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NEW YORK-Response and overall survival were significantly improved with use of irinotecan (Camptosar), fluorouracil, and leucovorin, compared with fluorouracil/leucovorin alone, in a randomized study involving 683 patients with previously untreated metastatic colorectal cancer.

NEW YORK-Many biologic therapeutic manufacturers face “critical choke-points” in the future as they attempt to satisfy market demand, according to William R. Rohn, chief operating officer of IDEC Pharmaceuticals, the San Diego-based company that produces the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab (Rituxan) in the United States.

WASHINGTON-Only five states have allocated the minimum amount of their tobacco settlement funds recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for comprehensive tobacco prevention programs, according to report released at a Senate hearing.

BETHESDA, Md-Members of the National Cancer Institute’s intramural program, NCI’s corps of in-house investigators, have been challenged to reinvent the program into one of the nation’s great cancer research centers.

NEW YORK-The current hype surrounding the mind-body connection has prompted people diagnosed with cancer to ask themselves if their personality, their emotions, or the stress in their lives somehow led to their cancer. This, in turn, has produced the negative phenomenon of blaming the victim.

A comprehensive textbook on clinical oncology should have broad appeal to readers from various disciplines, including educators, clinicians, and scientists working with cancer patients. Students of the medical disciplines must also have a reference textbook to guide them in their educational exploration, whether they are in the field of medicine itself or in complementary areas. We look to comprehensive textbooks not only to provide us with the latest updates in different disease entities, but also to guide us by choosing the most relevant areas of study and investigation. The editors who compiled this textbook have met these challenges, while maintaining a readability that is suitable for various levels of expertise and comprehension

SANTANDER, Spain-High-dose chemotherapy (HDC) with stem cell transplantation offers a “striking improvement” over conventional chemotherapy for infants with acute leukemia, said Fernando Marco, MD, a hematologist at Hospital Universitario Marques de Valdecilla, Santander, Spain.

ROCHESTER, Minnesota-In a blinded pilot study, conducted at the Mayo Clinic, a new DNA-based colorectal cancer fecal screening tool detected 91% of colorectal cancers and 82% of adenomas 1 cm in size or larger, with a specificity of 93%.

Thalidomide (Thalomid) has been demonstrated to be an antiangiogenic agent with some activity in glioblastoma multiforme. This ongoing study currently has 37 enrolled patients. Patients were started on a dose of 100 mg/d of thalidomide. This was increased by 100 mg/d, weekly, to a maximum dose of 500 mg/d, if tolerated. The mean age was 52 years (range: 27–69 years). The male/female ratio was 19/18. The mean dose tolerated was 300 mg, with a range of 200 to 500 mg/d.

PHILADELPHIA-Over the last 20 years, nutritional assessments in oncology have evolved from just assessing a patient’s nutritional status to using the information to improve outcome. The latest assessment tool is the scored Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) developed by Faith Ottery, MD, PhD, president of the Society for Nutritional Oncology Adjuvant Therapy.

CLEVELAND-Marconi Medical Systems has received 510k clearance from the FDA to market its new ACQSIM CT scanner that addresses the special needs of oncology CT simulation and planning.

WASHINGTON-Density variations in breast images may be due to a number of different variables, such as age and body weight, Norman F. Boyd, MD, DSc, said at the 10th Annual Conference of the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR).

WASHINGTON-At a congressional briefing titled “The Crisis at Academic Health Centers,” Samuel O. Thier, MD, described the situation succinctly. “We are going through tough times,” said the president and chief executive officer of Partners Health Care Systems, Inc., which resulted from the merger of Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals.

BETHESDA, Md-The National Cancer Institute has given four awards totaling $932,000 to four existing NCI contractors to develop research to understand, and pilot programs to breach, the “Digital Divide” that prevents many members of minorities from accessing cancer information on the Internet.

WASHINGTON-Two decades after the first case of AIDS was recognized in the United States, “the nation does not have a comprehensive, effective, and efficient strategy for preventing the spread of HIV,” the Institute of Medicine (IOM) said in a new report.

PHILADELPHIA-Better standards of production are needed for herb-based medicines, says a scientist who helped develop a method of harvesting paclitaxel (Taxol) from yew tree needles.

