In case you missed any, below is a recap of every episode of OncLive On Air® that aired in March 2024. Check out our podcasts page for a full episode lineup and to stay updated with all the latest releases!

Camidge and Farmen Discuss the Nuances of Cancer Care and Patient Advocacy

In this episode of How This Is Building Me, host D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, sat down with Summer Farmen, who describes herself as a wife, mother, and patient advocate with stage IV lung cancer, to discuss patient advocacy for cancer and cerebral palsy; the story of Farmen’s cancer diagnosis; and the people who have supported Farmen during her journey.

“You’re not alone in this,” Farmen shared during the interview. “People who are reluctant [to join support groups] or physicians who maybe aren’t encouraging their patients to do that, you need to go from a different perspective. It is celebrating and learning from each other. I cannot imagine if my dad and I did not join the support group and missed out.”

“When you’re doing this, you’re actually inspiring other people,” Camidge added.

Dr Kyriakopoulos on the Investigation of Masofaniten Plus Enzalutamide in mCRPC

In this exclusive episode of OncLive On Air, Christos Kyriakopoulos, MD, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, discusses the findings from and implications of a phase 1/2 trial (NCT05075577) of oral masofaniten (EPI-7386) plus enzalutamide (Xtandi) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

“These results look very promising [compared with] historical data from the [phase 2] ENZA-P study [NCT04419402], as well as the [phase 3] AFFIRM [NCT00974311] and PREVAIL [NCT01212991] trials,” Kyriakopoulous emphasized. “Even though those were phase 3 studies and included much larger numbers of patients, [the prostate-specific antigen data] we have so far [with] the combination compare favorably with [what has been seen with] enzalutamide alone.”

FDA Approval Insights: NALIRIFOX in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

On February 13, 2024, the FDA approved frontline NALIRIFOX (irinotecan liposome [Onivyde], oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil, and leucovorin) for the treatment of patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. This regulatory decision was supported by findings from the phase 3 NAPOLI 3 trial (NCT04083235), which demonstrated that patients who received NALIRIFOX achieved a median overall survival of 11.1 months (95% CI, 10.0-12.1) compared with 9.2 months (95% CI, 8.3-10.6) in those who received gemcitabine in combination with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane).

In this exclusive interview, Zev A. Wainberg, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, highlighted the significance of this approval; key efficacy and safety data from NAPOLI 3; and NALIRIFOX’s potential future role for patients with pancreatic cancer.

“We now have a [treatment] option that we didn’t have before,” Wainberg said in the interview. “More options are better, and we now have a new option to treat patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.”

Camidge and Lewis Discuss the Perspective of Being Both a Patient and Physician

In this episode of How This Is Building Me, host D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, was joined by Mark A. Lewis, MD, of Intermountain Health in Murray, Utah, to discuss how Dr Lewis’ diagnosis of the hereditary tumor syndrome multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1) has affected his personal and professional life; the value of considering patient perspectives when making treatment decisions; and the ways that social media can be used to raise awareness about rare diseases.

“I like to introduce myself as a patient-physician, because I always live on the front part of that hyphenate,” Lewis shared during the interview. “I am a patient with a cancer syndrome, I’ve had treatments for that, and that fully informs the lens through which I see my oncology practice and career.”

“One of the things I was taught in medical school was, when we would ask: ‘Why do they teach us these incredibly rare things that are all stuck in or memories now?’ The answer was: if you didn’t, if you just relied on clinical experience, you would never see them, so you have to drill them in, because otherwise, you would miss them,” Camidge added.

Lunning and Herrera Highlight Frontline Hodgkin Lymphoma Management Strategies

In this episode of Blood Club, host Matthew Lunning, DO, FACP, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, sat down with Alex Herrera, MD, of City of Hope in Duarte, California, to delve into the phase 3 SWOG 1826 trial (NCT03907488) investigating nivolumab (Opdivo) or brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) plus combination chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed classical Hodgkin lymphoma; how collaboration between pediatric and adult oncologists supported the successful initiation of this trial; and potential future directions for this research.

