Iressa

Report highlights cancer advances

Source: www.medpagetoday.com Author: Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today As the war on cancer enters its fifth decade, 51 studies stood out as examples of progress that occurred in the past year, as determined by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and reported in "Clinical Cancer Advances 2009." Reflecting input from specialists throughout the field, the ASCO annual report highlights research developments for nine types of cancer, as well as cancer disparities, quality of life and quality of care, and cancer prevention and screening. "As this report demonstrates -- and as history shows -- investment in clinical cancer research pays off," ASCO president Douglas Blayney, MD, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said in a statement included in the report. "Since 1990, cancer mortality rates have declined by 15%. Today, two-thirds of patients survive at least five years after diagnosis, compared to just half of patients 40 years ago." "Thanks to basic research advances, we are entering an era of personalized cancer medicine, in which treatment is tailored to the unique genetics of the individual," Blayney added. The entire report appears online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, but here is a summary of developments related to some of the most common cancers. In an attempt to provide context and a diversity of viewpoints, MedPage Today, in collaboration with ABC News, solicited comments from cancer specialists who were not involved in developing the ASCO publication. As appropriate, their views are included with the review of cancer research [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-11-10T08:08:06-07:00November, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

New treatment combination proves safe for head and neck cancer patients

Source: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases Author: press release Patients undergoing treatment for advanced head and neck cancers may respond well to the addition of gefinitib to chemotherapy, according to a study sponsored by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and chaired by Ethan Argiris, M.D., associate professor of medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and co-leader of the Head and Neck Cancer Program of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). The results will be disclosed at the 45th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on May 30 in Orlando, Fla. "We found that adding gefinitib to standard chemotherapy was well-tolerated by patients who had already received chemotherapy or were frail," said Dr. Argiris. "We had hoped this study would improve the survival rate of patients, but while gefinitib did postpone spread of the disease, it did not increase survival rates. The finding that the addition of gefinitib to chemotherapy can delay the growth of head and neck cancer suggests a potential beneficial effect from combination therapy." One group of 136 patients in the placebo-controlled study received docetaxel alone, a standard treatment for head and neck cancer. A second group of 134 patients received gefinitib in addition to docetaxel. This was the first phase III randomized trial to examine the addition of gefinitib to chemotherapy for patients with head and neck cancer. Gefinitib, which also is known by the trade name Iressa, is a targeted therapy against the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) with fewer side effects than traditional [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-31T17:41:24-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Iressa as good as chemotherapy for lung cancer

Source: health.usnews.com Author: Steven Reinberg The cancer-fighting pill Iressa works as well as chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for lung cancer, researchers report. Although neither therapy prolongs survival beyond eight months, Iressa (gefitinib) causes fewer serious side effects and may be a better choice for patients who did not do well on their first round of chemotherapy. "A pill, with less side effects, taken once a day, has similar activity to traditional chemotherapy given by vein every three weeks," said lead researcher Dr. Edward Kim, an assistant professor at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. This finding should reassure doctors that they are not compromising effective therapy by using a pill, Kim said. Iressa is not available in the United States, but a similar drug, Tarceva, is. Iressa was first developed by AstraZeneca, but it failed to meet expectations. The National Cancer Institute ended clinical trials of the drug in 2005 because it failed to prolong the lives of lung cancer patients. The latest finding has meaning for these patients, however, Kim said. "You can be treated for lung cancer. There are different therapies available, and they have different side-effect profiles," he said. "Chemotherapy will never be eliminated, but we are getting more options for targeted therapy; and people can live as normal a life as they can bearing the weight of lung cancer." The report was published in the Nov. 22 issue of The Lancet. In a head-to-head comparison, Kim's team randomly assigned 1,466 lung cancer patients [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-11-23T09:25:18-07:00November, 2008|Oral Cancer News|