Personalized Medicine

Berlin, Germany—A food supplement containing pomegranate seeds, green tea, broccoli, and turmeric—called Pomi-T (natureMedical)—taken twice daily significantly lowered prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels versus placebo in men with localized prostate cancer, according to the results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Chicago, IL—Advances in the understanding of the biology of multiple myeloma and the identification of new drugs have resulted in improved management of myeloma, including for disease refractory to the recent proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory agents that have been added to the treatment of patients with myeloma.

Niagara Falls, Ontario—Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging or MR-guided laser focal therapy for ablating low- to intermediate-risk prostate tumors is showing promise in the hands of a Toronto team, despite a relatively high failure rate.

Chicago, IL—The rate of therapy for localized prostate cancer does not increase in markets with higher penetration of robotic surgical technology and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), according to an examination of trends using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare–linked data­base, according to a poster presentation at the 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting by lead investigator Florian Rudolf Schroeck, MD, MS, Clinical Lecturer, Urology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Chicago, IL—Olaparib maintenance therapy prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) and the time to disease progression after a second subsequent therapy in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed serous ovarian cancer. This effect was particularly robust in patients with a BRCA mutation, based on an updated analysis of Study 19.

Chicago, IL—A new analysis of mutations at baseline and at the end of treatment provides information about the response to ponatinib (Iclusig) in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) enrolled in the phase 2 PACE study. The results were presented at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

An aromatase inhibitor has joined tamoxifen (Nolvadex) and the selective estrogen receptor (ER) modulator raloxifene hydrochloride (Evista) as chemoprevention for women who are at an increased risk for breast cancer, according to the recent update of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) practice guideline (Visvanathan K, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2013;31:2942-2962)

The cancer care landscape is rapidly evolving, in light of promising new therapies, as well as changing reimbursement strategies in response to the healthcare reform.

Niagara Falls, Ontario—New data presented at the 2013 Canadian Urological Association annual meeting suggest that prostatic inflammation can reduce the risk for developing prostate cancer.

Niagara Falls, Ontario—Among men with prostate cancer and preexisting cardiovascular (CV) disease, the risk of CV events or CV-related death is cut in half when they receive androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) with degarelix (Firmagon) instead of the luetinizing hormone–releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists goserelin (Zoladex) or leuprolide (Lupron), according to results of a new analysis presented at the 2013 Canadian Urological Association annual meeting.