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We mentioned this trial recently but this article has a nice video that explains it! Worth watching the video! It is about the Tocagen trial for Glioblastoma multiforme
It is a good sign that they are allowing the trial to continue. Makes sense to only allow patients who have adequate bone marrow function.. they should have done that from the start.
Excellent cause.. Camp for families affected by brain tumors. The Musella Foundation also gave a $5,000 donation to Camp Jinka this summer!
This is a blog written by a person who is very anti-alternative treatments.. but it points out that Antineoplaston treatments have been stopped by the FDA. People already on them can continue, but the FDA will not allow any new patients to start it.
The antineoplaston story is very long and strange. Doctor Burzynski thinks he may have come up with the cure for cancer, and has been trying to prove it. He has run over 100 trials in the last 30 years and has not been able to prove that they work. The FDA tried to stop him many times but the patient community fought it - mainly because there were no other treatments available for the diseases he was targetting and since no results (negative or positive) were published in respected journals, there was the hope that it works. Now it appears that it is over.
Hopefully this works and can be used not only for brain mets from breast cancer, but all brain tumors - even all cancers!
Interesting trial.. worth looking into for recurrent gbm
First use of the Novocure System in Japan.
Dr Schulder is on our medical advisory board and one of my favorite brain tumor neurosurgeons.. he is doing a trial of rindopepimut (which used to be known as cdx-110). This is a vaccine against the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor version 3(EGFRvIII) , which is a mutation of the EGFR which is found on normal cells. (The article is wrong on that point). If EGFRvIII is found on your tumor, it is a bad sign - the tumor is of the more aggressive variety because this receptor makes the tumor grow faster. This vaccine inactivates the EGFRvIII. The hope is that it can stop the tumor from growing, or even if it fails, it might be able to convert the tumor into a slower growing tumor with a better prognosis.
Best part is that it is relatively easy injections into the skin - not into the brain.
(Disclosure: the company that makes rindopepimut is a sponsor of our foundation, and Dr Schulder is on our medical advisory board)
One of the most important articles of the year. I have been saying this for years but this is the first time I saw it in print. They propose a new method of clinical trials where many different treatments can be tested against each other in a rational way. As they evaluate results, the trial adapts. If they see that certain biomarkers influence outcome, they can change the randomization based on that biomarker to increase the chances of good results. For example, if a drug only seems to help people with a specific target, they stop using it on patients who do not have that target - they can still get randomized to the other treatments.
If a treatment doesn't perform well, they drop it and rotate in the next one. If a treatment looks good, they drop it out of this trial and launch a traditional trial of it.
This way they can test a large number of treatments, identify biomarkers that may be used to personalize treatments, and significantly reduce the amount of time (and money) needed to find the cure. It also improves the chances that the trial will help the participants - as once it is clear a treatment doesn't work - or if it doesn't work with that patient's markers, it is dropped.
These researchers can now grow DIPG cells in the test tube, and they tested available drugs and may have found one which may have a chance of working. Human trials should start soon
AP26113 is a second-generation ALK and ROS1 inhibitor that seems in vitro to also have some activity against the activating epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and T790M. It is in clinical trials for lung cancer. I mention it here because it looks like it may work for brain mets from lung cancer. They report: 4 out of 5 central nervous system deposits responding, and we are also getting duration of response data.
Another vaccine trial with good results: about 3 times longer survivals compared to historical matched controls.
This is a new method of delivering higher dosages of drugs to the brain tumors. Looks promising - but too early to tell how it will work in people
The Together in Hope 2011 - Houston, TX May 20-22, 2011 patient conference - put on by MD Anderson Brain Tumor Center, was just added to our video library (with permission). Although it is a little old, it is not out of date and worth watching!
New concept in vaccine therapies. The vaccine is custom made to each patient, based on a genetic profiling of your tumor. The Musella Foundation and Voices Against Brain Cancer also have helped fund this!
This study showed that after GBM patients failed Temodar on the standard schedule, trying Temodar again in a dose-intense schedule of 21 days on and 7 days off did not help much. Only 13% had even a small response, and only 11% of patients were progression free 6 months later.
One interesting note on this paper is that they were incorrect on what the standard therapy of a glioblastoma is. Standard thereapy is defined by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines as well as the FDA approvals of treatments. Both say that the standard treatment of GBM now includes Gliadel Wafer implantation at both the initial surgery as well as subsequent surgeries, and the use of the Novocure Novo-TTF 100a system at recurrence.
NCCN Guidelines can be found at: http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/pdf/cns.pdf
We lost one of the best brain tumor researchers in his prime. So sad. Very nice man - brilliant, compassionate and driven to find the cure of gbms for us. He will not be forgotten. His work lives on - it would be fitting if his program leads to the cure.
Interesting new target - but it is a few years away from human trials.
