Ben Leach

The first set of results from a phase III clinical trial found that obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil chemotherapy significantly improved PFS in patients with CLL.

Activation of a signaling pathway involving the proto-oncogene Src is responsible for disease progression and metastasis in cancer and beta blocker drugs could be used to reduce mortality in these patients.

Researchers have discovered that the oncogenic function of a particular protein in CRPC can cause the cancer to spread without stimulation by male hormones.

Patients with advanced esophagogastric adenocarcinoma who received docetaxel as a second-line therapy experienced a longer period of overall survival as well as a better quality of life compared with patients who received active symptom control.

A new study found that patients with HER2-positive breast cancer who are receiving anti-HER2 therapy could prevent or delay resistance when a phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) inhibitor is added during treatment.

A pair of studies could change the way patients are evaluated for mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2, two cancer susceptibility genes closely associated with breast and ovarian cancers, as well as other tumor types.

A combination of maintenance bevacizumab plus standard second-line chemotherapy appears to be an effective strategy in managing patients with metastatic colorectal cancer after disease progression

The FDA has accepted a NDA for afatinib to treat patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC who have tested positive for an EGFR mutation that has been identified through a companion diagnostic test.

New research has found that Papanicolaou smear tests that collect DNA in addition to providing a routine cytologic evaluation may be able to identify mutations associated with ovarian and endometrial cancers.

Researchers have identified the molecular basis behind two concepts in ovarian cancer that allow tumor stem cells to survive and proliferate even after treatment.

A phase III trial of sorafenib in patients with locally advanced or metastatic RAI-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer met its primary endpoint of a statistically significant improvement in PFS.

More potent versions of existing therapies are currently under development and showing considerable promise in early clinical trials for patients with multiple myeloma.

Local ablative therapy plus continuation on the same tyrosine kinase inhibitor could be utilized as a treatment alternative in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

Although the association between VEGF and ovarian cancer has been known for quite some time, researchers are still struggling to use drugs that inhibit VEGF and angiogenesis in patients with the disease.

Results of a large phase III trial testing the efficacy of the investigational vaccine L-BLP25 in patients with advanced lung cancer found that the vaccine failed to show a statistically significant improvement in overall survival

The prognosis for patients with colorectal cancer has benefited greatly from the advent of advances in chemotherapy and new agents, with nearly threefourths of stage I patients surviving for at least 5 years after diagnosis.

Patients receiving transplants from unrelated donors to treat various hematologic malignancies may benefit more from receiving adult stem cells harvested from bone marrow rather than peripheral-blood stem cells (the current standard).

Cancer impacts the lives of patients in many different ways, but one way in which adults facing a cancer diagnosis may be affected is the impact that the disease and its subsequent treatment can have on sexual function.

Patients with triple-negative breast cancer had no statistically significant improvement in disease-free survival when they received adjuvant treatment with chemotherapy plus 1 year of bevacizumab.

Patients with triple-negative breast cancer who have residual disease after receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy have a series of genetic alterations that are clinically targetable and may warrant further study.

Postmenopausal women with advanced estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer lived longer when they received a 500-mg dose of fulvestrant as compared with a 250-mg dose.

Sentinel lymph node surgery may provide a less-invasive alternative to axillary lymph node dissection for nodal staging in node-positive breast cancer.

Although new therapies have revolutionized the management of certain hematologic malignancies during the past 15 years, clinical trials currently under way hold the potential to yield new targeted agents and better treatment strategies.

Researchers are continuing to investigate TKIs to help manage patients with CML who either do not respond to initial therapy or relapse after subsequent treatment.

The FDA approved cabozantinib, a multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.

A phase III trial that compared nab-paclitaxel (nab-P; Abraxane) with dacarbazine (DTIC) in patients with metastatic malignant melanoma (MMM) found that nab-P nearly doubled the median time to progression-free survival (PFS).

Researchers have identified a potential predictive marker for survival in cases of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treated with bevacizumab (Avastin), suggesting that patients who have the appropriate biomarker could experience a greater benefit when given the drug, whereas others who do not express the biomarker could be spared from receiving unnecessary therapy.

Amatuximab has received orphan drug status from the FDA to treat patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, the most common form of mesothelioma.

After many years of treating patients with advanced prostate cancer the same way, a host of new drug approvals has not only changed the way urologists manage prostate cancer but their understanding of the disease as well.

The 2012 LUGPA Annual Meeting is expected to gather more than 100 urology groups to discuss administrative, technological, regulatory, and medical challenges facing practices.