Fluorouracil News and Research

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Fluorouracil is a drug used to treat symptoms of cancer of the colon, breast, stomach, and pancreas. It is also used in a cream to treat certain skin conditions. Fluorouracil stops cells from making DNA and it may kill cancer cells. It is a type of antimetabolite. Also called 5-fluorouracil and 5-FU.

Chemotherapy options improve for patients with advanced colorectal cancer

For the first time, researchers have shown that a chemotherapy regimen of capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (CAPOX) is as safe and effective as infusional 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid plus oxaliplatin (FUFOX) in the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal carcinoma (MCRC).

6 Jun 2005

Taxotere shows significant survival benefit in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer

Final results from the largest international study in the treatment of advanced stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, demonstrated that patients who received a Taxotere (docetaxel) Injection Concentrate-based chemotherapy regimen (Taxotere, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil) had significantly improved overall survival rates compared to patients who received a standard treatment (cisplatin and 5- fluorouracil).

16 May 2005

A combination of chemotherapy drugs could double survival rates for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis. More than 80% of patients present with advanced disease at diagnosis, and mortality is high. A single chemotherapy drug, gemcitabine, is regarded as the standard treatment, but it has lead to a 1-year overall survival of only 17—28% in clinical trials.

9 May 2005

Herceptin - more powerful treatment for patients with HER-2-positive breast cancer

A new use of the drug Herceptin appears to offer a much more powerful treatment advantage than expected for patients with HER-2-positive breast cancer, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

29 Mar 2005

New cancer drug Avastin keeps cancer under control

Data published for the first time today in the leading Journal of Clinical Oncology showed that the unique new cancer drug Avastin keeps cancer under control for a significantly longer duration, even when used in a group of elderly patients with advanced colorectal cancer who are too sick to tolerate traditional aggressive chemotherapy.

1 Mar 2005

Avastin available across Europe within the next few weeks

Roche has announced that the European Commission has approved Avastin (bevacizumab, rhuMAb-VEGF), the new innovative anti-angiogenesis drug, for the treatment of patients with previously untreated metastatic colorectal cancer.

16 Jan 2005

Study finds new method can improve chemo survival

Seeking to find a way to lessen patients’ vulnerability to deadly infections following chemotherapy, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have figured out a way to boost the immune function in animals following such treatments.

21 Dec 2004

Avastin plus Folfox4 chemotherapy significantly extends survival in second-line metastatic colorectal cancer

Genentech and Roche today announced that a randomized Phase III study of Avastin™ (bevacizumab) plus the FOLFOX4 chemotherapy regimen (oxaliplatin/5-FU/leucovorin), compared to FOLFOX4 alone, in second-line metastatic colorectal cancer patients achieved its primary endpoint of improving overall survival.

29 Nov 2004

Genentech announces FDA approval of Avastin manufacturing

Genentech has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for the manufacturing of Avastin™ (bevacizumab) bulk drug substance at the company's facility in Vacaville, California.

11 Aug 2004

New screening technique to look for genes that change patients' responses to cancer drugs and other medications

Scientists have developed a new screening technique to help them look for genes that change patients' responses to cancer drugs and other medications.

3 Aug 2004

Erbitux (cetuximab) combined with irinotecan offers another option for patients who have colorectal cancer

Erbitux (cetuximab), offers another option for patients who have colorectal cancer that resists standard chemotherapy treatment, according to an article written by two Mayo Clinic cancer researchers published in the current edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

21 Jul 2004

Chemotherapy agents as well as the newest biologic and targeted cancer therapy drugs, can harm a patient’s heart

Cancer treatments, including the most commonly used chemotherapy agents as well as the newest biologic and targeted therapy drugs, can harm a patient’s heart, sometimes fatally

29 Jun 2004

Herceptin shows real promise in treatment of HER-2 positive breast disease

According to a study conducted at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, more than twice as many women with early stage, HER-2 positive breast disease who received Herceptin as part of their pre-surgery chemotherapy had their tumors completely disappear compared to like patients who received only chemotherapy.

7 Jun 2004

Drug helps patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

A drug designed to cut off a tumor’s blood supply, when paired with a chemotherapy combination, resulted in significant improvement in survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, the first time in decades that survival times have been extended in patients with this devastating form of advanced cancer.

3 Jun 2004

Drug to extend lives of colorectal cancer patients

A drug designed to cut off a tumor's blood supply, when paired with a chemotherapy combination, resulted in significant improvement in survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, the first time in decades that survival times have been extended in patients with this devastating form of advanced cancer.

2 Jun 2004

Avastin study shows significant improvement in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

Genentech, Inc. and Roche have announced that the New England Journal of Medicine published the first Phase III study of an anti-angiogenesis cancer therapy, showing that the addition of Avastin™ (bevacizumab) to the IFL chemotherapy regimen (5-FU/Leucovorin/ CPT-11) significantly extended survival in patients with first-line (previously untreated) metastatic colorectal cancer.