Cervical Cancer

Overall rates of early-stage cervical cancer in the United States have been falling, but cases with advanced disease are continuing to rise.

Receiving a human papillomavirus vaccine and local surgical treatment could reduce the risk of recurring cervical lesions by 57%.

Studies suggest novel immunotherapy may have efficacy as monotherapy and in combination with an anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor.

Bevacizumab-maly (Almysys; mAbxience) is the third biosimilar of bevacizumab (Avastin) approved in the United States.

Numbers have remained below prepandemic levels.

The death rate from cervical cancer has dropped by more than 50% since 1975.

The research team used the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, which provides nationwide information on cancer statistics.

Tisotumab vedotin-tftv is used as antitumor therapy for patients with disease progression during or after chemotherapy.

In the IMPACT trial, women who were positive for high-risk HPV received a follow-up triage test to help determine whether their cervical cells were transforming to cervical pre-cancer.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) can be used for multiple cancer types, including melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and head and neck squamous cell cancer.

The vaccine is used to prevent cervical cancer and other cancers, such as vulvar, vaginal, and oropharyngeal.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) approved by FDA in combination with chemotherapy, with or without bevacizumab (Avastin), in patients with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer.

Tisotumab vedotin, is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer with disease progression on or after chemotherapy.

Cemiplimab-rwlc is being developed by Regeneron and Sanofi under a global collaboration agreement.

Trial results showed a 24% confirmed objective response rate with a median duration of response of 8.3 months among patients with cervical cancer who received tisotumab vedotin-tftv.

Factors that may have contributed to the screening declines include site closures and temporary pausing of services.

According to the authors of the KEYNOTE-826 trial results, this is the first anti-programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 therapy to demonstrate improvements in OS and PFS that were clinically meaningful and statistically significant regardless of PD-L1 status.

Other HPV-associated cancers were found to have increased over the study period, linking this trend to lack of guidelines and other resources.

The trial found positive results in both the overall study population of patients with advanced cervical cancer as well as subgroups with squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma.

Results from a phase 3 trial investigating the programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor cemiplimab monotherapy compared to chemotherapy showed an overall survival benefit among patients previously treated with chemotherapy whose cervical cancer is recurrent or metastatic.

The IGCS Mentorship and Training Program seeks to provide training and education to regions without formal training programs in gynecologic oncology.

Recent data have shown alarmingly low rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine completion among children between 10 and 13 years of age.

In a live virtual symposium presented at the 2020 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition, Allison Baxley, PharmD, BCOP, and Laura Alwan, PharmD, BCOP, engaged pharmacists in learning about the role of biomarkers in cervical and endometrial cancers.

Educating patients about cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine can help reduce the number of cases.

A biologics license application has been submitted to the FDA for the accelerated approval of tisotumab vedotin for use in patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer that has progressed on or following chemotherapy.

If approved, the biosimilar will be indicated for use in metastatic colorectal cancer, nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer, recurrent glioblastoma, metastatic renal cell carcinoma, and metastatic cervical cancer.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection, and if a high-risk infection does not go away, it can lead to the development of a variety of cancers, including 91% of all cervical cancers, 70% of oropharyngeal cancers, and cancers of the vulva, vagina, and penis and anus.

Pharmacists play a key role in educating patients on risk factors for cervical and endometrial cancers and can assist with treatment decisions, and management of potential adverse effects in patients with these cancers.

In a live 2020 Directions in Oncology Pharmacy® conference session, the presenter provided an update on the management of cervical and endometrial cancers.

Among patients with cervical cancer, there was no significant difference found between the risk of recurrence, local recurrence, or death among individuals who either completed or abandoned a radical uterine procedure following the intraoperative detection of a positive pelvic lymph node.