subgroup analysis by age showed similarly high OS rates among patients both above and below 65 years, with no significant differences observed. Ghia emphasized that the survival benefit was consistent across IGHV-mutated and -unmutated populations, supporting the broad utility of this fixed-duration regimen.

FDA Approval of Nivolumab Plus Ipilimumab for dMMR/MSI-H mCRC: Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD

Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, of Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, discussed the recent FDA approval of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) for patients with mismatch repair–deficient or microsatellite instability–high unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). The April 2025 approval, based on results from the phase 3 CheckMate 8HW trial (NCT04008030), marks a major advancement in frontline treatment by demonstrating a 79% reduction in the risk of progression or death compared with chemotherapy. Lenz noted that new data from the same trial presented at the 2025 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium showed the combination was also superior to nivolumab monotherapy, improving both progression-free survival (PFS) and response rates. Although immune-related toxicities were more frequent with the combination, the regimen was associated with better quality-of-life outcomes beginning at week 21.

CDK4/6 Inhibitor Selection in HR+ Metastatic Breast Cancer: Mauricio Escobar, MD

Mauricio Escobar, MD, of O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, discussed how to approach optimal treatment selection among CDK4/6 inhibitors for patients with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer. He explained that no prospective head-to-head trials have established superiority among abemaciclib (Verzenio), ribociclib (Kisqali), or palbociclib (Ibrance), making real-world retrospective data essential for guiding clinical decisions. Two large real-world analyses—one published in the British Journal of Cancer Reports and another in ESMO Open—showed no statistically significant differences in PFS or OS across the three agents. Based on this evidence, Escobar concluded that any of the three CDK4/6 inhibitors are appropriate for first-line use in this patient population.

Rationale for Evaluating Rezatapopt in TP53 Y220C–Mutated Ovarian Cancer: Ecaterina Dumbrava, MD

Ecaterina Dumbrava, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discussed the development of rezatapopt (PC14586), a selective small molecule designed to reactivate mutant p53 in patients with TP53 Y220C–mutated solid tumors, including ovarian cancer. She explained that this specific p53 variant represents a structurally targetable mutation, and rezatapopt works by stabilizing the mutant protein to restore tumor-suppressive function. The phase 2 PYNNACLE trial (NCT04585750) is enrolling patients with TP53 Y220C–mutant tumors and aims to evaluate objective response rate, along with secondary end points such as PFS and OS. Dumbrava highlighted that this biomarker-driven, precision oncology approach could pave the way for targeting tumor suppressor genes, a historically challenging area in cancer drug development.