Prev: Some Natural Soap Products Are Allegedly Bad News
Next: Please pray for Paul Newman
From: E. Nigma on 12 Jun 2008 12:25

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In this issue of the NCI Cancer Bulletin:
http://www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin/NCI_Cancer_Bulletin_061008


Featured Article
Colorectal Cancer Drugs Require Careful Patient Selection

Cancer Research Highlights
Gemcitabine after Pancreatic Cancer Surgery Improves Survival

Cetuximab Plus Chemotherapy Extends Survival for Advanced Lung Cancer

Zoledronic Acid Improves Early Breast Cancer Treatment

Acupuncture Tested in Cancer Patients after Neck Surgery

Protein Biomarkers Point to Early Stage Pancreatic Cancer

Initial Costs of Cancer Treatment on the Rise

Director's Update
Dr. Niederhuber's Remarks at the ASCO Opening Session
Spotlight
Ovarian Cancer Study Could Speed Early Detection

FDA Update
FDA Conducting Safety Review of TNF Blockers, Adds Warning to
Becaplermin

Notes
Wlodawer Awarded Heyrovsky Medal

Francis Collins Leaves NHGRI

Free Telephone Workshop for Cancer Survivors

Featured Clinical Trial
Defining Therapy for Recurrent Platinum-sensitive Ovarian Cancer

Community Update
Cancer.gov en Espa�ol Celebrates First Year, Looks Forward to Growth


=================================

Do you know someone who would enjoy receiving the NCI Cancer
Bulletin? To send a copy of the latest issue to a colleague, visit
www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin.The NCI Cancer Bulletin will be sent
to you each week unless you ask to unsubscribe.


=================================

E.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.3

iQEVAwUBSFFDztAqdZr/mrO9AQFjNwgAsD6DxNAOv29mA64+hrzg/u/p+QK8/OSA
1OkPngHzsLAjfFlIvECaV4DYTsMWYaZCMZp1lEI5KHoMOJ3vzBQ9QWy9macgpAm1
rOcSTxRZLRoHsu942LJJrfXC5uTTEzXspCM4DIrkEFBU4Qcf3mF4e+ZM459JzYM9
nD+trECEkz3ch7f/Ops/LKQA9y5X9JS2ecWW17nuGI5nbMTbOZ9I9ilqvtOcJjpN
FyvFbl0aJJlvFRvJXNPWbHr/GQfxcBl/bClMHOE2uYt1MOFTsY/VPF0y+F20tq9n
zEpo5NoPN4HvkoLIX3sjMmtlofExiM5csk3K1wkRtceoL0jJVpRNsg==
=Ua8J
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

From: J on 12 Jun 2008 17:59
"E. Nigma" wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>
> In this issue of the NCI Cancer Bulletin:
> http://www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin/NCI_Cancer_Bulletin_061008
>
> Featured Article
> Colorectal Cancer Drugs Require Careful Patient Selection

http://www.smartmoney.com/breaking-news/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20080601-000002-0015

Published: June 01, 2008 6:35 PM
CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- A study shows that adding ImClone Systems Inc.'s
(IMCL) Erbitux to a treatment regimen that includes Genentech Inc.'s (DNA)
Avastin failed to benefit colorectal cancer patients - in fact, it
shortened the time until disease progression, and those patients with a
certain gene mutation fared notably worse.

The study, conducted by Dutch oncologists, included about 755 newly
diagnosed patients with advanced colorectal cancer. Some were given
Avastin plus chemotherapy, while others were given Erbitux, Avastin and
chemotherapy.

Results of the so-called CAIRO2 study were released Saturday at the annual
meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

Median progression-free survival among those taking the Erbitux-Avastin
combination was 9.8 months, versus 10.7 months in the Avastin group.
Progression-free survival is the time from start of treatment until new
tumor growth. Overall survival, or time until death, was nearly equal, at
20.3 months in the Erbitux-Avastin group and 20.4 months in the Avastin
group.

Notably, an analysis of the data shows that patients that have a mutated
KRAS gene fared worse than patients with the normal, or wild-type, gene.

