Irinotecan News and Research

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Irinotecan hydrochloride is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be used with other drugs to treat colorectal cancer that has metastasized (spread to other parts of the body). It is also approved to treat metastatic colorectal cancer that has recurred (come back) or gotten worse after earlier chemotherapy. In addition to the uses that have been approved by the FDA, irinotecan hydrochloride is sometimes used to treat other types of cancer. Irinotecan hydrochloride is also being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer.

Pre-emptive treatment helped curtail skin toxicity with Panitumumab

With a pre-emptive, prophylactic skin regimen, patients who receive panitumumab for treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer may be able to avoid some of the skin-associated toxicities, according to data presented at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco.

19 Jan 2009

Transarterial chemoembolization as liver cancer treatment

Using tiny chemotherapy-soaked beads to choke off and kill cancerous liver tumors is becoming more successful, according to research being presented at the 21st annual International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET).

19 Jan 2009

Genentech submits application to FDA for Avastin in the most aggressive form of brain cancer

Genentech has announced that the company submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Avastin (bevacizumab) as a therapy for people with previously treated glioblastoma. If accepted by the FDA, the application would be considered for an accelerated approval that allows provisional approval of medicines for cancer or other life-threatening diseases based on preliminary evidence suggesting clinical benefit.

3 Nov 2008

Biothera initiates second phase of metastatic colorectal cancer trial

Biothera has announced today it began dosing patients in the second arm of its metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) trial in August.

16 Oct 2008

Medicare overpaid for prescription drugs with new generic versions because of delay in incorporating new prices into payment calculations

Medicare overpaid for irinotecan, a cancer drug sold by Pfizer under the name Campostar, by $6.5 million in March because of a delay in updating its pricing formula, according to a report released on Tuesday by the HHS Office of Inspector General, Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times reports.

29 Aug 2008

Experimental chemo shows promise in treating advanced non-small cell lung cancer

A combination of chemotherapy agents that have been tested in other tumor types appears to be a promising alternative to standard treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer, according to a report in the August 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

12 Aug 2008

Benefits of some cancer drugs exaggerated because trials were stopped early

Italian scientists say the benefits of some cancer drugs may be exaggerated as a rising number of trials are stopped early.

9 Apr 2008

Curing cancer with natural products - a case for shamans and herb women?

Not at all, for many chemotherapies to fight cancer applied in modern medicine are natural products or were developed on the basis of natural substances. Thus, taxanes used in prostate and breast cancer treatment are made from yew trees. The popular periwinkle plant, which grows along the ground of many front yards, is the source of vinca alkaloids that are effective, for example, against malignant lymphomas. The modern anti-cancer drugs topotecan and irinotecan are derived from a constituent of the Chinese Happy Tree.

6 Mar 2008

Glioblastoma multiforme responds to new treatment

One of the toughest cancers to treat effectively is glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common form of primary brain cancer.

28 Feb 2008

Avastin shows promise for brain cancer

A clinical study conducted at Henry Ford Hospital on the use of a drug to extend the survival of patients with the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer, has yielded results that were significantly better than expected.

17 Dec 2007

Drug study for brain cancer shows promising results

14 Dec 2007

Avastin (bevacizumab) shows promise in phase II study of glioblastoma multiforme

Genentech, Inc. has announced that both study arms of a randomized, multi-center Phase II clinical study of Avastin (bevacizumab) administered alone or in combination with irinotecan chemotherapy demonstrated encouraging six-month progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate in patients with relapsed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer.

19 Nov 2007

Gene screen patent brings 2007 Deal of Distinction Award to UChicagoTech

UChicagoTech, the University of Chicago's Office of Technology and Intellectual Property, has received a 2007 Deal of Distinction Award from the Licensing Executives Society of U.S.A. and Canada.

29 Oct 2007

Avastin and chemo combo may offer hope for glioblastoma multiforme patients

Brain cancer patients with the poorest prognosis -- those with a type of deadly tumor known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) -- may survive longer with a drug that chokes off a tumor's blood supply.

19 Oct 2007

New chemotherapy regimen prolongs survival in difficult-to-treat childhood brainstem gliomas

Childhood brainstem gliomas (BSGs) are rare but can be very difficult to treat successfully and they tend to have poor survival rates.

26 Sep 2007

FDA should amend the product information for irinotecan

Not everyone needs a genetic test before taking the cancer drug irinotecan, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should modify its prescription guidelines to say so, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

29 Aug 2007

Sequential and combination chemotherapy equally effective in treating advanced colorectal cancer

Many patients with incurable advanced colorectal cancer could be offered a more gentle treatment strategy starting with a single chemotherapy drug, as an alternative to current standard initial combination chemotherapy, without compromising their survival.

16 Jul 2007

Gene test not needed if cancer drug irinotecan given in low dose

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have shown that when the cancer drug irinotecan is given in low doses for multiple days, it eliminates the need to delay treatment to perform costly genetic testing that determines if the patient is at risk for serious treatment side effects, such as neutropenia.

20 Jun 2007

Predicting treatment responses earlier for brain tumor patients

Using metabolic or molecular imaging to measure brain tumor patients' response to treatment is a powerful predictor of survival, notes a first-of-its-kind study presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of SNM, the world's largest society for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine professionals.

5 Jun 2007