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On 6 December 2018, the FDA approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq®, Roche/Genentech) plus bevacizumab and chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin for the frontline treatment of metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSq NSCLC) patients not harbouring any EGFR or ALK genomic tumour aberrations.
On the first day of the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, an additional year of follow-up data from the practice-changing MURANO study were presented to the audience by Professor John F. Seymour. In the trial’s setting of relapsed/refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), the non-chemo-containing regimen venetoclax (Venclexta®, AbbVie/Roche) plus rituximab was associated with maintained superior progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) over standard-of-care chemoimmunotherapy with bendamustine plus rituximab. At the same time, a durable post-treatment disease control is also attainable with the fixed-duration chemo-free regimen.
Onlay mesh placement of the synthetic and fully resorbable TIGR®Matrix surgical mesh (Novus Scientific AB, Uppsala — Sweden) for the prevention of incisional hernia in septic patients undergoing emergency laparoscopy showed encouraging efficacy and safety in a small retrospective study, as presented during the XXVIII Waterford Surgical October Club Meeting.
Two short courses of oral cladribine (Mavenclad®, Merck KGaA) over a period of two years can sustain the No Evidence of Disease Activity-3 (NEDA-3) status in certain relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients for up to three additional years without further treatment, a new analysis presented at the 34th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) 2018 suggests.
On 28 November 2018, the FDA approved gilteritinib (Xospata® [ASP2215], Astellas) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) harbouring FLT3 mutations as confirmed by an FDA-approved companion diagnostic test (CDx).
On 26 November 2018, the FDA granted accelerated approval to the first-in-class tropomyosin receptor-kinase (TRK) inhibitor larotrectinib (Vitrakvi®, Loxo Oncology/Bayer) for the treatment of adult and paediatric patients with solid tumours that are metastatic or not amenable to surgery, harbour the neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase (NTRK) gene fusion in the absence of known acquired resistance mutations, and whose cancer progressed following treatment or for whom are no satisfactory other treatment options available.
On 21 November 2018, the FDA granted accelerated approval to venetoclax (Venclexta®, AbbVie/Genentech) in combination with either azacitidine, or decitabine, or low-dose cytarabine (LDAC), for the treatment of newly-diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients ≥75 years old or in patients with comorbidities precluding intensive induction chemotherapy.
On 21 November 2018, the FDA approved glasdegib (Daurismo®, Pfizer) in combination with low-dose cytarabine (LDAC), for the treatment of newly-diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in patients of 75 years or older and in patients with comorbidities contraindicating intensive induction chemotherapy.
On 20 November 2018, the FDA approved the interferon-γ neutralising monoclonal antibody emapalumab (Gamifant®, Novimmune) for the treatment of adult and paediatric (newborn and older) patients with refractory, recurrent, or progressive primary haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) or in patients intolerant to conventional HLH therapy.
On 16 November, 2018, the FDA approved brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris®, Seattle Genetics) in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of previously untreated systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL) and other CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL), including angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) and PTCL not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS).