Ms. Farley is a freelance medical writer based in Wakefield, Rhode Island.
Hope for Patients with Pancreatic Cancer
The survival rate for patients with pancreatic cancer could possibly double when
gemcitabine (Gemzar) is used after surgery, according to a recent study. Pancreatic
cancer is considered one of the deadliest cancers, offering patients a dire prognosis—
made worse by the fact that it is often not diagnosed until it is too late for effective
treatment. The downside of gemcitabine's postsurgery efficacy is that only about 15%
of patients with pancreatic cancer are surgical candidates. Currently, gemcitabine is
the standard treatment when pancreatic cancer cannot be surgically removed.
| | Survival Without Recurrence | Overall Survival |
| | 3-year Mark | 5-year Mark | 5 years | >5 years |
Gemzar | 23.5% | 16.5% | 36.5% | 21% |
Placebo | 7.5% | 5.5% | 19.5% | 9% |
Researchers expect widespread adoption of gemcitabine in the treatment of postsurgery
pancreatic cancer. Study results were presented at the American Society of
Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in Chicago this past May.
Chemo Drug Equals Effectiveness of Radiation
The most common cancer in men aged 15 to 45 is testicular cancer, with the standard
treatment being surgery followed by radiation. A recent study, however, has
shown that a single dose of the chemotherapy drug carboplatin is just as effective
as radiation therapy but not as toxic. A randomized study included 573 patients who
received a single dose of carboplatin dosed over 1 hour on an outpatient basis and
904 patients who received daily radiotherapy over a 2- to 3-week period. The 5-year
mark showed similar cancer recurrence rates in both groups: 5% in the carboplatin
group and 4% in the radiation group.
Test Pinpoints
Who Benefits from
Cancer Drug
Study results presented at the May
American Society of Clinical Oncology
annual meeting reveal that, with colon
cancer, physicians can now determine
which patients will benefit from the
chemotherapy drug cetuximab (Erbitux).
By using a KRAS test, clinicians
can pinpoint which patients have the
normal version of a particular gene and
know that those patients will benefit
from treatment with cetuximab, which
has been approved as an addition to
chemotherapy—but only for patients
with the normal version of the gene.
Researchers reviewed tumor samples
from 587 patients
and found that those
with normal KRAS genes had a 32%
reduced risk of cancer recurrence,
compared
with 15% for all patients.
Knowing who should receive
the drug
beforehand may indicate the future of
cancer treatment—tailored or personalized
therapy for patients.
Erbitux Offers Small Hope in Lung Cancer Battle
Researchers have found that the
cancer drug cetuximab (Erbitux), when
combined with chemotherapy, extends
the life of patients with advanced
non–
small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by about
5 weeks. In the lung cancer arena,
it is important to note that prognosis
is still very poor, and the 5-year survival
rate is less than 5%. In fact, other
clinical trials have shown cetuximab to
have no benefits, and this trial is only
the second one to show any positive
results. Cetuximab
acts like bevacizumab
(Avastin) by cutting off a tumor's
blood supply. Bevacizumab, it should
be noted, is the only approved targeted
therapy for NSCLC. The study that yielded
these results included 1125 patients
with stage IV cancer randomized to
platinum-based chemotherapy alone
or chemotherapy plus cetuximab. The
cetuximab group lived 11.3 months on
average, compared with 10.1 months in
the chemotherapy-only group.
Cancer Pain Drug May Reduce Intensity
Phase 3 trials have been completed for BEMA Fentanyl in
the treatment of "breakthrough pain" (BTP) in cancer patients
who can tolerate opioids. The drug is a small, dissolvable film
containing fentanyl that is applied to the inner lining of the
cheek membranes. In the study, 81 patients received BEMA
Fentanyl and placebo in a random order to treat their BTP
episodes. Altogether, 394 BTP episodes were treated with
BEMA Fentanyl, and 197 were treated with placebo. The end
point was to determine the sum of pain intensity difference at
30 minutes; the difference in pain intensity was significantly
(and positively) higher when the patient took BEMA Fentanyl.
The long-term study included 220 patients and more than
56,000 BTP episodes. The average dosage was 2.9/day for
112 days.
Side Effects |
Nausea | 8.6% |
Dizziness | 5.5% |
Constipation | 5.0% |
Drowsiness | 4.5% |
Manufacturers are awaiting an August 2008 decision on their
new drug application.
