The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved vismodegib (Erivedge™, Roche/Genentech), the first medicine for adults with a type of skin cancer, called advanced or metastatic basal cell carcinoma or BCC, that has spread to other parts of the body or that has come back after surgery or that their healthcare provider decides cannot be treated with surgery or radiation. The new drug is a first-in-class Hedgehog Pathway…

Earlier today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the agency has approved axitinib (Inlyta®, Pfizer Inc) to treat patients with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) who have not responded to another drug for this type of cancer. Axitinib helps keep the cancer from progressing.…

A new study finds the percentage of U.S. citizens screened for cancer remains below national targets, with significant disparities among racial and ethnic populations. The data comes from the first federal study to identify cancer screening disparities among Asian and Hispanic groups. The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of…

Routine use of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans in head and neck cancer patient follow-up can detect local recurrences before they become clinically apparent and may improve the outcome of subsequent salvage therapy, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, held from January 26-28, 2012 in the Biltmore, Phoenix, Arizona.



Extracranial head-and-neck carcinomas constitute of less…

Patients treated with Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy or IMRT for head and neck cancer report an increasingly better quality of life post-treatment when compared to patients receiving other forms of radiation therapy, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, held from January 26-28, 2012 in the Biltmore, Phoenix, Arizona.



Intensity modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT, is a highly specialized form of…

A Danish national fast track system for cancer patients reduced the waiting time between a patient’s initial meeting with a health care provider and their first treatment by four weeks when comparing 2010 to 2002, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, held from January 26-28, 2012 in the Biltmore, Phoenix, Arizona.



Denmark’s health care system is state run. Health care services are funded by taxes with no…

Oral HPV infection is more common among men than women, explaining why men are more prone than women to develop an HPV related head and neck cancer, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, held from January 26-28, 2012 in the Biltmore, Phoenix, Arizona.



Human papillomavirus, or HPV, has recently been linked to some types of head and neck cancer that are becoming more prominent in the United States, mostly…

Head and neck cancers respond well to the anti-cancer drug erlotinib (Tarceva®, Genentech) when it is administered before surgery and a stronger dose is given to patients who smoke, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, held from January 26-28, 2012 in the Biltmore, Phoenix, Arizona.



Erlotinib is an oral anti-cancer drug that can slow a…

Glioblastoma, a lethal brain cancer, is one of the most resistant to available therapies and patients typically live approximately 15 months. Previous research has focused on the activation of the apoptosis, or cell death, pathway using therapeutic agents such as tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL); however, the vast majority of these experiments have been stymied by resistance.



“Scientists in this field have been hoping to treat this…

Results from a Phase II clinical trial with IMA910 in patients with advanced colorectal cell carcinoma (CRC), which were presented at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium of the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in San Francisco showed positive results.



IMA910, developed by German clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company immatics biotechnologies GmbH, is therapeutic cancer vaccine…

Results of a study presented at ninth annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium being held January 19-21, 2012, at The Moscone West Building in San Francisco, CA, USA show that a test using a monoclonal antibody to detect a cancer marker, the PAM4-protein, in the blood correctly identified nearly two thirds of patients with early stage pancreatic cancer.



When combined with CA19-9, another tumor marker that is commonly used to monitor the course of the…

Researchers re-analyzing the results of a large phase III study of patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors (NET) found that certain factors, such as bone metastases, having NETs that originate in the lung, and elevated levels of the blood biomarker chromogranin A predict which individuals are at greatest risk for neuroendocrine tumor progression and are more likely to need active therapy. The results of the study were presented at the 9th Annual Gastrointestinal Cancers…

The launch of the Global Colon Cancer Alliance (GCCA) was announced today at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, California. The newly formed alliance unites two leading advocacy organizations: the Colon Cancer Alliance, a patient advocacy organization based in the United States that provides hope and support to patients and their families, while saving lives through screening, access, awareness, advocacy…

A study presented at the ninth annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium being held January 19-21, 2012, at The Moscone West Building in San Francisco, CA, USA, has identified new biomarkers that could eventually improve early detection of esophageal cancer in patients with Barrett’s esophagus (BE) or Barrett's Syndrome. BE refers to a metaplasia or abnormal change in the cells of the inferior portion of the esophagus and is known to significantly increases esophageal cancer…

The latest data on the investigational drug regorafenib (BAY 73-4506)from the Phase III CORRECT trial(Colorectal cancer treated with regorafenib or placebo after failure of standard therapy) were presented at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO-GI), in San Francisco, CA.



Regorafenib (BAY 73-4506) is an an investigational oral multi-kinase inhibitor developed by Bayer which targets angiogenic,…

The incidence of glioma - the most common form of brain tumour - is not increasing in the Nordic countries, contradicting the claim that cell phone use is a cause of the disease. This according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the scientific journal Epidemiology. The analyses…

While it is well established that men get cancer more than women, and sometimes at considerably higher rates, few scientists have examined why. In an article published this month in the online version of the European Journal of Epidemiology, a group of American and Swedish researchers, including the Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC),…

Is there a cancer drug shortage? If you've listened to the news lately, you've probably heard that there is indeed a drug shortage. Hospitals and pharmacies across the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia are running short of important drugs used to treat several forms of cancer and serious infections after a manufacturer decide to temporarily halt production. They are now bracing for possible…

The China State Food & Drug Administration (SFDA) has approved the CellSearch® circulating tumor cell (CTC) test (Veridex) as an in vitro diagnostic for women with metastatic breast cancer. This makes CellSearch® the first and only approved CTC test for cancer patients in China, which is…