Latest News

• Highlights From SNO 2023!        

  The Society Of Neuro-Oncology annual meeting is the big event of the year for brain cancer research. Here Vanessa discussed some of the most important research that was presented at this year's SNO 2023!

  
  
• Researchers hail 'staggering' increase in low-grade glioma survival thanks to earlier surgery        

   They report that the five year survival rate for low grade glioma (at their facility) has hit 100% and the ten year survival hit 96%.  This is amazing and groundbreaking!  

  
  
• IQ-AI announces positive results in ongoing GaM study        

   This is another promising project funded in part by the Musella Foundation.  The results presented are way too early to know for sure but look promising.

  
  
• Website Problems        

   Just wanted you to know what caused the outage!

  
  
• 'Kid-first' startup BrainChild wants to shift the paradigm on pediatric cancer drugs        

   I love these concepts. First, they are going to target 4 markers instead of the current CAR-T cell therapies which have one target.  Second, they are going to try it in the most difficult tumors first - DIPG in kids.  We will quickly find out if it works or not, since the usual life expectancy is under a year. If it works in kids, they will bring it to adults quickly.  The Musella Foundation has given them a small grant to work on the CAR-T cells a few years ago!

  
  
• NRG/RTOG 0837: Randomized, phase II, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of chemoradiation with or without cediranib in newly diagnosed glioblastoma        

   This is an interesting outcome.  Adding the drug cediranib to the standard temozolomide during radiation for newly diagnosed glioblastoma doubled the progression free survival time.   However, there was no difference in overall survival. This is similar to the Avastin trials.   There was no quality of life data reported so we do not know if the quality of life remained high for a longer period of time.  There was a big increase in side effects with the cediranib compared to placebo. Hard to say if it is worth it. Obviously, we need better treatments.