Doxorubicin News and Research

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Doxorubicin hydrochloride is approved for use with other drugs as adjuvant therapy for breast cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes, including cancer that is HER-2 positive or has spread after surgery.

In addition to the uses that have been approved by the FDA, doxorubicin hydrochloride is sometimes used alone or with other drugs to treat other types of cancer. The drug continues to be studied in the treatment of many types of cancer.

Docetaxel given after doxorubicin reduces recurrence

Adding the drug docetaxel to anthracycline-based chemotherapy slightly improved disease-free survival in breast cancer patients, according to a randomized clinical trial published online January 8 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

9 Jan 2008

Sunitinib may be associated with cardiac toxicity

Another FDA-approved targeted cancer drug, sunitinib (SutentTM, Pfizer), may be associated with cardiac toxicity, report researchers at Children's Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston), and Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia).

17 Dec 2007

Immtech and BioAlliance sign agreement on Pafuramidine for African sleeping sickness

Immtech Pharmaceuticals has announced that the Company has granted an exclusive license to BioAlliance Pharma SA to commercialize Immtech's oral drug, pafuramidine maleate (pafuramidine), in Europe for the treatment of pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in AIDS patients and for the treatment of Human African trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness.

5 Dec 2007

Genes discovered that protect against heart damage from chemotherapy

A series of genes that protect cells from the powerful, common chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin has been identified by researchers working to understand how the drug also can destroy the heart.

4 Dec 2007

Carbon monoxide counteracts one side-effect of an anti-cancer drug

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a red-colored anticancer drug that carries serious side effects for the heart, including cardiac muscle deterioration (cardiomyopathy) and scar tissue accumulation in the heart (fibrosis).

21 Nov 2007

Enzyme sphingosine kinase 2 show to be potential new target to fight cancer

Researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have identified the enzyme sphingosine kinase 2 as a possible new therapeutic target to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy for colon and breast cancer.

2 Nov 2007

FDA approves approved Ixempra (ixabepilone) for advanced breast cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Ixempra (ixabepilone), a new anti-cancer treatment, for use in patients with metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer who have not responded to certain other cancer drugs.

22 Oct 2007

Supramolecular chemistry on water-soluble carbon nanotubes for drug loading and delivery

In the quest to turn carbon nanotubes from nanoscale wonder into clinically useful drug and imaging agent delivery agents, researchers have often added polymer coatings to the outside of the nanotubes in order to render them biocompatible.

27 Sep 2007

Novel enzyme may offer huge range of potential therapeutic agents

By guiding an enzyme down a new evolutionary pathway, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers has created a new form of an enzyme capable of producing a range of potential new therapeutic agents with anticancer and antibiotic properties.

10 Sep 2007

Multifunctional nanoparticles for combining ultrasonic tumor imaging and targeted chemotherapy

A new targeted drug delivery method, which combines two nanoparticles into one larger one, uses ultrasound to image tumors and release the anticancer drug doxorubicin from "nanobubbles" into the same tumors.

22 Aug 2007

Herceptin does not increase heart failure in patients long-term

Risk of congestive heart failure in women treated with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and combination chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer did not increase over time according to a five-year follow-up of National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) trial B-31, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago.

5 Jun 2007

Benefits of Herceptin are lasting

An updated analysis of two large randomized clinical trials has found that breast cancer patients who received the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) along with chemotherapy are living longer and with less risk of recurrent disease, compared to patients treated with chemotherapy alone.

5 Jun 2007

Adding radioimmunotherapy to chemo may help patients with lymphoma

Patients treated for follicular lymphoma, a slow-growing type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, may benefit from chemotherapy followed by radioimmunotherapy, according to a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago and published as Abstract 8005 in the ASCO proceedings.

5 Jun 2007

FDA approves VELCADE plus DOXIL combination for multiple myeloma

Ortho Biotech Products has announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of DOXIL (doxorubicin HCl liposome injection) in combination with VELCADE (bortezomib) for Injection to treat patients with multiple myeloma who have not previously received VELCADE and have received at least one prior therapy.

23 May 2007

Chaetocin shows promise as a new anti-myeloma agent

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center researchers have found that chaetocin, a by-product of a common wood mold, has promise as a new anti-myeloma agent. Results of their study, being presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, show the by-product to be more effective than currently used therapies at killing multiple myeloma cells.

16 Apr 2007

Scientists link treatment-induced growth factor to cancer spread

In advanced cancer, anti-tumor therapies often work only partially or not at all, and tumors progress following treatment.

7 Apr 2007

TGF-beta inhibitors stop tumors spreading to new sites

For several types of cancer, persistently high levels of the soluble factor TGF-beta in the blood after surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy correlate with increased risk of early metastasis and a poor prognosis.

7 Apr 2007

Using a light hand to treat Hodgkin disease

Children with low-risk Hodgkin disease can be cured using cancer drugs that have only minimal or no toxicity, combined with low doses of radiation, according to St. Jude researchers.

13 Mar 2007

Improvement of cancer-targeting therapy, using nanocarriers for intractable solid tumors by inhibition of TGF-beta signaling

Administering a small amount of a potent but potentially toxic anticancer agent along with nanoparticles loaded with a second anticancer agent produced a dramatic inhibition of tumor growth in normally intractable cancers. These findings suggest a new approach to treating malignancies such as pancreatic cancer and diffuse gastric cancer.

5 Mar 2007

Magnetic nanocrystals used to carry tumor-killing drugs

Imagine using a focused magnetic field to concentrate anticancer drugs in and around tumors, and then turning off the magnetic field so that the drugs then leave the body.

5 Mar 2007