Lung Cancer / Mesothelioma
One of the core ideas in the management of stage III, or locally advanced, NSCLC is that unresectable disease that is being treated with curative intent is most effectively treated with a combination of concurrent systemic (”whole body”) therapy and chest radiation to all of the visible cancer. The systemic therapy, which has been […]
0 CommentsOne of the novel agents being studied in lung cancer is sutent (sunitinib), a multi-targeted oral anti-angiogenic drug that I’ve described in a prior post. While I’ve mentioned a small study I’m leading at my own institution with this agent in advanced NSCLC patients with bronchioloalvelar carcinoma (BAC) or who have never smoked (information […]
1 CommentsI’ll get back to the storyline of our growing understanding of the differences of individuals based on pharmacogenomics very soon. But I wanted to give people some breaking news that just came out. The first line ESCAPE trial of chemo with the anti-angiogenic and multi-kinase inhibitor nexavar (introductory post here) or placebo is apparently negative […]
8 CommentsMember Wendy asked me about a drug called picoplatin that I had heard of but really didn’t have much familiarity with. This gave me an occasion to flesh out some background on this agent, which is being developed as a potential therapy for patients previously treated for lung cancer. Developed by Poniard Pharmaceuticals in South […]
3 CommentsMany of us who work in the field of lung cancer, whether as doctor, patient, friend, or family member, bemoan that lung cancer is too often viewed as a black sheep among cancers – little attention and too few resources. But one of the key ways in which lung cancer has lagged behind has […]
3 CommentsIn the Q&A forums recently, members Jianming and Neil introduced us to the novel agent XL647, in clinical trials now, but I figured it was worth me collecting more background and providing a more thorough background. XL647 is an oral small molecular that inhibits multiple tyrosine kinases, receptors on cells that trigger cascades of activity […]
9 CommentsI’ve described in a prior post and many of my comments here how tarceva and iressa, oral targeted therapies against EGFR, have been pretty consistently impressive in never-smokers. Not infallibly great, but these agents have shown high response rates in the 25-50% range for never-smokers, and have also been pretty favorable for remote and […]
0 CommentsAt the end of 2006 I reviewed a drug called vandetanib, or Zactima, which is being developed for treatment of advanced NSCLC (intro post here). It’s a multi-targeted agent, also referred to as a multi-kinase inhibitor: as a single drug it can block both the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor. […]
2 CommentsSeveral trials have recently opened up for never-smokers with any lung adenocarcinoma or those with BAC (or adeno/BAC mix, invasive adenocarcinoma with BAC features) with any smoking status. Both of these groups have only recently gained recognition as likely being a distinct clinical entity with a different natural history (clinical behavior outside of treatment) […]
2 CommentsIn my recent post on the JMDB trial that randomized patients between cisplatin/alimta and cisplatin gemcitabine in first line treatment of advanced NSCLC, the take home conclusions were that overall efficacy was very similar, with the cis/alimta arm looking a little better in several side effect parameters, most notably a less significant decline in […]
5 Comments
Posts
| Core Concepts
| Subject Archives
| Monthly Archives
| Resources
| 
Donate
| Forums
| GRACE Home
Disclaimer: The information provided at GRACE is for informational purposes only. The faculty of GRACE is not providing medical advice, diagnosis or treatment and cannot replace the medical advice of your doctor or health care provider. (Full Disclaimer)
© 2007-2008 GRACE. All rights reserved.
