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Showing 9301 - 9350Newly Approved Drugs and Indications
FDA has approved the following new drugs and/or indications in 2013: Denosumab (Xgeva subcutaneous injection) for giant cell tumor of bone. Lenalidomide (Revlimid capsules) for relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma FDA approved. Trametinib (Mekinist tablets) for unresectable or metastatic...
Molecular Imaging Improves Care in Pediatric Glioma
The amino acid imaging agent, O-(2-[18F]-fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine (F-18 FET), may improve upon standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its diagnostic benefit for imaging pediatric gliomas when conventional MRI is not sufficient, said researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular ...
Results of AXIS Trial Indicate a Significant Improvement over Historical Survival Data in Renal Cell Carcinoma
The phase III open-label AXIS trial comparing axitinib (Inlyta) vs sorafenib (Nexavar) as second-line treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma has shown a significant difference in median progression-free survival (8.3 months in the axitinib group vs 5.7 months in the sorafenib group; hazard...
SEER Analysis Shows Increased Survival with Surgery and Radiation Therapy in Metastatic Gastric Cancer
A Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database analysis reported by Ravi Shridhar, MD, PhD, and colleagues in Cancer indicates that patients receiving surgery and radiation therapy for metastatic gastric cancer have prolonged survival compared with those receiving either alone or...
Learning to Negotiate the Genomic Complexities of Cancer
The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network recently reported the results of an integrated analysis of the genomic features of 373 endometrial carcinomas.1 This report joins previously published results of similar analyses in ovarian, breast, and colorectal cancers, squamous cell carcinoma of...
FDA Approves Denosumab to Treat Giant Cell Tumor of the Bone
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved use of denosumab (Xgeva) to treat adults and some adolescents with giant cell tumor of the bone, a rare and usually noncancerous tumor. Denosumab, which was granted orphan product designation, was reviewed under the FDA’s...
Measurement of Circulating Tumor DNA Shows Promise in Monitoring Metastatic Breast Cancer
Management of metastatic breast cancer requires monitoring of tumor burden to assess response to treatment, and there is a need for biomarkers that can measure tumor burden with high sensitivity and specificity. Assays measuring serum cancer antigen (CA) 15-3 and circulating tumor cells have been...
New International Innovation Grant Directly Supports Research Projects in Developing Countries
The Conquer Cancer Foundation and ASCO International have just launched a new research funding opportunity, the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO International Innovation Grant, which directly supports research being conducted by investigators in low- and middle-income countries. Advancing Cancer...
Institute Initiatives Help Oncologists Integrate Evidence-based Guidelines in Practice
Building on ASCO’s longstanding commitment to drive quality, value, and accountability in cancer care, the Institute for Quality’s initiatives provide oncologists with resources to ensure that every patient receives the highest level of cancer care. Established in 2011, the Institute for Quality...
Genomic and Epigenomic Characterization of Acute Myeloid Leukemia
In a study by the Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, genomes of 200 adult cases of de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were analyzed by whole-genome sequencing (n = 50) or whole-exome sequencing (n = 150) to identify mutations and relationships...
Best First-line Treatment for Advanced Colorectal Cancer Remains Unclear
In patients with advanced colorectal cancer, it remains unclear which biologic agent added to standard chemotherapy is best, even after a head-to-head comparison of two commonly used agents. In the phase III FIRE-3 trial, conducted by the German AIO CRC Study Group, the addition of cetuximab...
Two New Genetic Tests Offer Progress in Personalized Medicine for Newly Diagnosed Prostate Cancer
At least 12 different genetic tests for prostate cancer are under development. The two tests currently available are Oncotype DX (Genomic Health, Redwood City, California) and Prolaris (Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Salt Lake City). Both tests can identify which low-risk patients are “truly” at low...
Benefit for Dual HER2 Targeting in Neoadjuvant Breast Cancer Regimen Restricted to Subset of Patients
As a neoadjuvant regimen for HER2-positive early breast cancer, the use of two HER2-directed agents was no more effective than trastuzumab (Herceptin) alone in producing pathologic complete responses, although one subset of patients did benefit from this approach, according to the results of the...
Idelalisib, Obinutuzumab Show Encouraging Results in CLL Studies
A trio of presentations at the ASCO Annual Meeting focused on two promising investigational drugs for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). These two drugs—idelalisib and obinutuzumab—join a list of new approaches showing potential. Idelalisib Alone A phase I dose-ranging study of...
First Positive Trial of Heat Shock Protein 90 Inhibitor in Lung Cancer That Has Progressed after First-line Therapy
The investigational heat shock protein (Hsp)90 inhibitor ganetespib plus docetaxel extended overall survival compared with docetaxel alone as second-line therapy in patients with advanced non–small cell adenocarcinoma of the lung that had progressed on first-line therapy in the randomized phase II...
Despite a Recurrence, I'm Not Surrendering My Life to Cancer
This is the first time I’m going public with the fact that I have advanced ovarian cancer. I thought I could avoid the fate of my mother and her mother, both of whom died of ovarian cancer in their 50s, and live well past my 60s and even 70s. But at 58, I’ve had to accept that that is not likely. I ...
