October 17th, 2011
From Medical News Today
Lung cancer patients with diabetes tend to live longer than patients without diabetes, according to a new study from Norway due to be published in the November issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. The researchers did not offer an explanation for the tendency; they suggested it needs further investigation, and diabetes should not be considered as a reason to withhold standard cancer therapy.
In their background information, the researchers, from Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Trondheim University, write that patients with lung cancer often have other diseases, one of them being diabetes. However, evidence on the impact of diabetes on lung cancer survival is conflicting, so they wanted to do a large study focusing on this.
October 14th, 2011
Tanya Pollitt, Denver Science News Examiner
A new test, developed at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, helps reduces the risk of death by 36 percent in advanced lung cancer by identifying a biomarker known as the EGFR protein.
In a press release, Professor Fred R. Hirsch of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, co-developer of the test, said, “We are moving from a one-size-fits-all model to more personalized medicine in lung cancer. This is a completely new paradigm in treating cancer.”
October 12th, 2011
Lung cancer patients could receive safer and more efficient treatment through a system being developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.
The scientists have devised a method for giving drugs by inhalation to patients through a nebuliser, rather than the current approach of intravenous delivery.
The system could administer the treatment far more quickly than existing methods and without the harmful side effects associated with current systems, which can cause kidney damage.
It could also enable health authorities to deliver the drugs in smaller doses without diminution of benefit to patients.
October 11th, 2011
PLANEGG, GERMANY and MUNICH, GERMANY and PRINCETON, NJ and HOUSTON, TX, Oct 11, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Agennix AG (frankfurt:AGX) today announced that data from a Phase II randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluating the oral immunotherapy, talactoferrin, in patients with previously treated
non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been published in the peer-reviewed medical journal, Journal of Clinical Oncology. The article, “A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase II Study of Oral Talactoferrin in Patients with Locally Advanced or Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer that Progressed Following Chemotherapy,” by P. Parikh et al, will appear in the November 1, 2011 print issue of the journal. As previously reported, this study, conducted in patients with NSCLC for whom one or more prior lines of anti-cancer therapy had failed, achieved its primary endpoint of improvement in overall survival. Talactoferrin also appeared to improve survival across a broad range of patient subsets, including those with squamous and non-squamous histologies, as well as other important prognostic factors. The results of this study served as the basis for the ongoing talactoferrin Phase III FORTIS-M trial, which is being conducted in patients whose disease has progressed following two or more prior treatment regimens. The FORTIS-M study has completed enrollment and topline results are expected in the first half of 2012.
October 10th, 2011
Scientists have discovered a mechanism that causes an aggressive type of lung cancer (small cell lung cancer) to re-grow following chemotherapy, offering hope for new therapies.
The study, conducted by an international team of researchers from Monash, Stanford and John Hopkins universities, represents not just the potential for new drugs, but a novel way of approaching cancer treatment.
Professor Neil Watkins, of the Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR) led the Monash research team of Dr Luciano Martelotto, MIMR, and Associate Professor Tracey Brown of the Department of Biochemisty and Molecular Biology.
Professor Watkins said while many current cancer treatments and trials focus on shrinking existing tumours, this research had a different focus.
“Some aggressive types of cancer respond very well to chemotherapy, but then the real challenge is to stop the tumour coming back. That’s what we investigated.”
October 7th, 2011
Krista Conger
Drug Discovery & Development – October 06, 2011
Carefully tracking the rate of response of human lung tumors during the first weeks of treatment can predict which cancers will undergo sustained regression, suggests a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
The finding was made after scientists gained insight into therapies that target cancer-causing genes; they are successful because they slow the rate of tumor cell division. Squelching messages promoting rampant cell growth allows already existing death signals to prevail and causes tumors to shrink.
The research highlights the emerging promise of applying mathematical and computational concepts to the study of complex biological systems.
“It’s really just advanced high-school-level math,” says associate professor of medicine and pathology, Dean Felsher, MD, PhD. “With some simple measurements, we found we can determine when a cancer is addicted to a particular cancer gene and will respond to therapy targeting that gene. I was astounded that it works.”
October 5th, 2011
From the Sacramento Bee
Study of potentially operable Stage I NSCLC demonstrates tumor control comparable to surgery
MIAMI, Oct. 4, 2011 — /PRNewswire/ — Results of new research presented at the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 53rd Annual Meeting this week showed that patients with different types of early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can benefit from treatment with stereotactic body radiosurgery (SBRT).
Treating Potentially Operable Stage I NSCLC Patients
In a presentation earlier today, Frank Lagerwaard, MD, radiation oncologist at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, reported that potentially operable patients with Stage I NSCLC who were treated with stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR), which is another term for SBRT, achieved comparable tumor control rates to those treated with the current surgical standard of care. Thirty-three percent of the patients in the study were treated with Varian Medical System’s RapidArc delivered on a Novalis TX™ linear accelerator from Varian and Brainlab.
September 30th, 2011
Pharma company Strides Arcolab unit Onco Therapies has received US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) approval for Paclitaxel injection used to treat ovarian cancer, breast cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.
Onco Therapies also received tentative approval for Oxaliplatin injection, another chemotherapy drug used to treat cancer of the colon and rectum, Strides Arcolab said Friday.
September 28th, 2011
By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
STOCKHOLM — Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) had a 50% reduction in the progression hazard with a three-drug first-line chemotherapy regimen followed by a two-drug maintenance regimen, results of an international study showed.
Patients had a median progression-free survival of 10.2 months when treated with cisplatin, pemetrexed (Alimta), and bevacizumab (Avastin), followed by maintenance therapy with pemetrexed and bevacizumab.
Those who received the same upfront therapy and maintenance with bevacizumab alone had a median progression-free survival of 6.6 months, Fabrice Barlesi, MD, reported here at the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress, formerly the Congress of the European Cancer Organization and European Society for Medical Oncology.
September 28th, 2011
MILAN, ITALY, Sep 27, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — MolMed S.p.A. (milan:MLM) presented new data from four clinical trials on its investigational anticancer drug NGR-hTNF at the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress, taking place in Stockholm on 23-27 September 2011. The Company reported updated interim results from a randomised Phase II trial in non-small-cell lung cancer, and follow-up data from two completed Phase II trials in recurrent ovarian cancer and relapsed small-cell lung cancer. The clinical development update also included results from a Phase I trial at high doses.
Claudio Bordignon, chairman and CEO of MolMed, comments: “The new interim randomised data in lung cancer look promising particularly in patients with the squamous cell histological subtype, a severe form of lung cancer with high need of new treatment options. As to new follow-up data from the two completed trials, the long-term clinical benefit in two poor-prognosis tumours such as relapsed ovarian and small-cell lung cancer, observed in patients presenting normal lymphocyte counts, confirms the dual mode by which NGR-hTNF exerts its effect, destroying the tumour vasculature and exploiting the effectors of the immune system. There is a growing need for tools, among which predictive biomarkers, to identify patients responding to a specific drug: for NGR-hTNF, a simple blood test such as lymphocyte counts correlates with clinical benefit. This parameter, together with others, might contribute in the future to the identification of patients more likely to get prolonged therapeutic benefit.”
