Systemic treatment of advanced/metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the context of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: recommendations from the interdisciplinary working group for renal tumors (IAG-N).

This letter summarizes recommendations from the interdisciplinary working group of renal tumors (IAGN) of the German Cancer Society for the systemic treatment of advanced/metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the context of the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

A Randomized Phase IIa Trial with Temsirolimus versus Sunitinib in Advanced Non-Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma: An Intergroup Study of the CESAR Central European Society for Anticancer Drug Research-EWIV and the Interdisciplinary Working Group on Renal Cell Cancer (IAGN) of the German Cancer Society.

Background: Non-clear cell renal cell cancers (nccRCC) are rare entities, and the optimal therapy in metastatic disease has still to be defined.

Methods: In this small prospectively randomized phase IIa multicenter trial, we investigated temsirolimus (TEM) versus sunitinib (SUN) as first-line therapy in patients with metastatic nccRCC. The patients were randomized 1:1 to either TEM in a dose of 25 mg i.

Afatinib as second-line treatment in patients with recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: Subgroup analyses of treatment adherence, safety and mode of afatinib administration in the LUX-Head and Neck 1 trial.

Objectives: Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) can experience severe symptom burden and/or difficulty swallowing, leading to problems with treatment adherence/administration. In LUX-Head and Neck 1 (LH&N1; NCT01345682), second-line afatinib improved progression-free survival (PFS) versus methotrexate in patients with recurrent/metastatic HNSCC. We report adherence and safety across pre-specified and additional subgroups potentially linked to afatinib PFS benefit in LH&N1 (p16 status, smoking history), and afatinib adherence, safety and efficacy by administration (oral versus feeding tube; post-hoc analysis).

Biomarkers predict enhanced clinical outcomes with afatinib versus methotrexate in patients with second-line recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck cancer.

Background: In the phase III LUX-Head & Neck 1 (LUX-H&N1) trial, second-line afatinib significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) versus methotrexate in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC). Here, we evaluated association of prespecified biomarkers with efficacy outcomes in LUX-H&N1.

Patients And Methods: Randomized patients with R/M HNSCC and progression following ≥2 cycles of platinum therapy received afatinib (40 mg/day) or methotrexate (40 mg/m2/week).

Phase-I study of sagopilone in combination with cisplatin in chemotherapy-naive patients with metastasised small-cell lung cancer.

Background: Sagopilone (ZK219477) is a new and fully synthetic epothilone with activity against multi-drug resistant tumour cell lines. It has demonstrated clinical activity in several solid tumours like ovarian cancer and melanoma. Data about clinical efficacy of sagopilone in small-cell lung cancer are lacking.