Highlights
from the ASCO 2006 Annual Meeting
The
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) held its Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia
June 2-6, 2006. ASCO is often the venue
for the announcement of major findings in cancer research. Below are a few highlights.
Research
Advocacy
Network Activities at ASCO
Focus on Research
Ten advocates
from across the country, representing five different cancer sites, participated
in preparatory and onsite attendance course offered by the Research Advocacy
Network Advocate Institute. These
advocates participated in facilitated webconferences with experts in Statistics
and Drug Approval and Safety prior to the ASCO meeting. They also worked with scientific mentors
assigned to them by ASCO to provide further information about research being
presented in their disease site. The
participants were honored at a dinner held during the ASCO meeting and will
report the use of the knowledge with their organizations in follow up sessions.
Advocate Session at
National Lung Cancer Partnership
The
annual meeting of the National Lung Cancer Partnership (formerly Women Against
Lung Cancer) was held in conjunction with the American Society of Clinical
Oncology (ASCO) 2006 Annual Meeting in Atlanta
from June 2 - 6. Elda Railey, one of the co-founders of Research Advocacy
Network, facilitated a session at the annual conference of Women Against
Lung Cancer on "Becoming an Advocate: Making Your Voice Heard." Lung cancer advocates discussed funding
issues and other advocate opportunities and formulated a plan to start a dialog
with the National Cancer Institute and other federal and state agencies.
RAN Co-Founder Presents
in Breast Cancer 1 Oral Presentation Session
Mary
Lou Smith, JD, MBA, one of the co-founders of the Research Advocacy Network,
offered commentary and the advocate’s point of view during the Breast Cancer 1
Oral Presentation session on Sunday, June 4. According to an ASCO program coordinator it
was the first time an advocate had been asked to be a scientific discussant in
general session at the highly respected oncology meeting.
Ms.
Smith commented on The study participants' perceptions of the process
and impact of receiving results of N9831 (Abstract 518) presented by Ann H. Partridge, MD, of Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute. The study was a survey exploring clinical trial participants’
perceptions of the process and the effect of receiving results from a large
cooperative group. Ms. Smith noted that
offering results of clinical trials to participants is an ethical imperative
derived from the principle of respect for persons. Research also indicates that
patients want to know study results. For
more information, please watch for the ASCO Annual Meeting Summary 2006, Breast
Cancer 1 Oral Presentation Session, available soon at www.asco.org.
Poster
Research
Advocacy Network was selected to present a poster entitled “A new model for training patient advocates
to advance the adoption of research results in community oncology practices” on Monday,
June 5th. A handout size of the poster will be available for download
at www.researchadvocacy.org
under Publications and Posters.
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Highlights of Scientific
Presentations at ASCO 2006
Breast Cancer
One
important study compared the efficacy of capecitabine (Xeloda®) combined with lapatinib (Tykerb®) and
capecitabine alone for the
treatment of women with advanced HER2 positive breast cancer that had
progressed following treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin®). An interim
analysis done in March 2006 showed that patients in the lapatinib arm doubled
their time to progression, ~8.5 months compared to ~4.4 months for patients in
the capecitabine alone arm. Patients
on lapatinib experienced mild to moderate diarrhea (58%), mild rash (30%) vs. those
taking capecitabine alone (39% and 18% respectively.) Other side effects were similar.
Other research
reported a phase II multicenter trial of lapatinib to treat brain metastases in
patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. The trial explored lapatinib’s
ability to cross the blood/brain barrier.
While the results were not statistically significant, there was evidence
of clinical activity. More research
needs to be done with lapatinib to test this promising drug.
For more information see:
People Living with Cancer http://www.plwc.org/portal/site/PLWC/menuitem.169f5d85214941ccfd748f68ee37a01d/?vgnextoid=45203856f2d4b010VgnVCM100000ed730ad1RCRD
NCI http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/lapatinib0606
Kidney
Cancer
The standard treatment for metastatic kidney
cancer is either interferon alpha (IFN) or interleukin-2. Unfortunately, most patients do not respond
to these drugs. At ASCO clinical trials
were reported on the efficacy of two new drugs.
Sunitinib (Sutent®), approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA)
to treat metastatic kidney cancer in January 2006, inhibits the actions of
vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and is an angiogenesis inhibitor.
The first trial, a Phase II randomized trial of sunitinib malate
(SU1124,) versus
interferon-alfa (IFN-α) as first-line systemic therapy for patients with
metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), measured time to progression (TTP) and tumor shrinkage in each
arm. Patients in the sunitinib arm had a
median TTP of 11 months compared to 5 months for those in the IFN arm. In
addition tumors shrank in 31% of patient treated with sunitinib vs. 6% for
those treated with IFN.
Side effects most
likely to be experienced by patients treated with sunitinib were diarrhea, high
blood pressure, and hand-foot syndrome.
Patients receiving IFN experienced more fatigue and weakness. Other side effects were similar in the two
groups.
The second
study, A phase II, randomized, 3-arm study of temsirolimus (TEMSR) or
interferon-alpha (IFN) or the combination of TEMSR + IFN in the treatment of
first-line, poor-risk patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (adv RCC), measured overall survival of the two
treatments. Patients treated with TEMSR
alone had a median survival time of 10.9 months, compared to 8.4 months for
those treated with TEMSR plus IFN and 7.3 months for those treated with IFN
alone. Higher rates of skin rash and
mouth sores were reported by patients who received temsirolimus. Higher rates of fatigue and weakness were
reported in patients who received IFN.
