December 2013 | Oncology Live®

Brentuximab Vedotin Studies Explore Novel Combinations, Pretransplant Settings

January 30, 2014

Alison J. Moskowitz, MD, is among researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and elsewhere who are investigating an expanded role for the CD30-targeting brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in hematologic malignancies. Moskowitz specializes in the treatment of patients with lymphoma and her research focuses on evaluating novel treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma.

"N of 1" Research: Molecular Findings Create Urgency for New Drug Discovery Paradigm

January 13, 2014

There has been considerable discussion within the oncology literature during the past several years regarding the level of evidence required to consider a new antineoplastic agent an acceptable "standard-of-care" in routine disease management.

Fisher's Respect for Scientific Methods Propelled Landmark Advances

January 10, 2014

When Bernard Fisher, MD, first became involved in breast cancer research, the only treatment option available to patients was the radical mastectomy, a horribly disfiguring surgery that had been the undisputed standard of care since the late 1800s

FDA Rules Hamper Novel Ovarian Cancer Drugs

January 07, 2014

The FDA's rules for approving new drugs for the treatment of women with ovarian cancer pose frustrating problems for researchers developing novel agents and for clinicians seeking to improve outcomes for their patients

B-Cell Malignancies: Transforming Expectations and Outcomes

January 06, 2014

With the arrival and incorporation into clinical practice of immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) and proteasome inhibitor therapy, patients with multiple myeloma are achieving deep, durable responses and disease control, and are living longer.

Reality Check Needed: Comorbidities Loom in Practice, But Not in Clinical Trials

January 02, 2014

How should the dose and schedule of antineoplastic therapies be modified in patients with known chronic liver, cardiac, or pulmonary disease when these conditions were excluded from the trials that permitted their routine clinical use? How should treatment be changed in the presence of significant obesity?

Model Emerges for Targeting Oncogenes in NSCLC

December 30, 2013

Between 2007 and 2011, a collaboration among clinical oncologists, pathologists, and industry scientists led to the identification of a new molecularly defined subset of non-small cell lung cancer, followed by the finding that crizotinib, then under development as a MET inhibitor, was an inhibitor of anaplastic lymphoma kinase.

PCPT Trial Helps Confirm Role of 5α-Reductase Inhibitors in Prostate Cancer Prevention

December 17, 2013

Two years after the FDA denied a request to expand the indication of finasteride and other 5α-reductase inhibitors to prevent prostate cancer, a major study has cast doubt on the concerns that prompted the denial: that the drug raised the risk of more lethal cancers.

Predicting Risk of Aggressive Prostate Cancer Through Biomarkers in Blood

December 16, 2013

A new study has shown a possible correlation between men with short-ended chromosomes in the immune cells of their blood and an increased risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer, potentially pointing the way toward an accessible biomarker that could help inform treatment and surveillance decisions.