The FDA recently approved vandetanib [van det´ a nib] (Caprelsa – AstraZeneca) for oral treatment of symptomatic or progressive medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic disease. Vandetanib is the first drug approved in the US for medullary thyroid cancer.

Ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla – Genentech), a human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-targeted antibody and microtubule inhibitor conjugate, has been approved by the FDA for intravenous (IV) treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer in patients previously treated with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and a taxane. The prefix was added to the new conjugate’s name at the request of the FDA to distinguish it from trastuzumab.

Olaratumab (Lartruvo – Lilly), a platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFR-α) blocking monoclonal antibody, has received accelerated approval from the FDA for use in combination with the anthracycline doxorubicin for first-line treatment of adults with soft-tissue sarcoma histologic subtypes considered susceptible to anthracyclines. Approval is limited to locally advanced or metastatic soft-tissue sarcomas that are not amenable to curative radiotherapy or surgery, and is contingent on verification of clinical benefit in a confirmatory phase 3 trial.

The FDA has approved lutetium Lu 177 dotatate (Lutathera – Advanced Accelerator Applications), a radiolabeled somatostatin analog, for treatment of somatostatin receptor-positive gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEPNETs) in adults.

The oral kinase inhibitor alpelisib (Vijoice – Novartis) has been approved by the FDA for treatment of patients ≥2 years old with severe manifestations of PIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum (PROS) who require systemic treatment. Alpelisib is the first drug to be approved in the US for this indication. It was also approved in 2019 as Piqray for use in combination with fulvestrant for treatment of certain types of breast cancer.

The Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor zanubrutinib (Brukinsa), which was previously approved by the FDA for treatment of mantle cell lymphoma, Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, and relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma, has now been approved for treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) in adults. The BTK inhibitors ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and acalabrutinib (Calquence) were approved earlier for treatment of CLL and SLL.

The oral kinase inhibitor tucatinib (Tukysa – Seagen) has received accelerated approval from the FDA for use in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin) for treatment of adults with RAS wild-type human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer that has progressed following treatment with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin-, and irinotecan-based chemotherapy regimens. Tucatinib was approved in 2020 for use in combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine (Xeloda, and generics) for treatment of adults with advanced unresectable or...

Sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (Trodelvy – Gilead) has been approved for treatment of unresectable locally advanced or metastatic hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative breast cancer in adults who received prior endocrine therapy and ≥2 additional systemic therapies for metastatic disease. It was previously approved for treatment-refractory metastatic triplenegative breast cancer and for treatment of locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer in adults who received platinum-based chemotherapy and a programmed death receptor-1...

Atezolizumab (Tecentriq – Genentech), an immune checkpoint inhibitor, has been approved by the FDA for treatment of unresectable or metastatic alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) in patients ≥2 years old. It was previously approved for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, hepatocellular cancer, and melanoma (see Table 1). Atezolizumab is the first drug to be approved in the US for treatment of ASPS. ASPS is a rare disorder that affects mostly adolescents and young adults; <1% of soft tissue sarcomas are ASPS.

The FDA has approved cemiplimab-rwlc (Libtayo – Regeneron), an immune checkpoint inhibitor, for use in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy for first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in adults with no epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), or ROS1 aberrations and who are not candidates for surgical resection or chemoradiation. The drug was previously approved for first-line treatment of NSCLC in patients whose tumors have high PD-L1 expression and no genomic tumor aberrations....