ASCO 2015 Highlights

San Francisco, CA—For the second- line treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), the total costs were 14% lower with bevacizu­mab (Avastin) than with cetuximab (Erbitux), according to an analysis presented at the 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

The preferred screening test for human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)2 status in surgical esophageal adenocarcinoma specimens is immunohistochemistry (IHC), with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) restricted to cases with an indeterminate (2+) IHC score, according to investigators from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, who proposed a testing algorithm at the 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

San Francisco, CA—Genomic classifiers—in particular, ColoPrint and MSI-Print, best when combined—can identify high-risk subsets among patients with surgically resected stage II and stage III colon cancers, reported researchers from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

San Francisco, CA—Ramucirumab as a second-line therapy extended overall and progression-free survival in a phase 3 clinical trial of patients with metastatic gastric cancer, said Charles S. Fuchs, MD, MPH, Director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, at the 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

San Francisco, CA—A randomized phase 2 study that compared panitu­mumab (Vectibix) and bevacizumab (Avastin) in the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) showed these drugs to be similar in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) benefits.

The majority of head and neck tumors are associated with a deregulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, which has until now been seen as the culprit in treatment resistance in these cancers.

The HHS has allocated $1.9 million for new telehealth regional resource centers to serve rural and medically underserved populations.

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has announced the launch of its newest online journal, Cancer Immunology Research, in the spring at the AACR 2013 annual meeting.

The Starr Foundation’s sixth Starr Cancer Consortium (SCC) Grant Competition awarded $5 million to 5 cancer research teams focusing on discovering new cancer mechanisms related to genetic mutations or epigenetic involvement in a variety of cancers.

Removing Medicare regulations that are deemed unnecessary or unjustifiably burdensome on providers and hospitals would save nearly $676 million annually, and $3.4 billion over 5 years, through a rule proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in support of President Obama’s call on federal agencies to modify and streamline regulations on business.