Small Cell Lung Cancer News and Research

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Small cell lung cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the lung. Small cell lung cancer is an aggressive (fast-growing) cancer that can spread to other parts of the body. The cancer cells look small and oval-shaped when looked at under a microscope.

Higher radiation doses helps patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer live longer

Treating patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer more aggressively by giving them higher doses of radiation helps keep the disease from spreading and allows some patients to live longer

28 Oct 2004

Radiation either before or after chemotherapy and surgery just as effective for treating lung cancer

Radiation therapy before chemotherapy and surgery is just as effective in treating advanced non-small cell lung cancer as chemotherapy followed by surgery then radiation

5 Oct 2004

Biomira and Merck announce fast track status for liposome vaccine

Biomira and Merck KGaA have announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track status to the investigation of BLP25 Liposome Vaccine (L-BLP25) for its proposed use in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

29 Sep 2004

Tarceva plus Gemcitabine improves survival compared to Gemcitabine alone

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Genentech, Inc., and Roche announced today that results from a randomized Phase III clinical study of the investigational drug Tarceva (erlotinib HCl), in combination with gemcitabine chemotherapy met its primary endpoint of improving survival.

20 Sep 2004

New Drug Application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Tarceva

OSI Pharmaceuticals and Genentech have announced that OSI completed the submission of a New Drug Application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Tarceva (erlotinib HCl),

3 Aug 2004

Alimta receives positive endorsement for lung cancer approval from FDA Advisory Committee

Eli Lilly and Company have announced that the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration positively endorsed Alimta® (pemetrexed), an antifolate, for accelerated approval in the second-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

29 Jul 2004

CancerVax may increase the survival of patients with advanced stage non-small-cell lung cancer

CancerVax Corporation has announced that its wholly owned subsidiaries, Tarcanta, Inc., and Tarcanta, Ltd. (Ireland), have obtained the exclusive rights to complete the clinical development of three specific active immunotherapeutic (SAI) product candidates that target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway for the treatment of cancer.

19 Jul 2004

Cognitive decline can occur before chemotherapy treatment

In a series of studies in breast cancer patients, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have confirmed the presence of “chemobrain” after chemotherapy treatment – but they also discovered that a significant portion of patients have cognitive declines even before chemotherapy.

21 Jun 2004

Chemotherapy regimen more effective and more toxic in Japanese patients than in American patients

A chemotherapy regimen commonly used to treat non-small cell lung cancer is both more effective and more toxic in Japanese patients than in American patients, researchers reported Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists.

7 Jun 2004

Drug Tarceva improves survival chance for patients with advanced lung cancer

Roche OSI Pharmaceuticals and Genentech today announced that their investigational drug Tarceva(TM) (erlotinib) achieved a significant 42.5% improvement in median survival compared to placebo in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

5 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.

2 Jun 2004

Study may help oncologists tailor chemotherapy to patients based on their genetic make-up

Genetic variations in an individual’s ability to repair DNA damage may help predict survival in lung cancer patients treated with the common chemotherapy drugs cisplatin or carboplatin, a new study shows.

2 Jun 2004

Australian company receives FDA orphan drug designation for product to treat malignant melanomas

Progen Industries Limited, an Australian anti-cancer drug development company, announced today that it has received orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their lead anti-angiogenesis product PI-88 for treatment of malignant melanoma.

3 May 2004

Combination of real-time PET and CT is a highly sensitive tool for identifying non-small cell lung cancer

The combination of real-time PET and CT is a highly sensitive tool for identifying non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and can assist in identifying patients whose cancer has not yet spread to lymph nodes, according to results of a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins.

30 Apr 2004

Mutation of a gene involved in non-small cell lung cancer linked to drug effectiveness

Mutation of a gene involved in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) increases the likelihood that the drug gefitinib (Iressa™) will show a beneficial response, researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) - part of the National Institutes of Health - and two other institutions announced today in the online version of Science.

29 Apr 2004

New cancer drug Tarceva - a breakthrough with significant survival benefit in patients with advanced lung cancer

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Genentech, Inc., and Roche today announced that a Phase III study of Tarceva™ (erlotinib HCl), an investigational HER1/EGFR-inhibitor agent in previously treated patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), met its primary endpoint of improving overall survival, with patients receiving Tarceva™ living longer than those in the placebo arm of the study.

26 Apr 2004

Lung tumor therapies improved by combining scanning technologies

Physicians targeting lung tumors for radiation therapy can substantially improve their aim by combining data from two scanning techniques, according to Washington University researchers at Siteman Cancer Center and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

14 Apr 2004

Data on pre-clinical activity of satraplatin in prostate cancer to be released

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc has announced that new data on pre-clinical activity of satraplatin in prostate cancer cell lines are being presented at the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Orlando, Florida.

29 Mar 2004