Global clinical trials have many advantages and are essential in many disease settings, but there are also challenges that confront global industry-sponsored research, said Sandra Horning, MD, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Development in Hematology/Oncology for Genentech (Table...
With In the Clinic, The ASCO Post provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Sunitinib Indication—The oral kinase inhibitor...
The new NCCN Guidelines for Lung Cancer Screening primarily refer to non–small cell lung cancer, the most common type of lung cancer, and recommend helical low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening for select patients at high risk for the disease. In addition to outlining the appropriate use of ...
Encouraging outcomes have been achieved with a combined-modality treatment approach for patients with locally recurrent colorectal cancer in both curative and palliative settings, although room for improvement remains. During a session presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology...
On October 31, President Barack Obama issued an executive order instructing the FDA to broaden reporting of potential drug shortages, expedite reviews of applications to begin or modify production of these drugs, and provide more information to the Justice Department about possible cases of...
On June 5, 1981, the CDC issued a warning about a rare type of pneumonia discovered among a small group of young gay men in Los Angeles, later determined to be AIDS-related, ushering in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Early on, AIDS-related malignancies brought the oncology community into this formidable...
The potentially devastating long-term consequences on cognitive function in patients with brain cancer following cranial irradiation led Charles L. Limoli, PhD, Professor of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Irvine, to study neural stem cell transplantation and how the procedure may...
In February 2011, The ASCO Post published an opinion piece (“Congress and the ‘Doctor Fix’: Looking Back, Looking Ahead”) about the ping-pong of legislative continuing resolutions to avert a 21.3% cut in physician reimbursement. These continuing resolutions were necessary because the Affordable...
Patients concerned about an increased risk of cancer among recipients of organ transplantation need to know that “in the great majority of cases, patients don’t get cancer,” according to Eric Engels, MD, MPH, lead author of the Transplant Cancer Match Study report and Senior Investigator, Division...
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. The Transplant Cancer Match Study, a ...
“Evidence is statistically inconclusive but suggestive that lobectomy, compared with limited resection, is associated with increased long-term survival for early-stage lung cancer,” according to a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study analyzed data from 679...
Women who survive breast cancer show significant neurologic impairment, with outcomes appearing to be significantly poorer for those treated with chemotherapy, according to a report in the Archives of Neurology. Investigators at Stanford University School of Medicine in California conducted an...
A phase III study comparing the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) inhibitors axitinib and sorafenib (Nexavar) as second-line therapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma found that axitinib produced significantly longer progression-free survival. Published in The...
There was a time when clinical trial results were disseminated mainly through peer-reviewed journals that appeared in your mailbox. Computers and prompt reporting from medical conferences changed that, and same-day postings on medical websites brought “breaking news” a step closer. But the...
The editors gratefully acknowledge all contributors to The ASCO Post and thank the columnists who contributed to Volume 2, January–December 2011: Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP Richard Boxer, MD, FACS Carlton G. Brown, RN, PhD, AOCN Barrie R. Cassileth, PhD E. David Crawford, MD Emil J. Freireich, MD, ...
It’s never enough. Whether it is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), other payers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, or specialty companies, one can never provide enough data. When will it all end? The problem, or the opportunity for many, is that it won’t end. The need for discrete ...
The electronic health record system offered by vendors is more like a filing cabinet, not the sophisticated, interactive database needed by busy oncologists, according to Kevin S. Hughes, MD, FACS, Co-Director, Avon Comprehensive Breast Evaluation Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, who...
A well-documented flaw in paper-based health care is the propensity for medical errors. According to Blackford Middleton, MD, MPH, MSc, implementing clinical decision support software can decrease medical error, improve outcomes, and lower the costs of care. Presenting a session titled “Improving...
The American Society of Hematology announced the election of three new members to its Executive Committee, the governing body of the organization, for terms to begin in January 2012. Linda J. Burns, MD, will serve a 1-year term as Vice President, followed by successive terms as President-Elect and...
Translational Sciences Corporation announced that it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for commercialization of its OncoTrac medical imaging software. OncoTrac is designed for efficient quantitative assessment of treatment response of metastatic tumors including those of the breast, lung,...
The FDA has approved ruxolitinib (Jakafi), the first drug approved to specifically treat patients with the bone marrow disease myelofibrosis. Myelofibrosis is a disease in which the bone marrow is replaced by scar tissue resulting in blood cells being made in organs such as the liver and the...
A recent issue of the Journal of Oncology Practice features a special series of articles on palliative care and end-of-life issues in the oncology practice setting. Articles explore the integration of palliative care services in ambulatory settings, unique delivery mechanisms for palliative care,...
This year marks the 40th anniversary ofthe National Cancer Act and places a more prominent focus on how much progress against cancer has been made over the past 4 decades. In the past year alone, significant advances have been made in cancer prevention and screening, hard-to-treat cancers, and...
Direct your patients to www.cancer.net/podcasts to learn about the 2011 Clinical Cancer Advances. In a special podcast, patients can hear about this year’s most important advances in clinical cancer research and what these advances mean for their treatment and care. ■ © 2011. American Society of...
The 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, to be held in San Francisco February 2–4, will feature some exciting advancements in the field that center on personalized cancer care. “The major cancer discussed at the meeting tends to be prostate cancer, and there hasn’t yet been a lot of specific...
On November 3, ASCO issued a new report that lays out ASCO’s vision for transforming clinical and translational research to deliver more effective and personalized cancer therapies faster. The report, Accelerating Progress Against Cancer: ASCO’s Blueprint for Transforming Clinical and Translational ...
