Articles
By Dawn Lagrosa
Avoiding intermittent highdose dexamethasone (HD) when administering the vincristine/ doxorubicin/dexamethasone (VAD) regimen can reduce the risk for bacterial infection in patients with multiple myeloma (MM), suggest the results of a Japanese study published in the January issue of the International Journal of Hematology.
The FDA has agreed to fast-track its review of Pfizer's New Drug Application for crizotinib, an investigational small molecular inhibitor for patients with advanced lung cancer who test positive for the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) translocation. According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 2% to 7% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have a chromosomal rearrangement involving the ALK gene (most often, an EML4-ALK translocation). This accounts for approximately 10,000 cases annually in the United States.
The FDA held a public meeting on Tuesday to assess whether stricter criteria are needed when considering oncology drugs for accelerated approval. Measures enacted in 1992 allow the FDA to grant accelerated approval for drugs targeted at unmet needs in cancer based solely on data from single-arm studies and relying on endpoints other than the standard metric of overall survival.
On Friday, the FDA approved Mobile MIM, an application that allows physicians to view radiology images using an iPhone or an iPad. Mobile MIM can display computed tomography scans, MRIs, and images created with positron emission tomography with sufficient quality in most cases to make diagnostic decisions.
Patients can instantly save up to $200 off their copay with each prescription for PediatRx’s Granisol, the only FDA-approved ready-to-use liquid solution of granisetron. This new copay assistance program also leverages technology to initiate prior approval if a patient’s insurance requires it.
Iniparib Fails to Achieve Significant Survival Increases in Metastatic Triple-negative Breast Cancer
Adding iniparib to a regimen of gemcitabine and carboplatin failed to significantly increase overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, according to sanofi-aventis, the agent’s developer along with BiPar Sciences.
Upon metabolism. curcumin undergoes a transformation, either through autoxidation or COX2 catalyzation, creating a quinone methide, according to new pathways proposed by researchers at Vanderbilt University. This reaction, which creates quinone methide, may contribute to curcurmin’s chemopreventive activity.
Avoiding intermittent high-dose dexamethasone (HD) when administering the vincristine/doxorubicin/dexamethasone (VAD) regimen can reduce the risk for bacterial infection in patients with multiple myeloma (MM), suggest the results of a Japanese study published in the January issue of the International Journal of Hematology.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved rituximab (Rituxan, Genentech/Biogen Idec) for maintenance treatment for patients with advanced follicular lymphoma (FL) who responded to induction treatment with rituximab plus chemotherapy.
Use of adjuvant chemotherapy may need to be rethought for patients who experience a pathologic complete response (pCR) or with ypT3-4 residual tumor after neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) for rectal cancer, according to a new analysis presented at the 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (Abstract 361).