Voyager is an experimental  device that is worn on the head and is used to treat the brain tumor.  This small study shows that the device is safe, but we can't tell if it helps yet.  They have a very impressive list of authors on the paper, so I know the research will be done correctly.

 This is a nice story about a patient with  an H3 K27M mutant glioma, which is one of the worst types of brain tumors. 

This involves the drug Onc-201, which the Musella Foundation has given a few grants to help develop!

 This show a different possible method of action for Optune.

Both of the grants we gave out today are urgent projects that needed to be done.  Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we were able to quickly approve them - both applications were received within the last 4 days and our dedicated medical advisory board were able to evaluate and approve them quickly!

 This is another vaccine that is a simple shot in the arm. It is a stock treatment - it does not require tumor tissue, and  in a small trial showed a nice increase in average survival over historical controls.  These are the types of treatments that need quick approvals so everyone can get them.

This is the experimental drug Onc-201.    When the article says that it was largely ineffective in a pilot study for GBM, they did not point out that that study included mostly GBM patients who did not have the H3 K27M mutation, and they have since realized that this mutation makes the tumor more sensitive to this drug.

 The current clinical trials (and compassionate use program) requires the H3 K27M mutation be present. (DIPGs do not require a biopsy – it is assumed that most will have the mutation).

The mutation H3 K27M is a marker of the worst of the worst brain tumors.  Most DIPGs have it, and it is found in the midline and spinal cord gliomas usually of younger adults and kids.  Until now, there really was no hope for these tumors.  This drug gives some hope. It is not a miracle cure for everyone but it is a huge step in the right direction.  It is an oral drug with minimal side effects.  Look at your pathology reports and see if you have this mutation. If you do, ask your doctor about Onc-201.

The Musella Foundation has been a supporter of it's development since they started.

 I am a big fan of Optune, and think almost all GBM patients should be on it. It is the best treatment currently available, but it is not good enough by itself.  We need to find what to add to it so that it works for everyone.  This article presents one such combination.   There are hundreds of other combinations that also need to be tested and the only way we are going to find the best combination is for us to track the outcomes of every patient who uses Optune.  We are now tracking patients in our virtual trial project. Go to virtualtrials.com and click on virtual trial to learn about it and join. It is free - but you need to commit to posting update monthly for as long as needed.  All brain tumor patients should be participating, but especially if you are considering Optune.

 This is from our friends at Pinpoint Patient Recruiting.  They are doing a survey about GBMs. They want GBM patients or caregivers to participate in an online survey, and are offering you $75 for your time.  They will also make a donation to the Musella Foundation!

Please let us know if you do the survey and your experiences with it!

 2 interesting treatments. Too early to tell how well they are working, as both are just trying to find the right dosage. They both have some long term survivors. Historically, the survival after recurrence for a GBM is about  7 months.  The Polio Virus Vaccine has about 20% of patients alive ranging from 36-73 months. The D2C7-IT trial has about 30% of patients alive, with 2 of them having partial responses and being alive over 8.2 and 34 months.  

Disclaimer:  The Musella Foundation has funded both treatments.

 This is one of the most important articles of the year. It opens the door for improving response to immunotherapies in brain tumors.

 This is an exciting experimental treatment for gliomas that have the H3 K27M mutation, which is usually found in DIPG, brainstem glioma, Spinal Cord Gliomas, Midline Gliomas, And gliomas in the Thalamus.  The Musella Foundation has been supporting this treatment for years, giving 3 grants to help speed up the development!

 This paper shows that it is worth traveling to a major brain tumor center.

SNO is an amazing meeting. Aside from all of the presentations, I got to meet and talk with many brain tumor researchers and physicians and discuss what they think are the best treatments, what is needed to advance the field, what is slowing down progress and much more.

We also were able to interact with many other brain tumor nonprofits. There was some resistance in the past to working together but I think the last barriers were recently removed and you are going to see a lot more collaboration now.   We are all about collaboration.  Working together we will be able to accomplish much more than any of us could individually.  

 As the year comes to a close, we reflect back on what was accomplished.  This was a really exciting year for brain tumors.  We feel that we are on the cusp of a major breakthrough. Everything is coming together - many clinical trials are reporting long term survivors in a small % of patients.  Our goal is to speed up the approvals for these treatments so doctors can combine them in cocktails and get long term survivors for most  brain tumor patients!

 Mebendazole is an old, cheap, easily available drug approved for  treating worm infestations.  This paper (and many others) suggest it might be useful for treatments brain tumors, especially when combined with radiation. This article is about meningiomas but other articles mention GBM and Medulloblastomas!

 In the case presented, the patient had a GBM but was allergic to Temodar so they had to try something different.   They tried erltinib and Optune, which has resulted in stable disease for at least 9 months after radiation.  It is only 1 case but shows brilliant thinking on the part of this patient's team. They chose Optune, which is the obvious choice, but since the patient overexpressed EGFR, they also added erlotinib.  More research needs to be done on such combinations of Optune and therapies personalized to the patient!

 This is just in mice at this point but it is an exciting new approach. I wish them luck and will be following this!

 Adding Valproic Acid to the standard radiation and Temodar for GBM might help a lot without adding any more long term problems.

 I am a little biased on this one as we gave them 3 grants - including our largest ever - to help get them to this point.  They will be  presenting 10 abstracts at next week's Society for Neuro-Oncology conference in New Orleans.  This experimental drug - Onc-201 is the first of it's class - a DRD2/ DRD3 antagonist. Early results were very impressive, and we are hoping they present exciting news next week!