TOP - Daily

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved levoleucovorin (Fusilev, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals) for use in patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) in combination with 5-fluororacil (5FU). Levoleucovorin was approved in 2008 for rescue after high-dose methotrexate therapy in osteosarcoma. It is also indicated to diminish the toxicity and counteract the effects of impaired methotrexate elimination, and of inadvertent overdosage of folic acid antagonists.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved abiraterone acetate (Zytiga, Centocor Ortho Biotech) in combination with prednisone to treat patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have received prior docetaxel-based chemotherapy.

This oral oncolytic targets CYP 17A1, which plays an important role in the production of testosterone. The drug works by decreasing the production of this hormone that would stimulate cancer cells to continue growing.

Effective management of breakthrough cancer pain requires optimizing background therapy for chronic pain and accurately assessing the type of breakthrough pain, said presenters at the 45th American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exposition.

“Knowing the type of breakthrough cancer pain can help match the right drug with the right goal,” said Mary Lynn McPherson, PharmD, BCPS, CDE, who is professor and vice chair, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore.

Adding simvastatin to cetuximab enhances antitumor activity in KRAS-mutant colorectal (CRC) cancer cells, according to a study by Lee and colleagues in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The addition did not, however, enhance efficacy in BRAF-mutant cells.