Erbitux, along with Amgen Inc.'s (AMGN) Vectibix, is an antibody that
attacks cancer cells by latching onto, and therefore blocking, a
growth-related trigger called epidermal growth-factor receptor, or EGFR,
that occurs in some cancers. But a mutation in the KRAS gene effectively
activates the pathway downstream from the drugs and apparently prevents it
from turning off the signaling.

Scott Kopetz, an assistant professor of gastrointestinal oncology at
University of Texas's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, was surprised to see
that those patients did worse and noted that there is no scientific
explanation for the results.

He expected that the data would encourage physicians to screen colorectal
cancer patients for the mutated gene.

"Not only are you not helping these patients, but now you may be making
them worse," he said.

The results follow a similar study, the so-called Pacce study, of Vectibix
and Avastin along with chemotherapy in colorectal cancer that was
discontinued last year after showing a higher death rate among those
taking the drug.

Avastin fights cancer growth by binding to and inhibiting Vascular
Endothelial Growth Factor, or VEGF, a protein that is believed to play a
critical role in the formation of new blood vessels.

"It shows that the combination of VEGF and EGFR therapies isn't working,"
said Leonard Saltz, a medical oncologist in the Gastrointestinal Oncology
Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center,

Three years ago, Dr. Saltz presented the results of the Bond-2 study, a
phase II study that showed a benefit of using Erbitux and Avastin together
in colorectal cancer in a small population. That study prompted the launch
of both the PACCE and the CAIRO2 in order to confirm the results on a
larger scale.

Despite the failure of both studies to show that the two classes of drugs
can benefit cancer patients, Imclone believes there is some hope for their
use.

"We are going to continue to evaluate the dual comination, we're not going
to give up here," said Eric Rowinsky, Imclone's chief medical officer.

Genentech is majority-owned by Roche Holding AG (RHHBY), which markets
Avastin outside the U.S. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) markets Erbitux in
North America and Merck KGaA (MRK.XE) markets it outside North America.


>
> Cetuximab Plus Chemotherapy Extends Survival for Advanced Lung Cancer
>

http://www.insidebayarea.com/health/ci_9445666
Erbitux slightly boosts survival in cancer study
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE AP Medical Writer
Article Created: 06/01/2008 03:00:22 AM PDT

CHICAGO�Adding the novel cancer drug Erbitux to standard chemotherapy
helped advanced lung cancer patients live just a month longer than chemo
alone, a study found.

Although this is the first study to find a survival benefit from a newer,
more targeted cancer drug as initial treatment for lung cancer patients,
the results left doctors mostly disappointed.

"It's a very small benefit. No one should try to make any more of it than
that," said Dr. Roy Herbst, lung cancer chief at the University of Texas
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

He consults for Erbitux's makers but had no role in the study, which is to
be presented Sunday at a meeting in Chicago of the American Society of
Clinical Oncology.

Results were released Saturday because a news release was inadvertently
published early.

Lung cancer is the world's top cancer killer, claiming 1.3 million lives
each year. In the United States, 215,000 new cases and 162,000 deaths from
the disease are expected this year.

Most are non-small cell�the type in the new study. Five-year survival is
only 15 percent, mostly because the cancer usually has already spread by
the time it is diagnosed.

Erbitux is already used to treat advanced colon cancer, and is best known
for embroiling homemaking queen Martha Stewart in an insider trading
scandal several years ago.

The new study tested it in 1,125 people with lung cancer that had already
spread widely. Average survival was
just over 11 months for those given Erbitux on top of standard
chemotherapy, versus just over 10 months for those on chemo alone.

The study was led by Dr. Robert Pirker at the University of Vienna in
Austria. It was sponsored by Germany's Merck KGaA, which markets Erbitux
with the drug's initial developer, ImClone Systems Inc., and Bristol-Myers
Squibb Co.

The companies announced last fall that the study had met its main goal of
improving survival, but no numbers were released until now.

Several other targeted drugs are used to treat advanced lung cancer but
not as initial treatment. Erbitux is another possibility "in a field that
needs all the help it can get," because the cancer is so lethal, said Dr.
Nancy Davidson, a cancer specialist at Johns Hopkins University who is
president of the oncology society.


 | 
Pages: 1
Prev: Some Natural Soap Products Are Allegedly Bad News
Next: Please pray for Paul Newman