A new method to test cancer drug toxicity

For people with cancer, chemotherapy saves lives, but for some patients, the treatment comes with a side effect—heart damage. Screening cancer drugs for cardiotoxicity has been an ongoing challenge as heart cells don’t naturally grow in a dish, requiring researchers to do this critical testing using cardiac tissue from rodent models. A new study from researchers at Cummings School of Veterinary […]

Brentuximab vedotin may improve overall survival in patients with Hodgkin Lymphoma

A study led by researchers from Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that the addition of brentuximab vedotin to standard chemotherapy treatment improves overall survival in patients with Hodgkin Lymphoma, when compared to the current standard of chemotherapy alone. Results of the research were presented by Stephen Ansell, M.D., Ph.D., at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting (ASCO) in Chicago […]

Improved treatment emerges for mantle cell lymphoma

Addition of ibrutinib to standard chemotherapy for patients over 65 with previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) has led to significantly improved progression-free survival, researchers reported on June 2, 2022 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. The findings were published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. “The majority of mantle cell lymphoma patients who are […]

If you take several medications, ‘polypharmacy’ is a word to know

Here’s a scenario so common that it applies to nearly 92 percent of older adults with cancer: An individual comes in for treatment and reports taking several medications that might include a drug for high blood pressure or heart disease, an antidepressant, or something for diabetes. The person may also take frequent doses of Advil, over-the-counter pills to relieve heartburn […]

Lab results show promise for future pancreatic cancer treatment

University of Illinois Chicago researchers have developed a compound that may one day offer hope for pancreatic cancer treatment. A pre-clinical study of the experimental compound shows that it more than doubles the average survival time for mice with pancreatic cancer and that survival time was extended further when combined with immunotherapy. Led by Ajay Rana, professor of surgery at the UIC […]

FDA approves Keytruda plus chemotherapy for cervical cancer – Merck

Merck Inc., announced that the FDA has approved Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in combination with chemotherapy, with or without bevacizumab, for the treatment of patients with persistent, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer whose tumors express PD-L1 (Combined Positive Score [CPS] at least 1) as determined by an FDA-approved test. The approval is based on the Phase III KEYNOTE-826 trial evaluating Keytruda plus […]

Opdivo + Yervoy demonstrates durable overall survival at three years compared to chemotherapy in first-line unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma – BMS

– Bristol Myers Squibb announced three-year data from the CheckMate -743 trial that demonstrated a durable survival benefit with first-line treatment with Opdivo (nivolumab) plus Yervoy (ipilimumab) compared to platinum-based standard-of-care chemotherapy in patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), regardless of histology. With a minimum follow-up of three years (35.5 months): i Among patients treated with Opdivo plus Yervoy, […]

Imfinzi plus chemotherapy tripled patient survival at three years in the CASPIAN phase III trial in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer – AstraZeneca

Updated results from the CASPIAN Phase III trial showed AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi (durvalumab) in combination with a choice of chemotherapies, etoposide plus either carboplatin or cisplatin, demonstrated a sustained, clinically meaningful overall survival (OS) benefit at three years for adults with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) treated in the 1st-line setting. These data, which show the longest survival update ever […]

Making CAR-T therapy most effective in leukaemia patients

Too many “exhausted” T cells left in the wake of aggressive chemotherapy regimens for patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) make it more challenging for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy to do its job. Now, a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania shows how to overcome this type of resistance and reinvigorate these T […]