Phase III clinical trial results from PRELUDE study, which explored the enzastaurin (Eli Lilly and Company; Lilly Oncology) as a monotherapy in the prevention of relapse in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), failed to show a statistically significant increase compared to placebo…

Nearly one third of all patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) are diagnosed with metastatic disease or Stage IV disease. If surgical resection of the (liver) metastases is not possible in these cases and the lesion or lesions are considered inoperable, there limited liver directed treatment options available.

New results from a phase III clinical trial conducted in Shanghai, China, shows that adding cetuximab (…

Patients whose aggressive lymphomas have relapsed or failed to respond to the current front-line chemotherapy regimen now have an effective second line of attack against their disease. Reporting the results of a first-of-its-kind phase I clinical trial to test the effectiveness of a new class of drugs to augment standard chemotherapy, a team led by researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that giving patients high doses of Vorinostat (suberoylanilide hydroxamic…

Women undergoing chemotherapy who experience cognitive problems, commonly referred to as “chemo brain,” displayed alterations in neurocognitive responses prior to undergoing treatment, according to data presented at the 2012 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held from December 4-8 in San Antonio, Texas.

Bernadine Cimprich, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor emerita at the…

A large study reports that a new real-time performance tracking system, which monitors adherence to five National Quality Forum endorsed quality care metrics for breast and colon cancer, significantly improved quality standard adherence rates over a four-year period in a group of 64 cancer centers participating in the Rapid Quality Reporting System or RQRS “beta test.” Use of the system also reduced reported…

A large population- and health systems-based prospective study reports earlier discussions about end of life (EOL) care preferences are strongly associated with less aggressive care in the last days of life and increased use of hospice care for patients with advanced cancer. The study, published November 13, 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, provides the first-of-its –kind scientific evidence that timing of End of…

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,…

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).…

Earlier this week the first patient has been dosed in a Phase Ib/IIa study of CRLX101 (formerly called IT-101, Cerulean Pharma Inc.), dual inhibitor of topoisomerase 1 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha, in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin®, Genentech/Roche) in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients. Cerulean also announced the completion of enrollment of its randomized Phase II study in advanced non-small…

The Death of his first wife makes improving the Quality of Life (QoL) for patients with a brain tumor very personal for Mike Robbins, associate director of the Thomas K. Hearn Jr. Brain Tumor Research Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Robbins knows all too well that the likely outcome when patients are diagnosed with brain tumors that are "high grade" may not always be positive.



Brain…

Results from the phase III CLEOPATRA study showed that women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (mBC) lived significantly longer (overall survival) when treated with the combination of pertuzumab (Perjeta™, Genentech/Roche), trastuzumab (Herceptin®, Genentech/Roche) and docetaxel chemotherapy, compared to trastuzumab and docetaxel chemotherapy alone. in the Phase III . These data will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming medical meeting.…

The annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference held June 1-5, 2012 in Chicago, IL. offered a wealth of new scientific and clinical data. It is expected that this year's event will have a significant impact on the patients treatment plans.



After reviewing this years meeting, a new type of targeted therapy was of particular interest to reviewer Daphna Halpern, Director of Oncology at…

Late breaking data from a Phase III study presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) shows that the oral investigational drug trametinib (GlaxoSmithKline) delayed tumor growth and extended survival for patients with advanced melanoma who have BRAF mutations, compared with standard chemotherapy. This is the first Phase III trial…

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…

A large, retrospective study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a tri-monthly peer-reviewed journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), shows that children of childhood cancer survivors who received prior treatment involving radiation to testes or ovaries and/or chemotherapy with alkylating agents do not have an increased risk for birth…

Updated data from a pivotal trial of single-agent brentuximab vedotin (adcetris™,Seattle Genetics) in patients with relapsed or refractory systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL) presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting American Society of Hematology being held December 10 to 13, 2011 in San Diego, CA, shows durable complete remissions and treatment…

New research presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology being held in San Diengo, CA, December 10 - 13, concludes that patients with limited-stage Hodgkin lymphoma treated with a standard chemotherapy regimen have better overall survival rates compared with those receiving a radiation-based treatment.



Patients with limited-stage Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are often treated with…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved cetuximab Erbitux (Bristol-Myers Squibb)for use with chemotherapy to treat patients with late-stage (metastatic) head and neck cancer.



Combined with chemotherapy, cetuximab extended the lives of those receiving the treatment combination compared with those receiving chemotherapy alone. Cetuximab already is FDA-approved for certain types of colon…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today authorized Circadian Technologies Ltd. to initiate clinical trials with its investigational new drug VGX-100. The first Phase I trials will study VGX-100 in patients with a variety of late stage cancers.



VGX-100 is a fully human antibody that acts against the human VEGF-C protein. Treatment for…

Challenging a half-century-old theory about why chemotherapy agents target cancer, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have devised a test that can predict how effective the drugs will be by determining whether a patient’s tumor cells are already “primed” for death.



In a study published online by the journal Science on October 27, 2011…