Articles

For women with HER2-positive breast cancer that has metastasized to the brain, lapatinib could prolong survival, according to research published recently in the British Journal of Cancer.

Long-term coffee drinking may be related to a decrease in risk for endometrial cancer, according to a recent study in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Coffee is emerging as a means of defense against cancers linked to obesity, estrogen, and insulin, Edward Giovannucci, MD, ScD, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health said.

Excessive blood sugar levels are linked to an increased risk of colorectal cancer, according to a study led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The findings appear in a recent online edition of the British Journal of Cancer.

The study involved nearly 5000 postmenopausal women participating in the National Institutes of Health’s landmark Women’s Health Initiative study. Fasting blood sugar and insulin levels for these women were assessed at baseline and several more times during the following 12 years.

Roche’s vismodegib has received Priority Review status, with a confirmed action date of March 8, 2012. It is aimed at the treatment of advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Vismodegib is an oral medicine designed to selectively reduce signaling in the Hedgehog pathway, which is associated with more than 90% of BCC cases.

According to a study presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), women in their 40s would benefit from annual screening mammography. More specifically, women in this age group with no family history of breast cancer are just as likely to develop invasive breast cancer as women with a family history of the disease.

It was on the front page of my newspaper. It is in the data services I subscribe to for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. It is the feature of a new survey from the Hematology Oncology Pharmacy Association and is the lead-in for the Pharmacists’ Newsletter. It is on the nightly news, and it was explored in depth in the last issue of the Journal of Hematology Oncology Pharmacy (JHOP).

After determining that the drug is unsafe and ineffective for breast cancer treatment, the FDA recently revoked the agency’s approval of the breast cancer indication involving Avastin use in combination with paclitaxel for patients with HER2-negative breast cancer.

Severe high blood pressure; bleeding and hemorrhaging; heart attack or heart failure; and the development of perforations in different parts of the body such as the nose, stomach, and intestines are the risks included with the use of bevacizumab.

A national support and advocacy group for those at risk for or living with lung cancer, Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA), recently issued its annual National Report Card on Lung Cancer. This report is a general assessment of the nation’s response to the ongoing high mortality rate of  lung cancer.