CHICAGO—Studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of several novel therapies were released today at a press briefing of the 43
rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
“Our understanding of the molecular basis for cancer continues to expand. With that knowledge comes a growing number of promising targeted therapies that attack cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact,” said Dean F. Bajorin, MD, an attending physician in the department of medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
and moderator of the press briefing. “Today we’ll discuss new uses for drugs already proven effective in other indications, as well as entirely new agents designed to cut off a tumor’s blood supply or block the genetic mutations that cause cancer to grow and spread.”
Study findings include:
- Adding arsenic trioxide to standard therapy significantly increases overall survival among adult patients with newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia.
- The addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to interferon as a first-line treatment for advanced kidney cancer nearly doubles progression-free survival.
- Axitinib (AG-013736) has substantial antitumor activity in patients with advanced thyroid cancer.
- VEGF-Trap (Aflibercept) has activity in patients with the most common type of ovarian cancer that has returned and is resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy drugs.
- Dasatinib (Sprycel) shows strong hematologic and chromosomal response when used as a first-line treatment for early-stage chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).
For consumer-oriented information on these studies and more than 120 cancer types and cancer-related syndromes, please refer your readers to ASCO’s oncologist-vetted patient Web site, www.plwc.org.
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