Breast Cancer Testing Guidelines out of Date, Missing Genetic Screening, Study Says Bookmark

Excerpt:

“The current guidelines for genetic testing of breast cancer patients limit the number of women who can get tested. Because of these restrictions, these tests miss as many patients with hereditary cancers as they find, according to a study published Monday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

” ‘Unfortunately, insurance companies pay attention to these guidelines,’ said Dr. Peter Beitsch, co-author of the study and a cancer surgeon practicing in Texas. Insurance companies and other payers reimburse genetic testing — or not — based on the guidelines.”

Go to full article published by CNN on Dec 12, 2018.

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Roche’s Kadcyla Cuts Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence After Surgery Bookmark

Excerpt:

“Roche’s Kadcyla was significantly better than Herceptin at reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence in certain patients with residual disease after surgery, according to new study findings presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

“Data from the Phase III KATHERINE study show that Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine) as a single agent significantly reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 50% compared to Herceptin (trastuzumab) as an adjuvant (after surgery) treatment in people with HER2-positive early breast cancer (eBC) who have residual disease following neoadjuvant therapy.”

Go to full article published by PharmaTimes on Dec 6, 2018.

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Roche’s Tecentriq Wins Speedy U.S. FDA Review for Small Cell Lung Cancer Bookmark

Excerpt:

“Swiss group Roche Holding AG said on Wednesday its Tecentriq immunotherapy mixed with chemotherapy won priority review from the U.S. regulator for treating a type of lung cancer, a potential boost to the drug that has been trailing rivals’ revenues.

“The announcement comes after Roche in September said patients with untreated extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) lived a median 12.3 months after getting the Tecentriq cocktail, compared to 10.3 months for those getting chemotherapy alone.

“Winning the speedy review from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sets up possible U.S. approval for Tecentriq in this indication by March 18, the drugmaker said in a statement.”

Go to full article published by Reuters on Dec 4, 2018.

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How Can We Unleash the Immune System? Bookmark

Excerpt:

“Cancer has an insidious talent for evading the natural defenses that should destroy it. What if we could find ways to help the immune system fight back?

“It has begun to happen. The growing field of immunotherapy is profoundly changing cancer treatment and has rescued many people with advanced malignancies that not long ago would have been a death sentence.”

Go to full article published by The New York Times on Nov 19, 2018.

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Vitamin D and Fish Oils Are Ineffective for Preventing Cancer and Heart Disease Bookmark

Excerpt:

“In recent years, many Americans have embraced vitamin D and fish oil pills, their enthusiasm fueled by a steady trickle of suggestive research studies linking higher levels of vitamin D with lower rates of cancer and other ills, and fish consumption with reduced heart disease.

“Now a large and rigorous government-funded randomized trial — the only such study of omega-3 fish oils ever carried out in healthy adults, and the largest trial ever done of high-dose vitamin D — has found the supplements do not lower cancer rates in healthy adults. Nor do they reduce the rate of major cardiovascular events, a composite of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from cardiovascular disease. The trial is of the kind considered the gold standard in medicine.”

Go to full article published by The New York Times on Nov 10, 2018.

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FDA Approves Lorlatinib for Second- or Third-Line Treatment of ALK-Positive Metastatic NSCLC Bookmark

Excerpt:

“On November 2, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to lorlatinib (LORBRENA, Pfizer, Inc.) for patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease has progressed on crizotinib and at least one other ALK inhibitor for metastatic disease or whose disease has progressed on alectinib or ceritinib as the first ALK inhibitor therapy for metastatic disease.

“Approval was based on a subgroup of 215 patients with ALK-positive metastatic NSCLC, previously treated with one or more ALK kinase inhibitors, enrolled in a non‑randomized, dose-ranging and activity-estimating, multi‑cohort, multicenter study (Study B7461001; NCT01970865). The major efficacy measures were overall response rate (ORR) and intracranial ORR, according to RECIST 1.1, as assessed by an independent central review committee.”

Go to full article published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Dec 14, 2018.

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Pembrolizumab Regimen Receives FDA Approval for Frontline Treatment of Squamous NSCLC Bookmark

Excerpt:

“Based on findings from the phase III KEYNOTE-407 trial, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has been approved by the FDA for use in combination with carboplatin and either paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) for the frontline treatment of patients with metastatic squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

“Results from the trial showed combining pembrolizumab with chemotherapy reduced the risk of death by 36% compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with metastatic squamous NSCLC. The median overall survival (OS) was 15.9 months (95% CI, 13.2 – not evaluable) with pembrolizumab versus 11.3 months (95% CI, 9.5-14.8) with chemotherapy alone (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.49-0.85; P = .0017). The OS benefit was observed regardless of PD-L1 expression level, choice of taxane, age, sex, and ECOG performance status.”

Go to full article published by Targeted Oncology on Oct 30, 2018.

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Aggressive RT, Surgery Doubles OS in NSCLC With Limited Mets Bookmark

Excerpt:

“Aggressive local consolidation in stage IV non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) drastically improved overall survival over standard care in patients with up to three metastatic lesions, a small randomized study found.

“Among 49 patients whose disease had not progressed after initial systemic therapy, overall survival was 41.2 months in those treated with radiotherapy or surgery compared with 17.0 months in those on standard maintenance therapy (P=0.017), reported Daniel Gomez, MD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, at a press briefing here at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) meeting.”

Go to full article published by MedPage Today on Oct 22, 2018.

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Novartis Drug Cut Death Risk by 35 Percent in Gene Mutation Breast Cancer Bookmark

Excerpt:

“An experimental cancer drug that Novartis hopes will raise the profile of its oncology portfolio cut the risk of death or disease progression by more than a third in breast cancer patients with a hard-to-target gene mutation.

“The Swiss drugmaker’s BYL719, a so-called PI3K inhibitor also known as alpelisib, combined with hormone therapy fulvestrant boosted median progression-free survival (PFS) to 11 months, up from 5.7 months for patients who got only hormone therapy, the company said on Saturday.”

Go to full article published by Reuters on Oct 20, 2018.

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