Hem/Onc Roundup: Breast Implants Recalled After 33 Cancer Deaths, Updates in CAR T-Cell Therapies, and more

Here are the top stories covered by DocWire News this week in the Hematology & Oncology section. This week, Allergan recalled its breast implants following reportedly related lymphoma deaths, a study observed an association between broken heart syndrome and cancer, and more.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested that Allergan voluntarily recall its BIOCELL textured breast implants and tissue expanders following reports of an increased risk of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Allergan agreed and is removing these products from the global market. Thirty-eight other countries have already recalled the implants.

There exists a link between cancer and takotsubo syndrome (TTS) also known as broken heart syndrome, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The results showed that the overall prevalence of cancer was 18% in the TTS group and 11% in another cohort.

A nonengineered, multiantigen-specific T-cell therapy was found to be safe and tolerable and demonstrated clinical activity in patients with pancreatic cancer, according to a phase I study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Immune Cell Therapies for Cancer special conference.

A phase I study published in Blood found that treatment with a CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy was feasible in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma who had previously received high-dose chemotherapy and underwent autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation.