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Advanced non-small cell lung cancer: Vandetanib has shown clinical benefit when combined with Docetaxel

When combined with standard chemotherapy, Vandetanib ( Zactima ) improves progression-free survival for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The findings, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Annual Meeting, mark the first clinical benefit of a small molecule tar...
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Hedgehog inhibitor yields positive response in people with advanced basal cell skin cancer and with medulloblastoma

The Hedgehog signaling pathway is involved in a preliminary study and case report describing positive responses to an experimental anticancer drug in a majority of people with advanced or metastatic basal cell skin cancers. One patient with the most common type of pediatric brain cancer, medulloblas...
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Bevacizumab associated with significantly increased risk of gastrointestinal perforation

Cancer patients treated with Bevacizumab ( Avastin ) in combination with chemotherapy are at significantly greater risk of potentially life-threatening gastrointestinal perforations, particularly patients with advanced colorectal cancer and renal cell cancer. Bevacizumab belongs to a class of dru...
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Pazopanib in treating patients with aggressive thyroid cancer

Mayo investigators reported that cancer in about two-thirds of 37 patients with aggressive differentiated thyroid cancer treated with the drug Pazopanib ( Votrient ) either stopped growing, or quickly shrank. The patient responses are promising, the researchers say, because all patients had fast...
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ODAC recommends against approving Tarceva for first-line maintenance use in advanced non-small cell lung cancer

OSI Pharmaceuticals and Genentech announced that FDA ( Food and Drug Administration ) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee ( ODAC ) voted 12 to one recommending against approval of Tarceva ( Erlotinib ) for first-line maintenance use in people with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer ( N...
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FDA: Alimta as first maintenance therapy for advanced lung cancer

The FDA ( Food and Drug Administration ) has approved Alimta ( Pemetrexed ), the first drug available for maintenance therapy of advanced or metastatic lung cancer. Patients with cancer often receive maintenance therapy to prevent the disease from progressing after their tumor has shrunk or the d...
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Gastrointestinal perforation, skin lesions or ocular disorders associated with Tarceva

Genentech and OSI Pharmaceuticals have informed Healthcare Professionals of new safety information regarding Tarceva ( Erlotinib ). Tarceva monotherapy is indicated for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer after failure of at least one prior c...
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Cancer: new biomarkers can predict response to treatments

Genetic variations ensure that no two people are exactly alike, nor are their cancers. Researchers now have the tools and the knowledge to predict how individuals will respond to cancer therapy, enabling more precise and effective treatment. At the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Association ...
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Treatment with RAD001 increases time without tumour growth in patients with advanced kidney cancer

Updated study findings from the RECORD-1 ( REnal Cell cancer treatment with Oral RAD001 given Daily ) study have shown that patients with advanced kidney cancer receiving RAD001 had no tumour growth for nearly 5 months versus 1.9 months for patients receiving placebo ( hazard ratio = 0.33; p< 0.001 ...
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Computed tomography screening may increase lung cancer diagnosis, but not decrease risk of death

Screening current or former smokers with the imaging technique of computed tomography may increase the rate of diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer, but may not necessarily reduce the risk of advanced lung cancer or death from lung cancer. Lung cancer accounts for 25 percent of cancer deaths an...
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