Blog postings will resume in September 2025

 Dear Grey Horizon readers, 

Thank you for your continued support of this blog.  Postings will resume in September 2025.  

No survival benefit from adding adjuvant chemotherapy to endocrine therapy in older women with a genomic grade index high-risk ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer

Findings from ASTER 70s, a phase III randomized superiority study conducted on women 70 years or older "with a genomic grade index (GGI) high-risk oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer" identified no statistically significant effect of adding adjuvant chemotherapy to the prescribed treatment plan.  While the authors od this study admit that more evidence of genomic profiling is needed to determine "whether chemotherapy is necessary for older patents with ER-positive tumours", ASTER 70s has provided little evidence on the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for older breast cancer patients. 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Sources mentioned: 

• Brain E, Mir O, Bourbouloux E, et al. for the GERICO&UCBG/Unicancer. Adjuvant chemotherapy and hormonotherapy versus adjuvant hormonotherapy alone for women aged 70 years and older with high-risk breast cancer based on the genomic grade index (ASTER 70s): a randomised phase 3 trial . The Lancet 2025;406(10502):p489-500.
• 
  
• Linn SC, Hilbers FS. Balancing quality and quantity of life in older patients with breast cancer . The Lancet 2025;406(10502):P422-424.

ESMO joins the European Health Alliance on Alcohol (EHAA) to reduce preventable cancer cases linked to alcohol use

The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) has joined the European Health Alliance on Alcohol (EHAA).  Classified as a group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), consumption of alcohol has been linked to liver, breast, mouth, and colorectal cancer.  As a result of joining the alliance, ESMO will collaborate with EHAA "on devising and promoting evidence-based alcohol policies aimed at preventing cancer." 

Click here to read more about the European Health Alliance on Alcohol. 

Savolitinib plus osimertinib show a high response in EGFR-mutated NSCLC progressed on first-line osimertinib due to MET-driven resistance mechanisms

 Results of SAVANNAH, a phase II study comprised of "one of the largest datasets evaluating an oral MET tyrosine kinase inhibitor in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer" was recently reported in Annals of Oncology.   Considered to be the first study to use a novel biomarker-based patient selection strategy, results from SAVANNAH "demonstrate efficacy benefit with a chemotherapy-free, orally administered, combined EGFR and MET targeted treatment regimen." 

To learn more about the SAVANNAH study, click here. 

Source mentioned: 

de Marinis F, Kim TM, Bonanno L, et al. Savolitinib plus osimertinib in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer with MET overexpression and/or amplification following disease progression on osimertinib: primary results from the phase II SAVANNAH study . Annals of Oncology 2025;36(8):P920-933. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annonc.2025.04.003