Vinblastine News and Research

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Vinblastine is the active ingredient in a drug used together with other drugs to treat several types of cancer, including advanced Hodgkin lymphoma and advanced testicular germinal-cell cancers. It is also being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer. Vinblastine comes from the periwinkle plant Vinca rosea Linn. It blocks cell growth by stopping cell division and may kill cancer cells. It is a type of vinca alkaloid and a type of antimitotic agent.

Iridoid synthase can make powerful chemicals from catnip to vinblastine

Scientists have discovered an enzyme used in nature to make powerful chemicals from catnip to a cancer drug, vinblastine. The discovery opens up the prospect of producing these chemicals cheaply and efficiently.

22 Nov 2012

Radiotherapy redundant in low-risk Hodgkin lymphoma treatment

Children with low-risk Hodgkin lymphoma who respond well to chemotherapy may not require additional radiotherapy, suggest study results.

10 Jul 2012

Pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma can be treated without radiation and intensive chemotherapy

A multicenter trial showed that nearly half of young patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma can be cured without undergoing either irradiation or intensive chemotherapy that would leave them at risk for second cancers, infertility, heart and other problems later.

28 Jun 2012

Patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer benefit from accelerated MVAC

For some patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, treatment may begin before they undergo cystectomy, or surgical removal of the bladder. They may be advised by oncologists to receive chemotherapy before surgery. A large randomized clinical trial published in 2003 demonstrated a survival benefit for neoadjuvant, or pre-surgical, MVAC (methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin and cisplatin) using a standard dose and schedule.

18 May 2012

Salk scientists' discovery explains how a class of chemotherapy drugs works

The well-being of living cells requires specialized squads of proteins that maintain order. Degraders chew up worn-out proteins, recyclers wrap up damaged organelles, and-most importantly-DNA repair crews restitch anything that resembles a broken chromosome. If repair is impossible, the crew foreman calls in executioners to annihilate a cell. As unsavory as this last bunch sounds, failure to summon them is one aspect of what makes a cancer cell a cancer cell.

12 Mar 2012

MPC project to study how plant genes contribute to producing medicinal compounds

Scientists are about to make publicly available all the data they have so far on the genetic blueprint of medicinal plants and what beneficial properties are encoded by the genes identified.

15 Dec 2011

FDA grants Fast Track designation for DARA's KRN5500 neuropathic pain relief drug

DARA BioSciences, Inc. announced today that its investigational drug KRN5500 has been granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain in patients with cancer.

19 Aug 2011

Arabidopsis thaliana helps scientists to solve puzzles in human health

A tiny plant called Arabidopsis thaliana just helped scientists unearth new clues about the daily cycles of many organisms, including humans. This is the latest in a long line of research, much of it supported by the National Institutes of Health, that uses plants to solve puzzles in human health.

14 Jul 2011

Sunshine completes Adva-27a study in Multidrug Resistant Breast Cancer cell line

Sunshine Biopharma Inc., a development stage pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of various forms of cancer, today announced that it has completed a detailed cytotoxicity study of its lead compound, Adva-27a, in MCF-7/MDR, a Multidrug Resistant Breast Cancer cell line.

12 Jul 2011

Sunshine Biopharma completes Adva-27a cytotoxicity study in Multidrug Resistant Breast Cancer cell line

11 Jul 2011

Research reveals new standard treatment options for various forms of lymphoma

The next generation of drug therapies and enhanced treatment approaches for various forms of lymphoma are evolving as researchers continue to better understand how these cancers progress. Research will be presented today at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology introducing promising new options for the standard treatment of advanced asymptomatic follicular lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, and early, unfavorable (referring to patients with clinical stage I or II disease and one or more risk factors) Hodgkin disease.

6 Dec 2010

Scientists reveal lab approach method to treat neuroblastoma in children

A study led by scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) reveals a new method of identifying drugs to treat children suffering from fatal cancers for which an effective treatment has not been found. Rather than developing a new drug from scratch, which is a complicated and time-consuming process, they tried a different approach: in the lab, they tested existing drugs on cancer stem cells from young patients with neuroblastoma, one of the common cancers of infants and children.

19 Aug 2010

Antiemetic-regimen with fosaprepitant injection provides similar protection against CINV as oral EMEND

Merck announced today results from a new non-inferiority trial of an antiemetic regimen containing fosaprepitant dimeglumine administered as a single intravenous (IV) 150-mg dose in combination with a 5-HT3 antagonist and dexamethasone compared with a three-day regimen of aprepitant with a 5-HT3 antagonist and dexamethasone for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in patients receiving a first cycle of cisplatin-based chemotherapy.

4 Jun 2010

Brentuximab vedotin-chemotherapy combination clinical trial for Hodgkin lymphoma announced

Seattle Genetics, Inc. and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: The Takeda Oncology Company today announced that they have initiated a phase I clinical trial of brentuximab vedotin (SGN-35) in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of newly diagnosed Hodgkin lymphoma patients. Brentuximab vedotin is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that is also in single-agent clinical trials, including a pivotal trial for relapsed and refractory Hodgkin lymphoma and a phase II trial for systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

4 Feb 2010

Encouraging data from Seattle Genetics' phase I trial of brentuximab vedotin

Seattle Genetics, Inc. today reported data from a phase I weekly-dosing clinical trial of brentuximab vedotin (SGN-35), an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), including multiple complete and partial remissions in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma or systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL).

7 Dec 2009

Scientists receive $3 million from NIH to uncover how plants make medicinal compounds

Scientists at Michigan State University are receiving nearly $3 million from the National Institutes of Health to uncover how several popular plants make medicinal compounds.

6 Nov 2009

Seattle Genetics presents new data on antibody-drug conjugate

Seattle Genetics, Inc. has announced that data from its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs, SGN-35 and SGN-75, were presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) being held in Denver, CO. Preclinical data with SGN-35 further elucidate its mechanism of action and demonstrate its superior antitumor activity in lymphoma compared with non-targeted agents. In addition, data with SGN-75 indicate its therapeutic potential in multiple types of solid tumors.

22 Apr 2009

Asbestos-induced lung cancer patients do not appear to benefit from chemotherapy

Adding chemotherapy to established methods of symptom management does not appear to enhance the quality of life or survival of patients suffering from an asbestos-induced form of lung cancer called malignant plural mesothelioma (MPM). These are the results of MS01, a large UK and Australian study published in the Lancet, which set out to assess the potential benefits of combining active symptom control (ASC) with chemotherapy.

18 May 2008

Clinical trial shows reduction in mortality for children with severe Langerhans cell histiocytosis

A new international study finds that introducing an increased intensity of chemotherapy in children with severe Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) can reduce the mortality rate for this disorder by as much as 20 percent when the patient demonstrates a rapid response to such treatment.

3 Mar 2008

Potential new treatment for desmoid fibromatosis

New hope is available for children who have a tumor called desmoid fibromatosis, according to results of a national clinical trial that was led by a St. Jude researcher.

27 Apr 2007