SEWICKLEY, Pennsylvania-The FDA has granted NOMOS Corporation clearance to market the Peregrine Monte-Carlo-based radiation dose calculation system, licensed from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where it was developed. Peregrine is a computer-based system for quick calculation, in three dimensions, of radiation doses for use with complex intensity-modulated radiotherapy treatment plans. Monte Carlo is a mathematical technique that simulates the trillions of radiation particles that enter the body during treatment. It selects a random sample of these particles and tracks them through a computer model of the radiation-delivery device and the patient’s CT scans to create a detailed map of the dose distribution (see image). NOMOS will initially incorporate Peregrine into its CORVUS inverse treatment planning system, and will then develop a stand-alone version to work with other treatment planning systems.

DIJON, France-In patients with a history of colorectal adenomas, use of a soluble fiber supplement (ispaghula husk) appears to have an adverse effect on recurrence, said Jean Faivre, MD, of the European Cancer Prevention Organi-sation (ECP) Study Group. The study also showed that calcium supplementation produced a modest but not significant reduction in the risk of adenoma recurrence.

A 67-year-old female developed metastatic angiosarcoma involving the scalp, left neck, and pulmonary nodules. Disease progression occurred while she received two cycles of doxorubicin/ifosfamide (Ifex)/mesna (Mesnex), complicated by sepsis

WASHINGTON-A federal judge has narrowed the government’s lawsuit against the tobacco industry but has allowed the Justice Department to proceed with its case using a federal racketeering statute.

TORONTO-Preliminary clinical trial results show that treatment with caspofungin acetate (Cancidas, investigational) produced a favorable response in 41% of patients with life-threatening invasive aspergillosis who were not responding to or were intolerant of other antifungal therapy.

The image shows the radiation therapy treatment plan for a seven-field conformal boost to the prostate, using Peregrine, a 3D Monte-Carlo-based dose calculation system. Monte Carlo simulates the trillions of radiation particles that enter the body during treatment and develops a detailed computerized map of the radiation dose the patient will receive. The technology, developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and licensed to NOMOS Corporation, has received FDA clearance for marketing. Image courtesy of NOMOS and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California.

Caspofungin (Cancidas) is being developed by Merck as an intravenous medicine for systemic fungal infections, such as those caused by Aspergillus and Candida, Merck said in a press release. These infections, once considered unusual, have risen in number over the past 20 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ROCKVILLE, Md-Cell Therapeutics, Inc.’s Trisenox (arsenic trioxide) injection has won marketing approval from the Food and Drug Administration only 3 years after its pivotal phase II trial began.

In 1997 and 1998, the Division of Oncology Drug Products at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved 575 single-patient investigational new drug applications for the use of thalidomide (Thalomid) for advanced malignancies. We subsequently surveyed 544 practitioners with a questionnaire, and received responses from 359 (response rate: 66%) with data on 480 patients.

BETHESDA-The National Cancer Institute will rename and restructure its Office of Special Populations Research as part of its increased efforts to reduce disparities in the prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer among various US subpopulations.

BETHESDA, Md-The President’s Cancer Panel is conducting a series of seven regional meetings to explore the question, “Why don’t all Americans get the best available cancer care?” The panel is seeking to identify specific barriers to care and ways to overcome them.

High-dose chemotherapy with methotrexate offers up to a fivefold increase in survival to patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma. Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center found that using significantly more methotrexate, while adding drugs that penetrate the blood-brain barrier, improved disease control and survival in patients with newly diagnosed cancer.

The Clinton administration memorandum on coverage of Medicare patient costs in clinical trials, which drew concern from ASCO when the White House published its incipient statement last June, has apparently morphed into a “final national coverage decision”-announced in late September-that most groups are quite happy with. Ellen Stovall, president and CEO of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, says her group is very happy with the coverage document published by HCFA. She does note, however, that there is a need to monitor the new rules HCFA will be developing for coverage of a subgroup of trials-so-called IND-exempt trials run by cancer centers and pharmaceutical companies-that are testing existing drugs for new uses. Some of these trials are extremely legitimate. Some are not. No one in the cancer community wants to see Medicare pay for clinical trials involving the use of tea leaves to cure colon cancer. However, in writing rules meant to exclude Medicare coverage of those kinds of questionable trials, Stovall indicates that it will be important to ensure that those rules, based on imprecise wording, don’t exclude Medicare coverage for legitimate trials.” We will be concerned with how the language develops,” she explained. One other area of possible concern is Medicare’s intention to pay only for trials that have a “therapeutic” objective. That would rule out some phase I trials designed to test the toxicity of a new medication.

Seventeen patients with myeloma (13) or Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia (4) have been treated at our center with a nonmyelosuppressive combination of oral clarithromycin (Biaxin) at 500 mg twice daily, low-dose oral thalidomide