Articles
The combination of everolimus and trastuzumab shows promise against metastatic breast cancer in pretreated, HER2-positive patients with trastuzumab resistance, according to results of a phase 1/2 study. This targeted, nonchemotherapy regimen provided partial responses in 7 of 47 patients and persistent stable disease (lasting 6 months or longer) in 9 of 47 patients. The regimen produced a clinical benefit rate of 34%, and median progression-free survival was 4.1 month.
Read More ›
First-line treatment with erlotinib prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) and increased the response rate compared with treatment with chemotherapy in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activating mutations, according to an interim analysis of this phase 3 randomized European Tarceva vs Chemotherapy (EURTAC) trial presented at the 14thWorld Conference on Lung Cancer.
Read More ›
This past Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 2 drugs that could help our patients: fentanyl nasal spray (Lazanda, Archimedes Pharma) and rivaroxaban (Xarelto, Janssen Pharmaceuticals).
Read More ›
Use of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) for the detection of lung cancer reduced the rate of death over use of the more traditional chest radiography (CXR), according to the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). The NSLT found that, with a rate of adherence to screening was more than 90%, LDCT exhibited a positive screening rate of 24.2%, whereas CXR exhibited 6.9%. Both techniques produced a high rate of false positives.
Read More ›
After 2 days of hearings, the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) confirmed the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) earlier decision to remove bevacizumab’s (Avastin, Genentech) indication in combination with paclitaxel chemotherapy for previously untreated (first-line) HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.
Read More ›
This past April, Mountain States Health Alliance’s Regional Cancer Center celebrated the 1-year anniversary of its new, state-of-theart oncology pharmacy. Located in the Regional Cancer Center’s dedicated medical oncology facility, the pharmacy provides USP <797>-compliant chemotherapy and supportive care agents as well as the benefit of face-to-face collaboration between pharmacists and the rest of the cancer care team.
Read More ›
Pharmacogenomics is the study of the role of inherited and acquired genetic variation in drug response.1 A focus of research in recent years on genome-wide association studies ultimately may help identify patient- and/or cancer-specific biomarkers that will facilitate optimization of drug therapy including guiding drug selection, dose, and treatment duration.2 The identification of the role of KRASmutations in select patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) who are candidates for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in hibitors is one example of the clinical a Read More ›
SALT LAKE CITY—Identifying safety measures for patients receiving oral chemotherapy is of the upmost importance, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association. This includes monitoring the administration of and adherence to the treatment as well as ensuring the prevention of any medication errors.
Read More ›