“During the discussion after the ASCO presentation, Michael
B. Atkins of the Vanderbilt University Medical
Center in Nashville, Tenn.,
noted that this and other available evidence now suggests the following
standard approaches in the treatment of metastatic kidney cancer.
- Sunitinib for first-line treatment of patients with
favorable or intermediate outlooks
- Temsirolimus for first-line treatment of patients with a
poor outlook
- Sorafenib (Nexavar®)
– approved by the FDA in 2005 – for second-line treatment of patients
previously treated with biological therapy.”*
For more information see:
People Living With Cancer http://www.plwc.org/portal/site/PLWC/menuitem.169f5d85214941ccfd748f68ee37a01d/?vgnextoid=5e913856f2d4b010VgnVCM100000ed730ad1RCRD
*NCI http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/sunitinib-and-temsirolimus0606
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Pancreatic Cancer
The usual treatment for pancreatic cancer after
surgery is the combination of radiation therapy and the drug 5-flurouracil
(5-FU) called chemoradiation. However,
this treatment is not very effective in delaying recurrence. RTOG 9704, a phase III study of adjuvant pre and
post chemoradiation (CRT) 5-FU vs. gemcitabine (G) for resected pancreatic
adenocarcinoma, compared gemcitabine-based chemoradiation to 5-FU-based
chemoradiation. Findings showed that
patients treated with gemcitabine CRT had a median survival of 20.6 months vs.
16.9 months for those treated with 5-FU CRT.
Also 32% of patients treated with gemcitabine CRT were alive at 3-years
compared to 21% of patients treated with 5-FU CRT.
In additional analysis, researchers found that
these results were only for patients with pancreatic head tumors. Those with pancreatic body or tail tumors
showed no comparable benefit for the use of gemcitabine-based CRT.
For more information see:
NCI http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/gemcitabine0606
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Head
and Neck Cancer
Standard treatment for locally advanced larynx
and hypopharynx cancer is either a total laryngectomy or chemoradiation
(treatment with chemotherapy and radiation together.) A new approach called sequential therapy has used
induction chemotherapy (neo-adjuvant or chemotherapy given before other
treatment) with cisplatin (Platinol®)
and 5-FU, followed by radiation. The study** reported at ASCO compared the
addition of docetaxel (Taxotere®)
to induction with cisplatin (Platinol®),
and fluorouracil (5-FU) for the treatment of hypopharynx and larynx cancer.
At three years of follow-up, 62% of patients who
received the three drug therapy which included docetaxel were alive vs. 48% of
patients receiving the standard therapy of cisplatin and 5-FU. Median survival for patients receiving the
three drug treatment was 70.6 months compared to 30.1 months for patients in
the standard (without docetaxel) arm. Side
effects between the two groups were comparable.
The addition of docetaxel clearly resulted in
increased survival. The caveat for this
finding, however, is that there is no evidence that the neo-adjuvant therapy is
better than chemoradiotherapy alone.
Future research will need to answer this question.
**Source: A randomized, phase III trial compared
induction chemotherapy using cisplatin (P) fluorouracil (F) with or without
docetaxel (T) for organ preservation in hypopharynx and larynx cancer
(Preliminary results of GORTEC 2000-01)
For more information
see:
People Living With Cancer http://www.plwc.org/portal/site/PLWC/menuitem.169f5d85214941ccfd748f68ee37a01d/?vgnextoid=a6113856f2d4b010VgnVCM100000ed730ad1RCRD
CancerConsultants.com
http://www.professional.cancerconsultants.com/news.aspx?id=37310
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WOMEN
AGAINST
LUNG CANCER CHANGES NAME TO NATIONAL LUNG CANCER PARTNERSHIP
At
the annual meeting in Atlanta on June 2, Women Against Lung
Cancer announced that the organization has changed its name to National Lung Cancer Partnership.
National Lung Cancer Partnership is the only national lung cancer organization
founded by physicians and researchers and focused on understanding how the
disease affects women and men differently.
On July 12, Joan H. Schiller, M.D.
President, National Lung Cancer Partnership issued a statement about the publication in the Journal
of the American Medical Association comparing
male and female smokers and their incidence of lung cancer. The
study adds to the growing body of evidence that women are more susceptible to
lung cancer than men, and contradicts findings in some earlier studies that
have indicated there are no significant sex differences in risk with this
cancer.
For more information
about the National Lung Cancer Partnership http://www.nationallungcancerpartnershipnews.org
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Research Advocacy Network
Activities
- May-June - Focus on Research Webconferences
- June 1 - Women Against Lung Cancer Annual
Meeting Advocacy Presentation
- June 2 - Focus on Research 2006 dinner at ASCO
- June 3 - TAILORx advocacy briefing at ASCO
- June 4 - RAN (Mary Lou Smith) oral presentation, ASCO Breast
Cancer General Session
- June 5 - RAN poster presentation at
ASCO
- June 2-6 - American Society of
Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
Annual
Meeting
- June 12-13 - caBIG Security and Privacy
Project Meeting
- June 16 - Invited to comment on the
Privacy Rule/HIPAA at the National Cancer Policy Forum
- June 23-25 - ECOG Spring Meeting
- July 17-19 - SPORE workshop
- July 26-27 - Dept. of Defense Grantee Conference
- Aug 2-3 - Redes En Accion Advisory Board
- Aug 2-3 - National Comprehensive Cancer Network
- Aug 7-8 - NCCTG Patient Summit
There are no Awareness
Months / Events in July Click here for a full listing of Awareness
Months/Events
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Editors and Authors: Elda Railey, Mary Lou Smith, Judy Perotti
Network News is funded in part by an
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