September 2011

The controversy over the breast cancer indication for Avastin culminated in June when the ODAC voted after an unusual and emotional 2-day hearing to uphold a prior recommendation to withdraw the label indication.

For more than 75 years, the cancer programs of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, have been at the forefront of research and patient care.

During the past 40 years, the concept of thwarting a tumor by attacking its blood supply has become a central thrust of cancer research, a strategy that reached a milestone with the approval of bevacizumab in 2004.

Despite controversy over its breast cancer approval status, bevacizumab (Avastin) remains at center stage when it comes to antiangiogenic therapies for the disease.

Leading breast cancer researcher Joyce A. O'Shaughnessy, MD, developed and chaired the 10th International Congress on the Future of Breast Cancer, a 4-day interactive program.

Professor of Surgery and Consultant Surgeon at the University of Edinburgh; and Clinical Director of the Edinburgh Breast Unit at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dendreon estimates that only about 25% of eligible prescribing physicians were aware that Medicare had decided to cover Provenge for its on-label use of treating prostate cancer.

BIND, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was founded in 2007 by two researchers with experience in the field of targeted nanoparticles.

Through the success of Revlimid and other drugs, Celgene has become a respected and powerful player in the biopharmaceutical industry in recent years.

Temporary ovarian suppression using triptorelin may decrease the rate of early menopause in premenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer undergoing adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

British investigators are reporting that taller women have a higher risk of cancer, and that the link between height and cancer risk exists for most types of cancer.

The investigational oral agent talactoferrin alfa reduces the risk of death in patients being treated in the intensive care unit for severe sepsis.

Brentuximab vedotin showed very positive results in lymphoma patients in several early trials, prompting the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee to unanimously recommend accelerated approval for the drug.

Weekly high-dose vitamin D supplementation improves joint and muscle pain related to anastrozole therapy in breast cancer patients with low vitamin D levels.

In vitro cell manipulation has unleashed the therapeutic potential of human cells.