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Another gene therapy trial is starting up for recurrent GBM and Anaplastic Astrocytoma. I love the concept and will be watching this one.
This is great news. Hopefully the FDA will quickly approve the Optune system for newly diagnosed GBM patients. Right now it is only approved for recurrent GBM patients but with results like this ( a 48% increase in 2 year survival rate), of course newly diagnosed patients should be using it.
Newly diagnosed patients can use it now off label. I just had a patient request my help in fighting his insurance company - they rejected the claim for Optune for his newly diagnosed GBM saying it is experimental for newly diagnosed. I sent a nice letter along with the research and they reversed the decision, saying they will now pay for it. Getting the FDA - then the NCCN - to support it's use for newly diagnosed will speed things up and avoid that problem.
Sounds promising. It hasn't been tried in humans yet but the key here is that it preferentially kills tumor cells over normal brain cells, at least in the test tube.
DIPG is a type of pediatric brain tumor that is among the most devastating pediatric diseases. There hasn't been enough research on this type because they are so rare. A genetic analysis may open the door for finding existing treatments that might work against this tumor type. This particular project is just a small part of a huge effort to create a new informatics platform for the sharing, analysis and storage of raw and analyzed data on pediatric brain tumors in an open access environment. The results of this project will be shared with researchers worldwide with the goal of accelerating pediatric brain tumor research.
You can get $100 to participate in this phone conversation!
Although it is only in the test tube, this may be a big breakthrough in the treatment of DIPG. Lets hope the clinical trial gets started quickly and shows great results.
We will be participating in most of these events!
This is one of my favorite conferences of the year. The target audience is researchers, oncologists, surgeons, CEOs, hedge fund managers, venture capitalists, and leaders in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. The idea is to get the researchers with new ideas a way to present them to the right people in order to speed up the process of getting treatment sto patients.
I will report back on what I learn there.
I agree 100% with this. This is a major problem and only going to get worse as new treatments are approved. The FDA is no longer the problem. They have been excellent at quickly approving new treatments. The insurance companies now block access to these treatments.
We are working with Novocure to help create resources to help brain tumor patients. The first step is a survey of what is needed. Please fill out this survey!
Right after I sent the news blast this morning, I was told that patients are welcome to attend the Brain Tumor Biotech Summit! Sorry for the mistake. As I said, I will be attending and it is one of my favorite conferences of the year.
There has been predjuduce against marijuana as a treatment for cancer simply because in most states it is illegal. Removing the psychoactive components should immediately remove that barrier.
There is a new video on that page which shows the effect Optune has on dividing cancer cells. They show cancer cells in culture dividing, the ones on the left are treated with Optune, the ones on the left are not treated. Aside from the amazing video of showing cells blow up when they try to divide, the end result is a huge reduction in the number of tumor cells at the end.
Pretty good results!
(Disclaimer: I am on the advisory board of the Brain Tumor Biotech Center at the Feinstein Institute). The new brain tumor biotech center at the Feinstein Institute on Long Island, NY is designed to speed up the process of pre-clinical and clinical studies of new treatments for brain tumors, and to do it at a lower cost than traditional methods! I would love to see more of these partnerships!
I will (hopefully) be participating in this event! My good friend Bruce Blount organized it! Always a fun event. If it is too far from you - you can still donate to it - or find other events in your area at walktoendbraintumors.org
I am shocked by the news. Dr Parsa was one of the brightest stars in the brain tumor world. I was just talking to him at a conference recently about his vaccine work - he was so excited that his vaccine was going to have a big impact on the fight against brain cancer. He came so far and unfortunately won't be able to see the impact he made on the field. My condolences to the family.
Metformin is a cheap, easily available drug used to treat type 2 diabetes. Sounds interesting.
Proceeds from this book benefit the Musella Foundation!
