Chemotherapy News and Research

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Anti-psychotic drugs could help treat some major cancers

The observation that people taking medication for schizophrenia have lower cancer rates than other people has prompted new research revealing that anti-psychotic drugs could help treat some major cancers.

12 Aug 2009

Endocyte announces results from study of EC145 in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Results were presented at the 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer in San Francisco. The single arm Phase II study evaluated the therapeutic agent EC145 and the molecular imaging agent EC20 in 42 patients with advanced adenocarcinoma of the lung. Forty percent of patients involved in the clinical trial had already failed at least four chemotherapy regimens prior to enrollment in the study.

12 Aug 2009

Potential new treatment for drug resistant brain tumors

Dr. Karen Newell, Ph. D., the lead researcher for bio technology company Viral Genetics (Pink Sheets: VRAL), will address the 4th Annual Aspen Symposium on Brain Tumor Immuno- and Stem Cell Therapy. Her presentation will highlight the potential for combining chemotherapy with compounds that interfere with the ability of brain tumor cells to generate the energy needed to repair chemotherapy induced DNA damage.

12 Aug 2009

Aspirin improves survival after colorectal cancer diagnosis

Men and women who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer and began regular use of aspirin had a lower risk of overall and colorectal cancer death compared to patients not using aspirin, according to a study in the August 12 issue of JAMA.

11 Aug 2009

Regular use of aspirin after colorectal cancer diagnosis may reduce the risk of cancer death

In the August 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study's authors also find that the aspirin-associated survival advantage was seen primarily in patients with tumors expressing the COX-2 enzyme, a characteristic of two-thirds of colorectal cancers.

11 Aug 2009

Seattle Genetics reaches milestone under collaboration agreement with MedImmune

Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN), announced today that it has achieved a milestone under its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) collaboration agreement with MedImmune, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca. The milestone was triggered by MedImmune’s initiation of a phase I clinical trial of MEDI-547, its anti-EphA2 ADC for solid tumors.

11 Aug 2009

Oxygen nanosensor could improve tumor imaging

A new material developed at the University of Virginia - an oxygen nanosensor that couples a light-emitting dye with a biopolymer - simplifies the imaging of oxygen-deficient regions of tumors. Such tumors are associated with increased cancer aggressiveness and are particularly difficult to treat.

11 Aug 2009

STAT3 is required for proliferation and maintenance of multipotency in glioblastoma stem cells

In a study published online in advance of print in Stem Cells, Tufts researchers report that the STAT3 gene regulates cancer stem cells in brain cancer. Cancer stem cells have many characteristics of stem cells and are thought to be the cells that drive tumor formation. The researchers report that STAT3 could become a target for cancer therapy, specifically in Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a type of malignant and aggressive brain tumor.

11 Aug 2009

Discovery of a potential target for metastatic cancer

The deadliest part of the cancer process, metastasis, appears to rely on help from macrophages, potent immune system cells that usually defend vigorously against disease, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University report.

11 Aug 2009

Discovery of potential target for metastatic cancer

10 Aug 2009

Oncogenex Pharmaceuticals issued key patent

OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: OGXI), today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has issued United States Patent Number 7,569,551 entitled "Chemo-and Radiation-sensitization of Cancer by Antisense TRPM-2 Oligodeoxynucleotides," on the method of using OncoGenex' lead cancer drug candidate, OGX-011, to treat certain cancers.

10 Aug 2009

FDA approves APP Pharmaceuticals' Idarubicin HCI injection

APP Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Fresenius Kabi Pharmaceuticals Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:APCVZ), announced today that it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market idarubicin hydrochloride injection in three dosage strengths (5mg/5mL, 10mg/10mL and 20mg/20mL). Idarubicin is therapeutically equivalent to the reference drug Idamycin PFS injection, which is marketed by the innovator Pfizer, Inc.

10 Aug 2009

Two significant advances in treating lung cancer

Dr. Glen Weiss of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Scottsdale Healthcare this week announced two significant advances in treating lung cancer at an international cancer research conference.

7 Aug 2009

Genetic profiling of tumors could have 'immediate impact' on treating cancer

New work by MIT cancer biologists shows that the interplay between two key genes that are often defective in tumors determines how cancer cells respond to chemotherapy.

6 Aug 2009

Discovery of cells responsible for bladder cancer spread

Johns Hopkins scientists have tracked down a powerful set of cells in bladder tumors that seem to be primarily responsible for the cancer's growth and spread using a technique that takes advantage of similarities between tumor and organ growth. The findings, reported in the July Stem Cells, could help scientists develop new ways of finding and attacking similar cells in other types of cancer.

6 Aug 2009

Importance of increased funding for molecular diagnostics

On July 9, 2009, the Society for Women’s Health Research convened experts on Capitol Hill to educate lawmakers on the importance of increased funding for new medical tests, called molecular diagnostics.

6 Aug 2009

Genzyme’s Mozobil approved in Europe

Genzyme Corporation announced today that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Mozobil ® (plerixafor injection), providing a significant new option for patients with the blood cancers lymphoma and multiple myeloma who require an autologous stem cell transplant.

6 Aug 2009

Plans to control doctors' pay big in Massachusetts, not so much in Washington

Massachusetts officials are proud of their low rate of uninsured people, but the state also hosts the highest health care costs in the country, a problem that jeopardizes their achievement in expanding coverage, NPR's Morning Edition reports.

5 Aug 2009

Sensitizing tumor response to cancer treatment

Two forms of skin and brain cancer respond very poorly to chemotherapy and radiation: melanoma and glioblastoma multiforme brain cancer.

5 Aug 2009

Discovery of new gene mutations linked to leukemia

Decoding the complete DNA of cancer patients is giving scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis a clearer picture of the complexity of the disease and allowing them to see intriguing and unexpected genetic relationships among patients.

5 Aug 2009