Acquired resistance to osimertinib mediated by loss of the T790M mutation is associated with early resistance and a range of competing resistance mechanisms. These data provide clinical evidence of the heterogeneity of resistance in advanced NSCLC and a need for clinical trial strategies that can overcome multiple concomitant resistance mechanisms or strategies for preventing such resistance.

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted all aspects of clinical care, including cancer clinical trials. In March 2020, ASCO launched a survey of clinical programs represented on its Cancer Research Committee and Research Community Forum Steering Group and taskforces to learn about the types of changes and challenges that clinical trial programs were experiencing early in the pandemic. There were 32 survey respondents; 14 represented academic programs, and 18 represented community-based programs. Respondents indicated that COVID-19 is leading programs to halt or prioritize screening and/or enrollment for certain clinical trials and cease research-only visits. Most reported conducting remote patient care where possible and remote visits and monitoring with sponsors and/or contract research organizations (CROs); respondents viewed this shift positively. Numerous challenges with conducting clinical trials were reported, including enrollment and protocol adherence difficulties with decreased patient visits, staffing constraints, and limited availability of ancillary services. Interactions with sponsors and CROs about modifying trial procedures were also challenging. The changes in clinical trial procedures identified by the survey could serve as strategies for other programs attempting to maintain their clinical trial portfolios during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, many of the adaptations to trials made during the pandemic provide a long-term opportunity to improve and transform the clinical trial system. Specific improvements could be expanded use of more pragmatic or streamlined trial designs, fewer clinical trial–related patient visits, and minimized sponsor and CRO visits to trial programs.

ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT01752114; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov).

This report presents the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO’s) evaluation of the adaptations in care delivery, research operations, and regulatory oversight made in response to the coronavirus pandemic and presents recommendations for moving forward as the pandemic recedes. ASCO organized its recommendations for clinical research around five goals to ensure lessons learned from the COVID-19 experience are used to craft a more equitable, accessible, and efficient clinical research system that protects patient safety, ensures scientific integrity, and maintains data quality. The specific goals are: (1) ensure that clinical research is accessible, affordable, and equitable; (2) design more pragmatic and efficient clinical trials; (3) minimize administrative and regulatory burdens on research sites; (4) recruit, retain, and support a well-trained clinical research workforce; and (5) promote appropriate oversight and review of clinical trial conduct and results. Similarly, ASCO also organized its recommendations regarding cancer care delivery around five goals: (1) promote and protect equitable access to high-quality cancer care; (2) support safe delivery of high-quality cancer care; (3) advance policies to ensure oncology providers have sufficient resources to provide high-quality patient care; (4) recognize and address threats to clinician, provider, and patient well-being; and (5) improve patient access to high-quality cancer care via telemedicine. ASCO will work at all levels to advance the recommendations made in this report.

Background: In this first-in-human phase 1 study (NCT02964013; MK-7684-001), we investigated the safety and efficacy of the anti-TIGIT (T cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domain) antibody vibostolimab as monotherapy or in combination with pembrolizumab. Patients and methods: Part A enrolled patients with advanced solid tumors, and part B enrolled patients with nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients received vibostolimab 2.1-700 mg alone or with pembrolizumab 200 mg in part A and vibostolimab 200 mg alone or with pembrolizumab 200 mg in part B. Primary endpoints were safety and tolerability. Secondary endpoints included pharmacokinetics and objective response rate (ORR) per RECIST v1.1. Results: Part A enrolled 76 patients (monotherapy, 34; combination therapy, 42). No dose-limiting toxicities were reported. Across doses, 56% of patients receiving monotherapy and 62% receiving combination therapy had treatmentrelated adverse events (TRAEs); grade 3-4 TRAEs occurred in 9% and 17% of patients, respectively. The most common TRAEs were fatigue (15%) and pruritus (15%) with monotherapy and pruritus (17%) and rash (14%) with combination therapy. Confirmed ORR was 0% with monotherapy and 7% with combination therapy. In part B, 39 patients had anti-PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1)/PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1)-naive NSCLC (all received combination therapy), and 67 had anti-PD-1/PD-L1-refractory NSCLC (monotherapy, 34; combination therapy, 33). In patients with anti-PD-1/PD-L1-naive NSCLC: 85% had TRAEsethe most common were pruritus (38%) and hypoalbuminemia (31%); confirmed ORR was 26%, with responses occurring in both PD-L1-positive and PD-L1-negative tumors. In patients with anti-PD-1/PD-L1-refractory NSCLC: 56% receiving monotherapy and 70% receiving combination therapy had TRAEsethe most common were rash and fatigue (21% each) with monotherapy and pruritus (36%) and fatigue (24%) with combination therapy; confirmed ORR was 3% with monotherapy and 3% with combination therapy. Conclusions: Vibostolimab plus pembrolizumab was well tolerated and demonstrated antitumor activity in patients with advanced solid tumors, including patients with advanced NSCLC.

Clinical Cancer Advances 2021: ASCO's Report on Progress Against Cancer highlights the most important clinical research advances of the past year and identifies priority areas where ASCO believes research efforts should be focused moving forward. This year's report also discusses the critical issue of health equity in cancer research and solutions to ensure that every patient with cancer, everywhere, can access the latest advances. Achieving Equity in Cancer ResearchOverall cancer mortality has decreased in the United States 1 thanks to tremendous progress in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment-underpinned by decades of research progress. 2 Unfortunately, not all individuals with cancer have benefited equitably from this success, as Blacks, 3 patients living in rural areas, 4 populations with lower income and education levels, 5 and others continue to experience lower survival and higher mortality rates for many cancers.As clinicians, we are committed to providing evidenced-based, high-quality cancer care to every patient, every day, everywhere. But, if clinical trials don't represent the individuals we treat, including those from racial, ethnic, and other minority populations, the state of science suffers, and patients with life-threatening conditions may not receive the best-perhaps only-treatment option for their condition.

PURPOSE: People with cancer are at increased risk for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. ASCO's COVID-19 registry promotes systematic data collection across US oncology practices. METHODS: Participating practices enter data on patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection in cancer treatment. In this analysis, we focus on all patients with hematologic or regional or metastatic solid tumor malignancies. Primary outcomes are 30- and 90-day mortality rates and change over time. RESULTS: Thirty-eight practices provided data for 453 patients from April to October 2020. Sixty-two percent had regional or metastatic solid tumors. Median age was 64 years. Forty-three percent were current or previous cigarette users. Patients with B-cell malignancies age 61-70 years had twice mortality risk (hazard ratio = 2.1 [95% CI, 1.3 to 3.3]) and those age > 70 years had 4.5 times mortality risk (95% CI, 1.8 to 11.1) compared with patients age ≤ 60 years. Association between survival and age was not significant in patients with metastatic solid tumors ( P = .12). Tobacco users had 30-day mortality estimate of 21% compared with 11% for never users (log-rank P = .005). Patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 before June 2020 had 30-day mortality rate of 20% (95% CI, 14% to 25%) compared with 13% (8% to 18%) for those diagnosed in or after June 2020 ( P = .08). The 90-day mortality rate for pre-June patients was 28% (21% to 34%) compared with 21% (13% to 28%; P = .20). CONCLUSION: Older patients with B-cell malignancies were at increased risk for death (unlike older patients with metastatic solid tumors), as were all patients with cancer who smoke tobacco. Diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 later in 2020 was associated with more favorable 30- and 90-day mortality, likely related to more asymptomatic cases and improved clinical management.