Caroline Helwick

Among the high-quality abstract presentations at ASCO and the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), a few always stand out as particularly meritorious. The ASCO Post asked its Senior Deputy Editor, breast cancer specialist Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, to offer his selection and thoughts on some the impactful studies presented at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting and at SABCS this past December. Dr. Abraham is the Enterprise Chair of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.

In patients newly diagnosed with high-risk large B-cell lymphoma, the addition of the CD19 monoclonal antibody tafasitamab plus the immunomodulatory drug lenalidomide (Tafa/Len) to standard therapy led to a 25% reduction in the risk of death or progression in the phase III frontMIND trial. Importantly, the experimental regimen provided benefit regardless of molecular cell-of-origin subtype, researchers reported at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting. 1 The study was simultaneously published in The Lancet. 2

Results of the phase III EMERALD-3 trial showed that combining transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with the immunotherapy-based STRIDE regimen, (single tremelimumab[an anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte–associated antigen 4] plus regular interval durvalumab [anti–PD-L1]) with or without lenvatinib (oral multikinase VEGF and FGF inhibitor), slowed disease progression and prolonged survival in patients with embolization-eligible, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. The findings were presented at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting by Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, JD, MBA, PhD (hc), FASCO, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Medical College at Cornell University, New York, USA, and Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.

The plasma cell dyscrasia oral abstract session at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting featured several pivotal trials that advanced the field, including those highlighted here. Coverage of new treatments for amyloidosis will appear in a separate article.

Results of the phase III EMERALD-3 trial showed that combining transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with the immunotherapy-based STRIDE regimen, (single tremelimumab[an anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte–a...

New results from the international, randomized, phase III OPTIMA trial indicate that select patients with clinically high-risk, estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer who have a low risk of recurrence based on tumor gene expression testing may be able to safely avoid chemotherapy. 1

An additional safety analysis of the global phase III DESTINY-Breast05 trial evaluating the HER2-directed antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxteca

First-line treatment with the antibody drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy plus pembrolizumab led to a longer progression-free survival after next line of treatment—ie, progression-free survival-2 (PFS2)—than chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab in patients with previously untreated, PD-L1–positive advanced triple-negative breast cancer, according to an exploratory post hoc analysis of the phase III ASCENT-04/KEYNOTE-D19 trial

April 6, 2011 | Family Practice News Author and Disclosure Information FROM THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY

First-line treatment with the antibody drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy plus pembrolizumab led to a longer progression-free survival after next line of treatment—ie, progression-free survival...