A Phase III multicenter clinical trial finds that treatment with the investigational BRAF-targeted drug dabrafenib, an investigational, orally bioavailable inhibitor of the BRAF protein, reduced the risk of disease progression by 70% compared to standard…

Results from an exploratory biomarker analysis evaluating MET expression as a predictor of clinical response to rilotumumab (AMG 102) conducted on a previously reported Phase II study of rilotumumab in patients with locally advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal cancer, showed that treatment with the trial drug in combination with chemotherapy improved median overall survival (OS) in patients whose tumors exhibited high MET protein expression. Full results of the…

The use of an injectable, clot-preventing drug known as Low Molecular Weight Heparin (LMWH) to treat patients with advanced cancer complicated by blood clots increased steadily between 2000 and 2007, according to a new study published in The Oncologist (February 14, 2012), funded by the National Cancer Institute and led by Kaiser Permanente…

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…

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…

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a study today showing that everolimus tablets (Afinitor®, Novartis) plus best supportive care (BSC) more than doubled progression-free survival (PFS), or time without tumor growth, versus placebo plus BSC in patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NET)…

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. announced this week that it has initiated the rolling submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for crizotinib (PF-02341066), an oral first-in-class anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor in development for the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors are ALK-positive. Pfizer expects to complete the submission in the first half of 2011.…

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), a division of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), has issued a positive opinion recommending approval of Teysuno™ (S-1), a novel oral anti-cancer agent, intended for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer in adults when given in combination with cisplatin.



With an estimated 934,000 new cases per year (8.6% of all new cancer cases), gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide,…

Projected improvements in recurrence-free survival in early stages of colorectal cancer is the most important factor limiting drug treatment opportunities for advanced disease.According to analysis of Pharmacor Patient Flow Model Colorectal Cancer, the growth in drug treatment opportunities for advanced disease will be limited to 15% between 2009 and 2024.



"Drug treatment opportunities for advanced colorectal cancer will be limited because of a sustained…