Kimberly Ku, MD

Illinois CancerCare

https://illinoiscancercare.com/

Kimberly KU, MD is board certified in Hematology/Medical Oncology, Internal Medicine and specializes in Breast, Colorectal, Hematology, Lung, Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), Myeloma / Amyloid, Pancreas, Prostate, Ureter / Bladder cancer

I enjoy the like-minded curiosity often embodied in the field of medical oncology/hematology and try to look at every moment as a learning opportunity. Patients seem to truly build trust and rapport with us; there is a unique bond and relationship that is deeply fulfilling. Being in early-mid career, I have a lot of motivation to keep growing personally and professionally, often deriving this energy from my deep passion for learning and seeing how far I can challenge myself. CSN has gifted me with an abundant sense of community, advocacy, empowerment, and networking though participation in leadership exchange conference, COFAI, as well as in general virtual and in-person meetings whenever available. 

The advances I am most excited about in oncology include technological improvements such as liquid molecular testing strategies, interest in AI integration, and movement toward value-based care as a means of understanding how we are improving outcomes based on patient-centered evidence. I believe the biggest challenges facing independent oncologists today include competing business, management and non-medical needs with a lack of time and coaching to navigate as a collective group let alone through one's own individual careers often leading to difficulties understanding and managing pervasive problems such as burn out and maintaining collaborations across practice settings and multi-disciplinary teams. To stay patient centered, I find time to take care of myself so I can focus on being a deep empathetic listener while at work, thinking about patients based on their life stories and the collective medical profession as having its own history and conscious trajectory of aspirational advancements. 

You can read our full interview with Dr Ku. Click here

CORNERSTONE HAPPENINGS

Our virtual Nurse Symposium was held on August 22nd with cochairs Katie Alexander, NP and Erica Deenihan, NP highlighting the most recent practice changing data with an emphasis on antibody drug conjugates and related side effect management as well as a spotlight on bispecific antibodies, focusing on relevant information for oncology nursing and integration into the community oncology practice. Review the slides from the evening here

Challenging Cases is a patient case-based presentation with supporting clinical trial data format providing an opportunity for peer-to-peer exchange. To date, programs have been conducted on breast cancer, NSCLC, endometrial cancer, bladder cancer and hematological disorders, as well as rare diseases such as Systemic Mastocytosis. Review summarized output reports from these programs. Click here New challenging cases in hematological disorders are coming up in the next month!

Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can be used as a premedication to prevent infusion-related reactions such as ICANS or CRS associated with bispecific antibodies. First-generation antihistamines like Benadryl not only block the effect of histamine, but they also block the effect of acetylcholine which can cause temporary drowsiness, confusion, and memory loss. To be more confident with bispecific antibodies, community practices need to be more comfortable with management of them and as Brian Burnham, PharmD, MBA, from Utah Cancer Specialists notes "we need to differentiate from a patient just being a little drowsy from the diphenhydramine versus say having word finding issues or an inability to put thoughts down in writing. If in doubt, error on the side of caution and send the patient to the hospital."

CLINICAL UPDATES

On August 19, 2024, ENHERTU^® (fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki) was granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation in the U.S. for the treatment of unresectable or metastatic hormone receptor positive HER2 low (IHC 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH-) or HER2 ultralow (IHC >0 <1+) breast cancer patients who have received either two lines of endocrine therapy in the metastatic setting, or one line of endocrine therapy if they had demonstrated disease progression within six months of starting first line treatment with endocrine therapy in combination with a CDK4/6 inhibitor or within 24 months of the start of adjuvant endocrine therapy.

