Oncology

Professor Vincenzo Valentini, president of ESTRO and a radiation oncologist at the Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, Rome, Italy, commented in a statement: The results from this trial are important and practice-changing. It is clear that an additional six months of hormonal treatment in addition to radiotherapy improves the outcome for men with localised prostate cancer. This option should now be considered for all these men with prostate cancer that is at risk of growing and spreading.

Women with diabetes are 14 percent less likely to be screened for breast cancer compared to women without diabetes, according to a study. "Managing the demands of a chronic condition such as diabetes is challenging for many women, leaving other preventative actions, like screening for cancer, to fall by the wayside," said a physician and author. "Our study found having diabetes posed a significant barrier to breast cancer screening even after considering a woman's socioeconomic status, a known contributor to disparities in care among women."

Specialty medications present a challenge for payers as costs for these expensive drugs consume an increasing portion of overall health care spending. In fact, specialty pharmacy spend is expected to rise from $92 billion in 2012 to $235 billion by 2018.

Highlights from recent AJMC conference coverage.

Patient access to some of the nation's best-known cancer-care centers could become a flashpoint in the simmering controversy surrounding the narrow networks being constructed by some insurers and healthcare providers.

Researchers at Rockefeller University have discovered that targeting the liver-X receptor to increase the expression of ApoE can prevent melanoma cells from metastasizing to the lung and the brain.

Early detection of precancerous adenomas by colonoscopy can prevent the development of cancer.

The ASCO task force has identified 3 goals for its strategic value initiative. First is that oncologists will have the skills and tools needed to evaluate the relative value of interventions, and will use these when discussing treatment options with their patients. Second is to have information readily accessible to help patients select high-value treatment that meets their individual needs. Third is to have an algorithm that can be used by those responsible for covering the costs of cancer care to define and assess the value of treatment options.

By passing this law, EU lawmakers loosen the grip of pharmaceutical companies on how and when physicians prescribe a particular drug.

DNA repair is a prime mechanism for preventing DNA damage, mutation, and cancers. Adopting a functional approach, we examined the association with lung cancer risk of an integrated DNA repair score, measured by a panel of three enzymatic DNA repair activities in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has launched a strategic initiative to define value in cancer care.

Researchers discovered that microscopic "bubbles" are safe and effective storage lockers for harmful isotopes that emit ionizing radiation for treating tumors. The findings can benefit patient health and advance radiation therapy used to treat cancer and other diseases.

In February, Pfizer announced encouraging results for palbociclib with statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) for women with a certain type of advance breast cancer in a mid-stage, or phase III, study.

GlaxoSmithKline has been forced to halt a Phase III trial assessing its MAGE-A3 cancer immunotherapeutic in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

A DNA methylation marker test performed on urine samples obtained from patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) has the ability to predict tumor recurrence with both high sensitivity and specificity.

Recent research has raised the possibility that low-dose aspirin could add extra years to the lives of colon cancer patients. Now, a new study suggests that only certain patients may gain a survival benefit by taking aspirin after diagnosis.

Eli Lilly was successful in a crucial legal battle on Monday when a U.S. District Judge in Indianapolis upheld the validity of its U.S. patent for the drugmaker' s blockbuster lung-cancer drug, Alimta.

Saladax Biomedical's MY5-FU blood test will help personalize and optimize 5-fluorouracil dosing in cancer patients.

Patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are at risk for recurrence of disease, but currently there are no tools to predict which patients are at highest risk. The authors set out to create a risk model incorporating both clinical data and biomarkers.

Rates of new cancer cases in the United States have fallen slightly in recent years, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A new oral angiogenesis inhibitor for the treatment of lung cancer could be edging closer to the market: Approval application for nintedanib (Boehringer Ingelheim) has been filed in Europe and is being prepared for the United States.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN) will host Designing Clinical Trials in the Era of Multiple Biomarkers and Targeted Therapies on April 25, 2014 in Bethesda, Maryland, as part of the NCCN Oncology Policy Program.

A panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers has voted to endorse an experimental stool test that uses DNA to detect colon cancer and precancerous growths.

Results of a phase II trial of the PARP inhibitor olaparib, presented at the meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, showed that maintenance therapy with olaparib significantly improved PFS in ovarian cancer patients.

Drug development is a risky business, with an estimated 90 percent of compounds that enter clinical trials ultimately failing to reach the market.