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As I’ve described in various posts about targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), one of the main signals that is important in many lung cancers, there are agents like gefitinib (iressa) and erlotinib (tarceva) that target the internal switch that triggers activity inside the cell, and there are agents like cetuximab [...]
2 CommentsWe’ve been following the development of a drug called Zactima (also known as ZD6474, or vandetanib) for over a year as it continues to be studied in lung cancer, and the work continues. As first discussed in my initial post on this agent, this agent actually inhibits BOTH VEGF and EGFR (in fact, the [...]
10 CommentsAs I described in part I of this subject (last post here), lactoferrin is an immunostimulatory protein that is found in highest concentrations in breast milk (hence the name), and the recombinant form talactoferrin alfa (TLF) was combined with chemo in a randomized phase II study of front line advanced NSCLC in which [...]
12 CommentsWe’ve covered several novel agents for treating lung cancer, but a new one that has shown promise in early studies and now is the subject of larger phase III trials is a drug called talactoferrin alfa (TLF), from a small company based in Houston called Agennix. I think it’s possible that [...]
1 CommentsFirst, I want to thank members Jim (dadawg001) and Neil (neilb) for bringing up this topic in the Discussion/Q&A Forum yesterday. Amazingly, yesterday morning I happened to be reviewing slides in my collection on a novel agent and approach that I thought would make a good topic for a post here: the [...]
7 Comments I’m surprised to find that I’m moving to a topic that may actually be more controversial than a Michael Moore movie, but in fact, I think that’s where I’m headed.
Several months ago, I wrote a post about dichloroacetate, or DCA, which is a chemical used to treat a childhood [...]
I’ve got a lot of things on my list of things to cover in the near future…patient sex differences in lung cancer and estrogen, an update I’m trying to generate on DCA (dichloroacetate), the concept of pharmacodynamic separation of chemo and EGFR inhibitors, more on the trials from ASCO that may be [...]
11 CommentsA few new agents emerged from the ASCO 2007 meeting as very real potential players in lung cancer. Probably at the lead of that list, in my opinion, was axitinib (AG-013736, now a Pfizer product). Similar to agents like sunitinib and sorafenib, this is an oral agent that blocks a target [...]
7 CommentsWhile there have been studies of the COX-2 inhibitor celebrex in combination with chemo for treating NSCLC, the palpable buzz about celebrex in treating lung cancer has been from a trial by my friend Karen Reckamp, formerly at UCLA, now recently moved to City of Hope Cancer Center in nearby Duarte, CA. [...]
2 CommentsSimilar in concept to Abraxane, paclitaxel poliglumex (PPX, or Xyotax) is another novel formulation of paclitaxel in which the taxane is bound to a biodegradeable polymer utilizing a polyglutamate drug delivery system. As with Abraxane, this allows administration without solvents over a recommended infusion time of 10-20 minutes and potentially allowing [...]
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