Progress against cancer has helped save or extend the lives of millions of patients. Thanks to advances in medical research, there are about 12 million cancer survivors today in the United States. For patients transitioning back into everyday life after surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or...
ASCO has just added a membership category for medical students, spurred on by—you guessed it—a medical student. Daniel G. Stover, MD, knew he wanted to go into oncology from very early on. But when he contacted ASCO to join as an intern, having just graduated from Vanderbilt School of Medicine, he...
Policy analysts searching for a better understanding of health-care models often compare the cancer delivery systems of Canada and the United States. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Joseph M. Connors, MD, Clinical Professor and Director of the BC Cancer Agency’s Centre for Lymphoid Cancer,...
Nearly 16,000 people from 16 countries attended this year’s European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress, held recently in Stockholm. The ASCO Post has featured several key reports from the meeting and will offer further coverage in upcoming issues. Additional noteworthy studies presented at the...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized Janet Rowley, MD, of the University of Chicago Medical Center, and Brian Druker, MD, of Oregon Health & Science University with the 2011 Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize for their significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic...
The FDA has approved asparaginase Erwinia chrysanthemi (Erwinaze) to treat patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who have developed hypersensitivity to Escherichia coli–derived asparaginase (Elspar) and pegaspargase (Oncaspar). Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most commonly diagnosed...
At press time, the FDA had granted approval for the following new agents and indications for cancer treatment in 2011. Asparaginase Erwinia chrysanthemi (Erwinaze) as a component of a multiagent chemotherapeutic regimen for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in patients who have...
Seminal research in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer has been led by Edith A. Perez, MD, the Serene M. and Frances C. Durling Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida. The ASCO Post asked Dr. Perez to share her approach to HER2-directed therapy. Testing...
Last September, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, a leading scholar in bioethics and health-care policy, was named the Diane v.S. Levy and Robert M. Levy University Professor and Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. His appointment will be shared between ...
Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, MD, Chair of Medical Breast Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, said he was “disappointed but not surprised” at the FDA decision to withdraw the bevacizumab (Avastin) indication in breast cancer. “Once the FDA put this in the hands of ODAC, ...
On November 18, FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, MD, said she is revoking the agency’s approval of the breast cancer indication for bevacizumab (Avastin) after concluding that the drug has not been shown to be safe and effective for that use. Bevacizumab will remain on the market as an...
“The message” of a meta-analysis of 17 randomized trials of breast-conserving surgery with or without radiation, “should be that the benefits of radiation are not temporary, that it provides an increased chance of cure,” Thomas A. Buchholz, MD, told The ASCO Post. The meta-analysis was conducted by ...
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. “After breast-conserving surgery,...
On September 1, 2011, Ronald A. DePinho, MD, became only the fourth President in the 70-year history of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. DePinho spent the previous 14 years as head of Dana-Farber’s Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science. In a recent interview...
A study presented at the 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting raised concerns that newly diagnosed cancer patients are having trouble seeing an oncologist. Interviews with several cancer centers and community practices, however, suggest that the process runs smoothly, for the most part. Majority of Patients...
Physician-based screening leads to detection of thinner melanomas that were less likely to have negative prognostic attributes such as ulceration and dermal mitosis, according to a retrospective review of patient records and biopsy logs from 394 patients diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma. The...
Postoperative adjuvant therapy with the oral fluoropyrimidine derivative S-1 improved overall survival and relapse-free survival in patients with stage II or III gastric cancer who had D2 gastrectomy. Five-year survival rates in the phase III study were 71.7% for patients in the S-1 group vs 61.1%...
Compared with standard R-CHOP (rituximab [Rituxan], doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone), intensified immunochemotherapy with R-ACVBP (dose-intensive rituximab, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vindesine [not available in U.S.], bleomycin, and prednisone) significantly improves ...
The beginning of a new year is an opportunity for a fresh start for many, including people with cancer. To help your patients set and achieve their health and wellness goals, direct them to Cancer.Net (www.cancer.net), ASCO’s patient website, where they can learn about seven steps for a healthier...
Plans call for the first James B. Nachman ASCO Junior Faculty Award in Pediatric Oncology to be awarded at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting. The award will be given each year to a junior faculty member who submits the highest-scoring abstract in pediatric oncology for the ASCO Annual Meeting, as...
As an active member of ASCO, and as a leader of the Society in recent years, ASCO President Michael P. Link, MD, has a long history of giving to the Society-affiliated Conquer Cancer Foundation. “Our family has always felt that it’s a good thing to support,” he said. “The Foundation supports...
At the 2011 Annual Meeting, the Conquer Cancer Foundation renamed one of its annual awards to honor the legacy of one of ASCO’s groundbreaking founders. The Jane C. Wright, MD, Young Investigator Award (YIA) recognizes Dr. Wright’s leadership at ASCO, her contributions to the field of oncology, and ...
ASCO members now have the opportunity to help the Society gather information and opinions about important cancer policy issues. ASCO in Action, ASCO’s revamped policy news website (http://ascoaction.asco.org), features weekly polls designed to gauge the views of ASCO members on a variety of topics ...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation funds two programs, the Medical Student Rotation (MSR) and the Resident Travel Award (RTA), to facilitate the recruitment and retention of individuals from populations underrepresented in medicine to cancer careers, with a special focus on the development of clinical...