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.
What Next? Choosing Second-Line Therapy in Progressive Renal Cell Carcinoma
September 15th 2014A 71-year-old woman presented with back pain and was incidentally found to have a left upper pole renal mass. She underwent left open partial nephrectomy; the pathology results revealed a 2.2-cm clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with negative margins and a Fuhrman nuclear grade of 2.
Novel Approaches for the Prevention and Treatment of Inflammatory Bone Loss
September 13th 2014Current novel therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of bone loss in patients with inflammatory joint disease target cytokines and other inflammatory mediators. Mesenchymal stem cell therapy is a compelling new treatment currently being studied in clinical trials.
Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Immunotherapy for Leukemia and Beyond
August 29th 2014Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy is an immunotherapy in which the patient's own T cells are isolated in the laboratory, redirected with a synthetic receptor to recognize a particular antigen or protein, and reinfused into the patient.
The treatment of inoperable stage III non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains a challenge due to high rates of distant metastasis, local recurrence, and toxicity associated with definitive therapy.
Sunitinib Still Standard First-Line Treatment for Metastatic RCC
July 29th 2014Results of a head-to-head comparison of first-line treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma with the mTOR inhibitor everolimus or VEGF inhibitor sunitinib showed that everolimus did not meet noninferiority requirements as a first-line therapy.
Long-term gene therapy for wet AMD promising
July 15th 2014The first results from a phase I trial of gene therapy for exudative age-related macular degeneration using a subretinal injection suggest that the treatment is safe and well tolerated even in the elderly population and may eliminate the need for frequent reinjection with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents.
Examining advances in AAV vector for retinal gene therapy
July 15th 2014Much work is being done with Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for application in retinal gene therapy, with modifications being made to the capsid and genome of the vector to generate novel variants with unique transduction profiles, according to Shannon Boye, PhD.
Lymphocyte Infusion Effective Following CML Relapse After HSCT
July 14th 2014Lymphocyte infusions are extremely effective therapy in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who relapse after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and the timing of the infusion is relatively unimportant, according to a new study.
Ventana and MedImmune to Develop a PD-L1 Assay To Aid Patient Enrollment in Immunotherapy Trials
June 12th 2014Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. and MedImmune today announced they are jointly developing a PD-L1 (SP263) immunohistochemistry assay to enroll patients in clinical trials for MedImmune's MEDI4736 anti-PD-L1 therapy for non-small cell lung carcinoma. This includes the recently commenced MEDI4736 ATLANTIC trial that will enroll only patients who express PD-L1 as determined by the VENTANA assay.
Bevacizumab Added to Erlotinib Increases PFS in NSCLC
June 6th 2014The addition of bevacizumab to erlotinib as first-line therapy yielded a significantly extended progression-free survival in patients with advanced EGFR-mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a new phase II study.
HPV-Targeting Immunotherapy Shows Early Promise in Cervical Cancer
June 2nd 2014Two patients with metastatic cervical cancer achieved durable complete responses that have so far lasted from 15 to 22 months through an adoptive T-cell therapy (ACT) targeting the human papillomavirus (HPV) in a study that researchers say supports the concept that the experimental immunotherapy approach may be beneficial in a variety of tumor types.