The ASCO Post: B.J. Rimel, MD, Interviews Fellow Cancer Specialists

B.J. Rimel, MD, medical director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, was selected by The ASCO Post to interview researchers involved in clinical trials presented at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in June.

Rimel interviewed Mansoor R. Mirza, MD, of Denmark’s Rigshospitalet and Copenhagen University Hospital, who led a trial of a combination treatment for advanced and recurrent endometrial cancer. The treatment included an immune checkpoint inhibitor, which stops cancer cells from “turning off” the body’s immune response to chemotherapy.

The combination treatment improved progression-free survival and patients’ quality of life. Rimel noted that the trial “established that immunotherapy in combination with upfront chemo is a game-changer for endometrial cancer.”

Rimel also interviewed Isabelle L. Ray-Coquard, MD, PhD, of Centre Léon Bérard and the University Claude Bernard Lyon Est, who led a trial in which patients with advanced cervical cancer received two checkpoint inhibitors before beginning radiation and chemotherapy and for six months afterward. The protocol safely activated patients’ immune response.

“I think it’s really striking that … there were no significant toxicities,” Rimel told Ray-Coquard.

Rimel discussed the results of a Phase III trial led by Kathleen N. Moore, MD, of the Stephenson Oklahoma Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma. The trial suggests a new standard of care for an aggressive form of recurrent ovarian cancer. The therapy—designed to target tumor cells while sparing healthy cells—yielded a 35% reduction in the risk of progression and a 33% reduction in the hazard of death as compared to chemotherapy.

Click here to watch the complete interview Rimel conducted with Mirza. Click here to watch the complete interview Rimel conducted with Ray-Coquard. Click here to watch the complete interview Rimel conducted with Moore.