Latest News

• Copayment assistance program is now open!        

  Our brain tumor copayment assistance program is now open to new (and renewal) patients. This program can help cover the copay costs for: Optune, Avastin, Temodar, and Gleostine, as well as their generics. If you think you may need help, apply ASAP as the program often closes quickly. Go to braintumorcopays.org for details and to apply!

  
  
• Upcoming Webinar!        

  Join us next week on Monday, January 12th at 7pm EST for a webinar with Dr. Vijay Agarwal on "Sonodynamic Therapy: a Phase 2b Trial for Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma." To join, visit virtualtrials.org/webinar.  

  
  
• New drug combination boosts life expectancy from grade 3 brain tumors by more than 45%        

  The STELLAR trial was a large, randomized multi-center study testing eflornithine plus lomustine versus lomustine alone in patients with recurrent anaplastic astrocytoma. At the time the study began in 2016, tumors from all enrolled patients were classified as grade 3 astrocytoma, but the 2021 WHO updates to tumor classifications later showed that the patients had different tumor types, including grade 3 and grade 4 IDH-mutant astrocytoma, and IDH-wildtype glioblastoma. When researchers analyzed results from the entire cohort, the combination treatment did not improve overall survival compared with lomustine alone. However, when they did a subset analysis specifically on patients with recurrent grade 3 astrocytoma that carried an IDH mutation, the results were significant. In this group, people who received the combination had a median survival of nearly 35 months, compared to 24 months with lomustine alone. Progression-free survival with the combination was almost 16 months, compared to roughly 7 months with lomustine alone. These meaningful survival gains have the potential to guide future clinical practice for treatment of recurrent grade 3 IDH-mutant astrocytoma. 

  
  
• Glioblastoma Clinical Trial: Focused Ultrasound Blood-Brain Barrier Opening is Safe, Provides Possible Survival Benefit        

  Recently published results from a multi-center phase 1/2 trial suggest that MRI-guided microbubble focused-ultrasound (MB-FUS) may improve outcomes when added to standard chemotherapy for newly diagnosed high-grade glioma. The study enrolled 34 newly diagnosed high-grade glioma patients between 2018 and 2022 (pre-2021 WHO reclassifications). Most of the tumors were IDH-wildtype, with a mix of MGMT-methylated and unmethylated cases. 

  After surgery and standard chemoradiation, patients received monthly outpatient MB-FUS treatments given once at the start of each temozolomide cycle to temporarily open the blood–brain barrier in large, contoured regions. A median of four MB-FUS cycles were completed per patient (range 1-6), with some missed cycles due to COVID-19 disruptions. 

  Despite the small size of the study, patients treated with MB-FUS and temozolomide had significantly longer progression-free survival (13.5 months) and overall survival (31.3 months) compared with a carefully matched external control group treated with temozolomide alone, and the survival benefit remained consistent across multiple sensitivity analyses designed to account for bias. Side effects related to the focused ultrasound were mostly mild, with no unexpected safety concerns. These early results provide strong support for larger, randomized trials to test this treatment strategy.