Cancer
Cancer drug form Novartis approved for pancreatic tumor treatment
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011Afinitor (everolimus), the cancer drug from Novartis, have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States for the treatment of progressive pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Such tumors are usually metastasized and it is not possible to remove them through surgery. Though it is rare in occurrence—the strike rate is 0.32 cases [...]
Group of biomarkers may be able to predict metastatic melanoma
Saturday, April 30th, 2011Risks of metastasis in patients with melanoma (a type of skin cancer) can be detected by the presence of a group of plasma biomarkers in blood. A study conducted by researchers at the Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, identified seven plasma biomarkers–osteopontin, CEACAM, MIA, ICAM-1, TIMP-1, GDF-15 and S100B—which were found to be in excess [...]
FDA approves new drug Yervoy for melanoma treatment
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally given approval to a drug named Yervoy that has shown evidence of prolonging lives of patients with melanoma, a type of skin cancer.
Yervoy, also known as ipilimumab, is a new drug manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY). The drug combats melanoma by allowing the immune system [...]
Rich white women at a greater risk of developing melanoma
Monday, March 28th, 2011A recent study has found that affluent young white women are six times more prone to melanoma, a lethal skin cancer, as compared to relatively less affluent woman. The study, which analyzes skin cancer cases in California, attributes the findings to the likelihood of affluent young women spending more time in tanning salons and going [...]
Low HDL cholesterol enhances anti-cancer effect of metformin
Monday, February 7th, 2011Source: MedWire News
Research suggests that the previously reported anti-cancer effect of metformin treatment is most apparent in patients with Type 2 diabetes who also have low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
Several studies, previously reported by MedWire News, have shown that Type 2 diabetes patients who are treated with metformin appear to have a reduced risk [...]
Further evidence for reduced cancer risk with metformin
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011Source: MedWire News
Exposure to metformin is associated with a reduced risk for cancer in patients with Type 2 diabetes, say researchers.
The antidiabetes drug metformin has previously been associated with lower cancer mortality, as reported by MedWire News.
In this study, Edoardo Mannucci (University of Florence, Italy) and co-workers carried out a nested case-control study in a group [...]
Erlotinib May Prolong Survival In Older Women With Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.
Thursday, June 10th, 2010MedPage Today (6/9, Smith) reported that “the targeted agent erlotinib (Tarceva) prolonged survival by 26% in older women with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, but did not benefit men with the disease,” according to research presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. Investigators found, “in the randomized [...]
Risk for second primary cancers increases significantly after melanoma
Sunday, April 18th, 2010Source: MedWire News
Melanoma survivors have a 9-fold increased risk for developing subsequent melanoma compared with the general population, report researchers in the Archives of Dermatology.
The team therefore recommends that “survivors should remain under surveillance not only for recurrence but also for future primary melanomas and other cancers.”
Porcia Bradford (National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland, USA) and [...]
Cancers Can Vanish Without Treatment, but How?
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Source: New York Times
By GINA KOLATA
Call it the arrow of cancer. Like the arrow of time, it was supposed to point in one direction. Cancers grew and worsened.
But as a paper in The Journal of the American Medical Association noted last week, data from more than two decades of screening for breast and prostate cancer call that view into question. Besides [...]
Liver function of lung cancer patients who have recently taken or are taking Tarceva should be monitored, drugmaker says.
Thursday, December 18th, 2008The Canadian Press (12/18) reports, “Hoffman-La Roche is telling doctors prescribing Tarceva (erlotinib) to lung cancer patients to closely monitor the liver function of those who recently have taken or who are taking the drug.” According to a letter issued by the company, “a study of patients with advanced cancer and moderate liver impairment found [...]
