Articles

San Francisco, CA—The early termination of clinical trials is a tremendous waste of resources and can leave patients with cancer with no improved treatment options.

San Francisco, CA—Radiation added to hormone therapy with antiandrogens extended cancer-specific survival, as well as overall survival, when used as the primary treatment of patients with locally advanced or high-risk prostate cancer.

San Francisco, CA—The use of angiotensin system inhibitors (ASIs) improved survival in patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma (mRCC) by 9 months, according to a retrospective pooled analysis of several clinical trials presented at the 2014 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

The FDA approved a new indication for ibrutinib (Imbruvica; Pharmacyclics) for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have received at least 1therapy before.

>The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of dabrafenib (Tafinlar; GlaxoSmithKline) plus trametinib (Mekinist; GlaxoSmithKline) as a new combination therapy for the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma that is unresectable or metastatic.

San Antonio, TX—Adjuvant bisphosphonates reduce the risk of bone metastases by approximately 33% and improve breast cancer–related survival by 17% in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer, according to a large meta-analysis reported at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). Bisphosphonates had no effect on premenopausal women in the adjuvant setting.

San Antonio, TX—Breast cancer survivors obtained significant relief from aromatase inhibitor–associated joint pain with a prescribed exercise program, the results of a randomized clinical trial showed.

San Antonio, TX—Five years of treatment with the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole (Arimidex) cut the risk of breast cancer by 50% in high-risk postmenopausal women who had not developed a first cancer.

This collaborative program is based on evidence-based decision support in cancer care, using personalized medicine and realigning payment structure with the goal of increasing patient treatment coordination, improving quality outcomes, and reducing overall costs of cancer care.