Study Shows Experienced Care Facilities Improve Survival in NSCLC
March 12th 2015The study, published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, found that patients treated with definitive concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy for stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer have longer overall survival when treated by highly experienced facilities, either academic or community cancer centers.
Sorafenib nor Sunitinib Effective As Adjuvant Kidney Cancer Therapy
February 24th 2015Neither sunitinib nor sorafenib reduced disease recurrence in patients with locally advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) when these agents were given to patients as adjuvant therapy, according to the results of a new study.
New Agent for Treating NSCLC Patients Receives Breakthrough Therapy Designation
February 6th 2015An investigational cancer immunotherapy known as MPDL3280A (anti-PDL1) is receiving a breakthrough therapy designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Andras Komaromy, PhD, wins Shaffer Award for research of gene therapy to control IOP
February 5th 2015For his efforts to prove that gene therapy could one day provide lasting control of IOP in patients with glaucoma with known genetic defects, Andras M. Komáromy, PhD, DVM, was awarded the 2015 Shaffer Prize for Innovative Glaucoma Research.
FDA Grants Breakthrough Status to PD-L1 Inhibitor MPDL3280A in NSCLC
February 2nd 2015The anti–PD-L1 agent MPDL3280A has received a breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA for PD-L1–positive non–small cell lung cancer that has progressed during or after platinum-based chemotherapy, as well as a targeted therapy for patients with EGFR- or ALK-positive tumors.
Sequencing VEGFR-Targeted and mTOR-Targeted Therapy in Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma
February 2nd 2015With 8 therapies approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), practitioners are faced with the challenge of selecting the most appropriate therapies for their patients within this crowded therapeutic landscape.
Novel CAR T-Cell Therapies to Come From Amgen/Kite Pharma Collaboration
January 9th 2015Amgen and Kite Pharma have announced that they will collaborate on the development of novel CAR T-cell immunotherapies, with Amgen providing cancer targets and Kite offering its engineered autologous cell therapy platform.
MS Stem Cell Treatments Show 3-Year Benefit
December 29th 2014Treating patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) with autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) has worked for most patients based on an interim report 3 years into a study. But the therapy has risks that critics say outweigh the benefits.
Growth Hormone Therapy Effective at Increasing Anemics' Height During Childhood
December 18th 2014For children with Diamond-Blackfan Anemia (DBA) - an inherited condition defined by low red blood cell counts and limited progenitor cells in the bone marrow - growth hormone (GH) therapy was found to increase the short stature of patients - a symptom not widely analyzed.
Juno CAR T Cell Therapy Receives Breakthrough Designation for ALL
November 24th 2014The chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy JCAR015 has received a breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA as a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Merck's Rapid Strides With Pembrolizumab
October 27th 2014Today, Merck announced that Keytruda has been granted breakthrough therapy designation for treating patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutation-negative and anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangement-negative non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Pembrolizumab for NSCLC
October 27th 2014The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to pembrolizumab (Keytruda), an anti-PD-1 therapy, for the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are EGFR mutation- or ALK rearrangement-negative and whose disease has progressed on or following platinum-based chemotherapy.
Targeting Src Adds No Benefit in VEGF-Resistant Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma
October 6th 2014Adding saracatinib to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-targeted therapy did not improve response rates or overall survival while adding to toxicity in VEGF-resistant metastatic renal cell carcinoma
Targeting Mitosis: First Polo-Like Kinase Inhibitor Moves Closer to FDA Approval
September 25th 2014The concept of targeting mitotic cell division to halt the progression of rapidly dividing cancer cells has long been a staple of oncology therapy, yet chemotherapy agents that are the prime examples of this approach are nonselective in their action and can kill normal and malignant cells alike.