NEW YORK – This past year the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer care and clinical trials was at the forefront of readers' minds as researchers and regulators strove to adjust protocols so some studies could continue despite lockdown rules and safety measures, and as oncologists made greater use of telemedicine to limit unnecessary exposure to patients.
It is no surprise then that some of the most popular stories in Precision Oncology News last year were the ones that explored the strategies healthcare systems and researchers were using to deliver personalized treatments amid the pandemic and to study new treatment approaches. Outside of COVID-19, however, readers were most interested in the advances and controversies in the precision oncology field, including the latest precision oncology drug approvals; the development of investigational drugs for hard to treat lung cancer patients with EGFR exon 20 insertions; the debates on using tumor mutational burden to predict responders to immunotherapy; and the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of the first next-generation sequencing-based, liquid biopsy companion diagnostic from Guardant Health.
Here are the top 20 most popular stories published in Precision Oncology News:
1. FDA Approves Record Number of Precision Oncology Drugs in H1 2020
2. FDA Approves Merck's Keytruda, Foundation Medicine CDx for TMB-High Solid Tumors
3. NICE, NHS England's Pandemic Guideline Gives Temporary Access to Precision Oncology Treatments
4. Opdivo, Yervoy Combo Elicits Durable Responses in PD-L1-Expressing Lung Cancer Patients
5. Invitae, ArcherDx Ink $1.4B Merger to Advance Precision Oncology Offerings
6. EMA Accepts Daiichi Sankyo's Application for Enhertu in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
7. Guardant Health CDx Wins FDA Approval for First Liquid Biopsy NGS Tumor Profiling Assay
9. Merck's Second Tissue-Agnostic Approval for Keytruda Reignites TMB Cutoff Debate
10. Eli Lilly's Verzenio Reduces Breast Cancer Recurrence in Study Amid Long-Term Efficacy Questions
11. Pfizer Reports Positive Phase II Trial of BRAF, MEK Inhibitor Combo in Multiple Myeloma
12. Oncologists See Clinical Trial Disruptions as Coronavirus Pandemic Continues
13. Amid COVID-19, Lower Cancer Diagnosis Rates Mean Fewer Patients Getting Molecular Tests, Treatment
14. FDA Releases Guidance Outlining Considerations for CDx Labeling for Oncology Drug Groups
15. Merck Bid for Second Pan-Cancer Keytruda Indication Would Raise Tumor Mutation Burden to CDx Status
16. Guardant360 Results in Alpelisib Trial Suggest Liquid Biopsy May Help Better Capture Non-Responders
17. Survey of Precision Oncology Programs Shows Continued Adoption, Though 'Success' Metrics Unclear
18. Epic EMR Users Begin Integrating Genomics Data for Clinical Decision Support
20. Prostate Cancer Patients With CDK12 Mutations May Respond to Immunotherapy, Study Finds