Bevacizumab in Glioblastoma: Another Perspective
Given the results of the AVAglio trial, we feel that a more balanced discussion about the role of bevacizumab (Avastin) in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma is in order. The accompanying article in The ASCO Post suggests that bevacizumab has no benefit in newly diagnosed glioblastoma; data ...
Lenalidomide Induces Long-lasting Responses in Elderly Patients
Treatment with lenalidomide (Revlimid) as initial therapy induced long-lasting responses in a phase II study of 60 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). “Overall, 35 patients (58%) patients had responses lasting more than 36 months and were considered long-term responders,” the...
Two Studies Indicate Potential Predictors of Survival Benefit from Endocrine Therapy
Two studies published in Journal of Clinical Oncology indicate that treatment-related symptoms and mammographic density reduction may predict whether a woman with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer will benefit from adjuvant endocrine therapy. In one study, women who had specific adverse...
Use of Advanced Technologies Has Increased in Men at Low Risk of Dying from Prostate Cancer
The use of advanced treatment technologies, such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy and robotic prostatectomy, has increased among men unlikely to die from prostate cancer, according to a retrospective analysis of data from almost 56,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2004 and 2009....
I Have No Fear
I found out that I had stage III pancreatic cancer on Valentine’s Day in 2011, but I think the disease may have been brewing for a long time. For 19 years, I had experienced intermittent pain in the right upper quadrant of my abdomen. I had gallbladder surgery to relieve a bile duct obstruction,...
Co-discoverer of DNA Double Helix, James Watson, PhD, Offers a New Theory on Cancer Progression
Despite his fame as co-discoverer—along with Francis Crick, PhD—of the double-helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in 1953, that accomplishment is not what James Dewey Watson, PhD, came to talk about during a recent presentation he gave at the World Science Festival in New York. Instead,...
Management of Anaplastic Oligodendroglial Tumors
Pearls in Neuro-oncology is guest edited by Tracy Batchelor, MD, Director, Division of Neuro-Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston. The series is intended to provide the practicing oncologist with guidance in managing...
FDA Approves Afatinib for Late-stage Lung Cancer
On July 12, 2013, the FDA approved the tyrosine kinase inhibitor afatinib (Gilotrif) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors express epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 deletions or exon 21 (L858R) substitution mutations...
Barriers to Successful Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research is a combined research program of the National Marrow Donor Program and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. At the forefront of research to increase access to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and improve outcomes, the ...
Denosumab in Adults and Skeletally Mature Adolescents with Giant Cell Tumor of Bone
In the Clinic 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. Indication On June 13, 2013, denosumab (Xgeva) was approved for the ...
FDA Announces Decisions on New Tobacco Products
For the first time since the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gave the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products, the agency has authorized the marketing of two new tobacco products and denied the marketing of four others through the substantial equivalence pathway....
FDA Grants Priority Review to Obinutuzumab in CLL and Pertuzumab in Neoadjuvant Therapy for HER2-positive Early-stage Breast Cancer
Two drugs were recently given Priority Review designation by FDA. Obinutuzumab (GA101) was granted Priority Review for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, based on final stage 1 data from the pivotal CLL11 trial. The FDA confirmed the action date is December 20, 2013. FDA also granted...
Just Say 'Know'
In 1989, Denardo and associates reported the results of intensive care unit (ICU) therapy in a series of patients who developed acute respiratory failure and required mechanical ventilation after bone marrow transplantation. Of those on mechanical ventilatory support longer than 4 days, not one...
Nearly Half of Sarcoma Surgeries Performed by Non-oncology Surgeons
Nearly half the surgical procedures for sarcoma done at 85 academic medical centers were performed by surgeons untrained in oncology, according to national data analyzed by researchers from the University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento. Orthopedic oncologists and surgical...
New Research Presented in Breast, Gastric, Esophageal Cancers, Melanoma, and Multiple Myeloma, plus Supportive Care
Attendees at the ASCO Annual Meeting are faced with a major challenge of trying to attend as many important sessions as they can over a 4-day period. Our challenge is to feature the major news in The ASCO Post. In addition to our regular comprehensive coverage of key presentations, the following...
Lenalidomide in Relapsed/Progressed Mantle Cell Lymphoma after Two Prior Therapies Including Bortezomib
In the Clinic 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. Indication On June 5, 2013, lenalidomide (Revlimid) was approved...
New Research on Combination Chemotherapy, Prognostic Biomarkers, and PET-guided Radiation Therapy in B-cell Malignancies
The 12th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma was held June 19-22, 2013, in Lugano, Switzerland. Over 3,000 hematologists, clinical oncologists, pathologists, and leading researchers attended the meeting, which featured new research on B-cell malignancies, follicular lymphoma, as well as...
Roche Files for Cervical Cancer Primary Screening Indication for cobas HPV Test
Roche recently announced it has submitted a Premarket Approval (PMA) supplement to the FDA seeking the addition of a cervical cancer primary screening indication for the cobas HPV Test. Approval of the expanded indication would mean the cobas HPV Test could be used as the first-line test rather...
