The ability to make, test, and map the atomic structure of new anti-cancer agents has enabled a team of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists to discover a compound capable of halting a common type of drug-resistant lung cancer.

In a study to be published in the December 24/31 issue of the journal Nature, the researchers report that non-small cell lung cancers that had become invulnerable to the drugs Iressa(R) and Tarceva(R) were stymied by a compound designed and formulated in a Dana-Farber lab.  The compound, whose basic chemical framework is different from that of other cancer drugs, acts against a protein – known as an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase – that carries a specific structural defect.

http://momwithlungcancer.blogspot.com/2009/12/happy-holidays.html

Asthma is a disease of the respiratory system, the lungs and the system of air tubes that lead to them. It is a chronic inflammatory condition that causes the tiny air passageways in your lungs (bronchioles) to become narrowed when they react to something in the environment.

Big thanks to Dr. Apar Ganti from the Nebraska Medical Center, whom my mom did see several times while seeking additional opinions, for being a part of this story. Dr. Ganti has a tremendous passion for making a true difference in lung cancer awareness and funding.

The ability to make, test, and map the atomic structure of new anti-cancer agents has enabled a team of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists to discover a compound capable of halting a common type of drug-resistant lung cancer.

In a study to be published in the December 24/31 issue of the journal Nature, the researchers report that non-small cell lung cancers that had become invulnerable to the drugs Iressaâ and Tarcevaâ were stymied by a compound designed and formulated in a Dana-Farber lab.

David Carbone, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine, cell and developmental biology and cancer biology, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, has been awarded nearly a million dollars in federal stimulus funds to study lung cancer among minorities.

The research is with polymorphisms or genetic variations among minorities with non-small cell lung cancer.

Carbone and his colleagues plan to use the two-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to focus on African-Americans diagnosed with lung cancer.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., says it plans to spend $60 million plus an equity investment on a new cancer-fighting treatment. The experimental drug, custirsen sodium (OGX-011), is set to enter Phase III clinical trials in 2010 and early 2011.

The Israeli pharmaceutical giant has just entered a global licensing and collaboration agreement for the new medication with Washington and Vancouver-based OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The new medication has already completed a successful Phase II program in patients with advanced prostate cancer and advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 12 to one recommending against approval of the daily pill Tarceva (erlotinib) for first-line maintenance use in people with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose cancer has not progressed (grown or spread) following first-line treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy.

Lung cancer, the nation’s leading cause of cancer deaths for women and men remains the most under-funded, under-researched and under-supported cancer. There are currently no approved early detection tests for lung cancer. With a 5-year survival rate of only 15%, the prognosis for lung cancer has not changed in 40 years. A new organization, Lung Cancer Foundation of America (LCFA) is trying to change this reality, and save lives by dramatically increasing the five-year survival rate for all stages of lung cancer.

Bryan Oncor reports the results of a Phase I trial of its targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy using Re-88 P2045, a radiolabeled synthetic peptide, for the treatment of advanced lung cancer. The trial was conducted at the University of Maryland and the University of Iowa and published in the December issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.