September 2012, Vol 5, No 6

The Indiana University Health Simon Cancer Center was established in 1992 under the leadership of Stephen D. Williams, MD, and in 1999, the center was designated by the National Cancer Institute as a clinical cancer center. The Indiana University Research Institute was opened in 1997, financed in part by federal funding. The name of the center was changed in 2006 to honor the philanthropic support of Melvin and Bren Simon. Read More ›

The FDA granted expedited approval for enzalutamide (Xtandi; Medivation and Astellas Pharma US) on August 31, 2012. Enzalutamide was approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) who have previously received docetaxel.

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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bosutinib tablets (Bosulif; Pfizer) for the treatment of adults with chronic, accelerated, or blast phase Philadelphia chromosome–positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) who did not respond or were resistant to prior therapy.

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I must admit that I am not a fan of medications. I had 4 beautiful children medication-free with midwives. I drink green tea to get rid of a cold. I eat chocolate to calm a headache. I microwave rice in a sock and place it on sore muscles. Perhaps that is why I resent (yes, I said it, “resent!”) that I have been sent home with 2 medications I must inject into myself twice a day for a total of 4 daily injections.

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The OVA1 blood test had a high chance of correctly identifying whether an ovarian mass was malignant prior to surgery, according to results of the OVA500 clinical trial. In a study of 494 patients, the test had 94% sensitivity in premenopausal women and 91% sensitivity in the early-stage ovarian cancer group, for an overall sensitivity of 96%. The OVA1 blood test had a negative predictive value of 98%.

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R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) induction therapy followed by maintenance therapy with rituximab was more effective than R-FC (rituximab, fludarabine, and cyclophosphamide) followed by maintenance therapy with interferon alfa in older patients with mantle cell lymphoma, according to a recently published prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial (Kluin-Nelemans HC, et al. N Engl J Med. 2012;367:520-531).

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For men with localized prostate cancer detected by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, treatment with radical prostatectomy did not significantly reduce mortality compared with observation, according to overall results of the large, randomized, controlled PIVOT trial (Wilt TJ, et al. N Engl J Med. 2012; 367:203-213). All-cause mortality and prostate-specific mortality were similar for the surgery and observation groups over a 12-year follow-up. Results suggest that surgery may be a better option than observation for men with intermediate- and high-risk localized prostate cancer, but low-risk localized prostate cancer can be safely managed with observation.

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Topical administration of a novel mouth rinse, AG013, appears safe, well tolerated, and effective in reducing the severity and course of oral mucositis (OM) in patients receiving induction chemo­therapy in a study presented at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9024).

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A new appreciation of the pathobiological foundation of mucositis, and the application of genomics to risk assessment, heralds an individualized and more effective approach to intervention for this costly, often disabling, toxicity, according to specialists who spoke at a session on mucosal injury during the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

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