New Drug Application Submitted for Ibrutinib in the Treatment of Two B-cell Malignancies
Pharmacyclics, Inc, recently announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the investigational oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib, for two relapsed/refractory B-cell malignancy indications: mantle cell lymphoma (MCL)...
Head-to-Head Matchup Shows Adjuvant Taxane Schedules Equally Effective
In the treatment of early breast cancer, outcomes are equivalent whether paclitaxel is delivered weekly or every 2 weeks, though the weekly schedule may be better tolerated, according to the results of a phase III trial presented at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “The progression-free survival...
First-line Sunitinib Followed by Everolimus Remains Standard Sequence in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma
With the approval of a number of different drugs for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma, a major issue is how to sequence these drugs to optimize outcome. A large, randomized phase II study called RECORD-3 shows that the standard sequence of the multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor ...
Dose-dense Chemotherapy Improves Outcomes in Poor-prognosis Germ Cell Tumors
For poor-prognosis patients with germ-cell tumors, dose intensification of chemotherapy based on slow decline of tumor markers can increase progression-free survival, according to the first randomized trial of a “personalized” treatment strategy for this tumor.1 At the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting,...
Shorter Duration of Hormone Therapy Feasible in Localized High-risk Prostate Cancer
Men with localized high-risk prostate cancer treated with adjuvant radiotherapy had similar overall and disease-free survival when treated with 18 months of androgen deprivation therapy vs 36 months of androgen deprivation therapy, the current standard of care in this setting. These results were...
Expert Point of View: Hedy Lee Kindler, MD
Hedy Lee Kindler, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, the invited discussant of three of these presentations, emphasized the persistent lethality of advanced pancreatic cancer. She predicted that within this decade, pancreatic cancer will become the second leading...
Some Successes, Some Failures Reported in Research and Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer
The challenge of treating pancreatic cancer inched forward with studies reported at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting, though some important studies proved disappointing. Nab-paclitaxel Improves Overall Survival In treatment-naive metastatic patients, the addition of nanoparticle albumin-bound...
Déjà Vu Redux: Lessons from the SWOG-8516 Study in Aggressive Lymphomas
Joseph M. Connors, MD, authored a commentary in the June 25 issue of The ASCO Post inspired by a recent New England Journal of Medicine publication on dose-adjusted EPOCH-R chemotherapy (etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and rituximab) for primary mediastinal B-cell ...
Seeking Clarity on the PSA Story
My feature interview in the August 15, 2012, issue of The ASCO Post, entitled “Rethinking the Role of PSA Screening in Public Health”1 drew swift reaction from well-known figures in the prostate cancer field. The subsequent Letters to the Editor, three in all, constituted a two-pronged attack. They ...
Support Group Offers Resources for Patients with Oral/Head and Neck Cancer
I am the Outreach Administrator/Newsletter Editor at Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer (SPOHNC). SPOHNC is a national nonprofit organization involved in the development of support programs. As such, it can have an enormous positive impact on meeting the psychosocial needs of...
Ridaforolimus Delayed Tumor Progression in Patients with Previously Treated Metastatic Sarcoma
“Ridaforolimus delayed tumor progression to a small statistically significant degree in patients with metastatic sarcoma who experienced benefit with prior chemotherapy,” according to results of an international phase III trial. The large randomized placebo-controlled phase III trial evaluated the...
Cisplatin plus Cetuximab vs Cisplatin Alone in Patients with Metastatic Triple-negative Breast Cancer
Adding cetuximab (Erbitux) to cisplatin doubled the overall response rate and appeared to prolong progression-free and overall survival in a randomized phase II study among patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Although the trial did not meet its primary endpoint of overall...
Pig Diagnosed With Lymphoma and Treated at Cornell University Hospital for Animals
Doctors at Cornell University Hospital for Animals in Ithaca, New York, reported what they believe may be the first case of a pig being treated for lymphoma. The animal was described as a 730-pound black-and-white Hampshire pig that was diagnosed with presumptive B-cell lymphoma. The 4-year-old...
SIDEBAR: A Hot Season for Skin Cancer News, So Expect More Questions
An “alarming difference” in survival outcomes between young, non-Hispanic white males and females with primary invasive melanoma (see accompanying article) is one of several skin cancer–related study findings in the news this summer. Other studies have concerned the rising rates of melanoma among...
Tomosynthesis Plus Digital Mammography Reduces Breast Cancer Screening Recall Rate Compared to Mammography Alone
The addition of tomosynthesis to standard digital mammography resulted in a 30% reduction in overall recall rates among women being screened for breast cancer, according to a new study published online in Radiology.1 The results demonstrate that digital tomosynthesis is an effective tool in...
Cedars-Sinai Names Award Recipient in Gifted Scholars Program
Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California, recently named Christine R. Carico the 2013 recipient of the Medical Center’s Pauletta and Denzel Washington Family Gifted Scholars Program in Neuroscience award. Ms. Carico will spend the next year researching brain disorders like the one that took the life ...
