A study published in The Oncologist emphasizes the critical need for regulatory authorities, pharmaceutical clinical study sponsors, collaborative research groups and other interests to work together to expedite study approval for clinical trials in cancer research on a global scale. The study highlighting the need to avoid unnecessary delays in approving clinical trials.[1]

In their research paper Otto…

Ensuring that cancer patients across Europe have equal access to the best possible cancer care, including early diagnosis, treatment and supportive care, is a medical and ethical imperative, Prof Martine Piccart (photo), the President of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), said at on Tuesday.

Speaking on the final day of the ESMO 2012 Congress in Vienna, which was attended by 16,402 persons from over 100…

New findings that highlight the challenges of managing thromboembolic events in patients being treated for cancer were released at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna (September 28 - October 2, 2012).

Venous thromboembolism causes symptoms in about 3 to 4% of cancer patients whose chemotherapy drugs are delivered via a central venous catheter, commented Fausto Roila, M.D. from Medical Oncology Department, Terni,…

For the first time, researchers have conducted a large trial in which they tested the entire genome of individual breast cancers to help personalize treatment. They released their findings at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna (September 28 - October 2, 2012). 

In recent years, a number of drugs have been developed that target specific genetic alterations in cancer. To choose which of these drugs are suitable for individual patients,…

Aspirin, the everyday drug taken by countless people around the world to ward off pain and reduce their risk of developing heart disease, may have a new trick up its sleeve – preventing cancer. A growing body of evidence suggests that taking aspirin may reduce an individual's chances of developing colorectal cancer and perhaps other malignancies, but whether that evidence is strong enough to outweigh the risks of prescribing it to millions of healthy people is the subject of…

New studies that advance understanding of the optimal duration of therapy with the targeted cancer drug trastuzumab were released earlier today at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna. "These long awaited results constitute a further milestone in the treatment of patients with early breast cancer over-expressing HER2/neu, corresponding to a population of about 12-15% of all cases of breast cancer,” commented Prof Christoph Zielinski,…

The results of a new phase III head-to-head study comparing crizotinib, a targeted therapy, with standard chemotherapy show that crizotinib is more effective than standard chemotherapy for patients with advanced, ALK-positive lung cancer. The results were prensented at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna, Austria (September 28 - October 2, 2012).…

One third of cancer patients are unaware of the fact that it is now possible to determine who is most likely to benefit from particular treatments, according to new survey data presented at ESMO 2012, the meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna, Austria (September 28 - October 2, 2012).…

Trials with drugs that target BRAF have generated excitement for their ability to quickly shrink melanoma tumors in suitable patients. But for many patients the benefits proved short-lived, as the cancer cells develop resistance to the drugs. New phase I and II trials focusing on combining drugs to slow the development of resistance to drugs that inhibit BRAF, a gene that is mutated in about half of melanomas presented at ESMO 2012, the…

Films that feature characters with cancer have become a familiar sight for movie-goers in recent years, but they rarely portray the patient’s chances of survival accurately. During the upcomming ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna, Austria, Italian researchers will present their finding about how cancer is portrayed in the movies. 

Movies often show an…

Results of the first randomised phase II study, known as TDM4450g, in patients with previously untreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (mBC) were presented today at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. Each year about 1.4 million new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed worldwide and over 450,000 people will die of the disease annually.[1] In HER2-positive breast cancer,…

Six out of nine pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) (n=5)or systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL) (n=4)achieved complete remission (CR) in multicenter phase I and phase II trials of Brentuximab Vedotin ( SGN-35 and previously called cAC10-vcMMAE; now marketed as Adcetris™ by Millennium: The…

Cancer. It is expected that by 2020 there will be 16 million new cases of cancer each year. Seventy percent of these cases will be in developing countries. African countries are the least able of all developing countries to cope, having few cancer care services. Most Africans have no access to cancer screening, early diagnosis, treatment or palliative care. Consequently a diagnosis of cancer leads, in most cases, to a painful and distressing death.…

A New Drug Application (NDA) has been submitted by Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the investigational drug abiraterone acetate administered with prednisone for the treatment of metastatic advanced prostate cancer in patients who have received prior chemotherapy containing a taxane has been submitted At the same time Janssen-Cilag International NV filed a marketing authorization application (MAA) with the European Medicines Agency…