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This is theoretical but I love the thought process.. this researcher thinks he knows why Avastin sometimes fails - and thinks he may have a way to block the failure. He did not try it yet - just thinking about it. We (the Musella Foundation) have funded 2 similiar projects - looking at drugs to add to Avastin to make it work better. The first one failed to show a benefit, but the second one is still ongoing. I think this concept is the way to a big breakthrough. We just need to find the right combination.
This talks about the combination of Avastin and CPT-11 for recurrent glioblastoma. They compared patients who took this combination with patients who did all other available treatments and this group did better by 7 months (70%). Previous similiar studies showed a similiar benefit but when avastin alone was tested with avastin + CPT-11, the results were pretty close - the avastin + CPT-11 group did a little better but had more side effects. Not clear which is best yet.
Major grant from the Ivy Foundation to one of my favorite brain tumor doctors.. Dr. Greg Foltz. He was a speaker at one of our conferences. You can see his lecture at: virtualtrials.com/VIDEO2010.cfm
He is working on finding drugs that are already FDA approved for other conditions that might also help brain tumors. Great approach!
I sent this out yesterday and didn't say the name of the video.. sorry!
One of my friends, Dr Jim Olson, invented a drug that lights up the tumor so the surgeon can see where the tumor is during surgery. This short film explains why it is so important. The film is up for an award that can help raise money to get the drug developed! Please vote for it!
This organization always puts on an excellent conference. Very worthwhile to go!
This is an amazing technology.. it allows the surgeon to see where the tumor is during surgery. This video shows why it is so important. The video is in a contest. Winner gets $100,000 which will be used to help develop this tumor paint. We need you to vote for it. To vote, go to: http://vimeo.com/focusforwardfilms/semifinalists and click on the tumor pain video, then when viewing the video, click the VOTE icon on the middle right side of the video, then confirm it!
(Disclaimer: Dr Olson is a friend of mine:)
Way too early - and had significant side effects in the 1 person they tried it on, but may be an option for people with high grade meningioma who run out of other options. It is available off label now under the brand name Yondelis
They also found that medicaid patients do as well as patients with private insurance. Uninsured patients are twice as likely to die in the hospital. They did not figure out why - but that has to be looked at.
They are testing a new treatment for GBMs: trans sodium crocetinate . This drug increases the oxygenation of the tumor and is thought that it may sensitize the tumor to radiation and chemotherapy. It worked well in the lab. They tried it on a small group of GBM patients to test for safety and apparently it is safe enough to go ahead to a larger trial to see if it works.
I really need help with this fundraiser.. It is simple, and doesn't cost you anything: There has been a huge settlement in a class action lawsuit. Most people are eligible, but each person gets only a small settlement. However, if we get a lot of people to donate their claim to the Musella Foundation, it can become significant enough to fund a brain tumor research project!
You just fill out a form on a website to donate your claim to the Musella Foundation. No receipts are needed. Takes very little time.
Please pass this along to all of your friends and ask them to participate and to send it to thier friends. They have to be in by Dec 6, 2012. We only have a few weeks!
This was the big news at the Society of Neuro-oncology conference this weekend. There was about a 50% improvement in progression free survival by adding Avastin to the standard treatment, over using the standard treatment alone. This means that patients feel better and can take care of themeselves longer with Avastin than without.
However, the question remains when is the best time to use Avastin, right at the start or wait for recurrence. That question is not yet answered. There seems to be (but hasn't been tested yet) about the same time benefit for using at it the time of recurrence rather than at the start. (Although using it at the start allowed patients to functional at the highest level for a longer period of time. ) My own thoughts (and I am not an MD - so take it for what it is worth): My preference would be to enter a clinical trial for newly diagnosed GBM patients and hold off on the Avastin until the time of recurrence. IF you can not enter a trial, then it is a toss-up on when the best time to start Avastin would be. Either way can be argued. There are more trials (such as the Tocagen trial) that now allow you to enter after having had Avastin, so that removes one of the barriers to using Avastin upfront.
Disclosure: Genetech is a sponsor of the Musella Foundation
This article reports long term results of the first Novocure TTF device trial: 4 out of 20 patients GBM (20%) alive, in good health and no longer receiving any treatment with no clinical or radiological signs of recurrence more than 7 YEARS after starting the trial! (2 were newly diagnosed, 2 were recurrent when they started the trial).
This is amazing. The expected 7 year survival rate is about 4%, so you would expect less than 1 of the original 20 patients to survie. This is 500% better.
Disclaimer: The company that makes the Novocure TTF device is a sponsor of our organization.
This is an exciting article.. it says that using Avastin in combination with stereotactic radiosurgery greatly reduces the chances of developing radiation necrosis from 50% to 3-6%, and almost doubles the average survival!
Disclaimer: Genetech - the makers of Avastin - are a sponsor of our organization!
"Voices Against Brain Cancer" has been working with us (the Musella Foundation) to get great projects funded! Please support this event if you are in the NY area!
Unfortunately, another negative study.... using Sunitinib (Sutent) by itself.
Unfortunately - another negative study.. this time with thalidomide.
This study shows that having multiple surgeries for glioblastomas does improve average survival. Seems obvious - but in the past some doctors would advise that a 3rd or 4th surgery is a waste of time. This shows that each surgery does extend survival by months.. those moneths can be used to try another treatment.. increasing your chances of beating the tumor.
This is the newsletter from our friends at the International Brain Tumor Association!
This article reports the results of clinical trial of the drug Vandetanib (Caprelsa). This drug is FDA approved for thyroid cancer and readily avaialble. It is not approved for brain tumors.
On brain tumors, it did not show good results when used alone. My thoughts are that this type of treatment needs to either be individualized - used only when you know the patient's tumor overexpressed the targets, or as part of a cocktail where it is combined with other treatments to block multiple pathways at once so the tumor can not evade it.