FDA and NCCN Guideline Updates for August 2024

The most recent edition of the NCCN Guidelines for NSCLC, Version 8.2024 — August 23, 2024, includes the addition of repotrectinib as a preferred treatment option for NTRK1/2/3 gene fusion discovered prior to first-line systemic therapy or as a subsequent therapy. On June 13, 2024, the FDA granted accelerated approval to repotrectinib (AUGTYRO, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company) for adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older with solid tumors that have a neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase (NTRK) gene fusion, are locally advanced or metastatic or where surgical resection is likely to result in severe morbidity, and that have progressed following treatment or have no satisfactory alternative therapy based on the TRIDENT-1 trial. Read More

On August 19, 2024, the FDA approved lazertinib (Lazcluze, Janssen Biotech, Inc.) in combination with amivantamab-vmjw (Rybrevant, Janssen Biotech, Inc.) for the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 deletions or exon 21 L858R substitution mutations, as detected by an FDA-approved test based on the MARIPOSA trial. Read More

On August 15, 2024, the FDA approved durvalumab (Imfinzi, AstraZeneca) with platinum-containing chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment, followed by single-agent durvalumab as adjuvant treatment after surgery for adults with resectable (tumors ≥ 4 cm and/or node positive) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and no known epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements based on the AEGEAN trial. This approval is reflected in the most recent Read More. This approval is reflected in the most recent edition of the NCCN Guidelines for NSCLC, Version 8.2024 — August 23, 2024.

On August 14, 2024, the FDA approved axatilimab-csfr (Niktimvo, Incyte Corporation), a colony stimulating factor-1 receptor-blocking antibody, for the treatment of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) after failure of at least two prior lines of systemic therapy in adult and pediatric patients weighing at least 40 kg based on the AGAVE-201 trial. Read More

On August 6, 2024, the FDA approved vorasidenib (Voranigo, Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC), an isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1) and isocitrate dehydrogenase-2 (IDH2) inhibitor, for adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older with Grade 2 astrocytoma or oligodendroglioma with a susceptible IDH1 or IDH2 mutation, following surgery including biopsy, sub-total resection, or gross total resection based on the INDIGO trial. Read More

On August 2, 2024, the FDA granted accelerated approval to afamitresgene autoleucel (TECELRA, Adaptimmune, LLC), a melanoma-associated antigen A4 (MAGE-A4)-directed genetically modified autologous T cell immunotherapy, for adults with unresectable or metastatic synovial sarcoma who have received prior chemotherapy, are HLA-A*02:01P, -A*02:02P, -A*02:03P, or -A*02:06P positive and whose tumor expresses the MAGE-A4 antigen as determined by FDA-approved or cleared companion diagnostic devices based on the SPEARHEAD-1 trial. Read More

On August 1, 2024, the FDA expanded approval of dostarlimab-gxly (Jemperli, GSK) with carboplatin and paclitaxel, followed by single-agent dostarlimab-gxly, for adult patients with primary advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer (EC) based on the RUBY trial. Dostarlimab-gxly previously was approved with carboplatin and paclitaxel, followed by single-agent dostarlimab-gxly, for primary advanced or recurrent EC that is mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H). Read More

UPCOMING EVENTS

Our upcoming virtual ESMO Symposium will be held on October 24th. Our co-chairs will provide a roundup of the latest data to be presented at the ESMO 2024 Congress in Barcelona Spain from September 13-17, 2024. Click here to pre-register

Mark your calendars for our COFAI meeting on November 21st. The topic to be covered is Disparities in Healthcare. Click here to pre-register

Save the Date

NATIONAL SUMMIT SPRING 2025

Our National Summit will take place March 14 - 15, 2025 at the Westin Las Colinas in Irving, Texas located just outside Dallas. The 2-day live event will provide an opportunity to discuss initiatives that can improve the viability of community oncology, enable interactions with strategic pharma industry partners, and support peer-to-peer exchange.

*Space is limited.

Thank You

Cornerstone would like to take this opportunity to thank our select pharma partners for their support of our programs enabling us to provide unique opportunities to connect with our network, deliver key educational programs, and ultimately benefit patient care.  

WELLNESS PRODUCTS & EDUCATION

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