“With a disease like Hodgkin lymphoma, where the intent is to cure patients, you want to see longer follow-up,” Herrera emphasized in the discussion. “We have opted to wait for that next preplanned analysis and data [cutoff] to put the data out there to really ensure that we’re giving patients and…doctors that longer follow-up time to make the right [treatment] decisions.”

“In acute lymphoblastic leukemia, we have good examples of where we’ve taken [pediatric/young adult] regimens and brought them forward to adults,” Lunning emphasized in the conversation. “[SWOG 1826] is different; we went, in some ways, backwards from adult to pediatric [patients].”

Bagley Summarizes the ACTION trial of ONC201 in H3 K27M–Mutant Diffuse Midline Gliomas

In this exclusive episode, Stephen Bagley, MD, MSCE, of Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, spotlighted the investigation of the small molecule ONC201 in the phase 3 ACTION trial (NCT05580562) in patients with H3 K27M–mutant diffuse midline gliomas and explained why clinicians should consider the trial for their patients.

“For patients [with] newly diagnosed diffuse midline glioma, once they complete standard-of-care [SOC] radiotherapy, there isn’t anything that’s been proven to improve outcomes,” Bagley said. “Rather than waiting for a recurrence of the tumor and then seeking out clinical trials such as CAR T-cell [therapy], the ACTION study represents an opportunity for patients to have access to an experimental therapy as part of first-line SOC. It provides access earlier in the disease course.”

CRC Experts Highlight AE Management and Prevention Strategies for TAS-102/Bevacizumab, Regorafenib, and Fruquintinib

In this OncLive Inside the Clinic discussion, moderator John H. Strickler, MD, of the Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, North Carolina, sat down with Michael Leung, PharmD, BCOP, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston; Arvind N. Dasari, MD, MS, of MD Anderson; and Margot O’Neill, PA-C, MHS, of the Duke Cancer Institute, to discuss adverse effect (AE) management for patients with colorectal cancer.

“Our pharmacists are so critical to all of these aspects of patient advocacy, patient education, and to access the right therapies,” Strickler said. “Without any of those parts of the puzzle working well, things will break down. We’re very appreciative of our multidisciplinary team.”

“Each person leverages their own strengths,” Leung emphasized. “We have our providers here. [With] our physicians, our physician assistants, and our nurse practitioners, each of them are essentially the continuity and driving force of our clinic team, and they have to be the ones…that make decisions on how to manage patients, select therapy, and manage the AEs.”

“Overall, [fruquintinib (Fruzaqla)] seems to be well tolerated,” Dasari noted. “Some patients may require dose interruptions and occasionally dose reductions…Some of these AEs are not just related to therapy, but also the fact that these patients have very advanced malignancies and have received multiple therapies previously.”

“[Patient AE education] continues to be an entire team effort between the primary clinic nurse, the triage nurses, and our pharmacists,” O’Neill shared. “All are involved in helping patients understand what to expect and how to manage the possible AEs…I think it’s also important…to remember the other multidisciplinary efforts that may be beneficial, such as still having a dietician engaged, considering physical therapy, and then, perhaps even offering cancer patient support programs for counseling, etc., because as we are moving further down the lines of treatment, there’s still room for improving their quality of life, but also starting to think about their goals of care.”

Wagner on the Investigation of Nab-Sirolimus in Advanced Malignant PEComa

In this exclusive episode, Andrew J. Wagner, MD, PhD, of Dana-Faber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston, Massachusetts, discussed current unmet needs for patients with perivascular epithelioid cell neoplasm (PEComa), ongoing research that aims to address these gaps, and findings from the phase 2 AMPECT trial (NCT02494570) that support the use of nab-sirolimus (Fyarro) in patients with advanced malignant disease.

“I thank the patients who were willing to participate in the study,” Wagner highlighted. “[Malignant PEComa] is a super rare condition, an ultra-rare sarcoma, and the best way for us to understand more about it is for patients to volunteer and participate in these clinical studies and also in studies that permit the use of leftover specimens, so we can understand the disease better.”