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More Disappointing Results with EGFR/COX-2 Combination

May 21, 2008 - 9:14 pm

   When I first started OncTalk, there was a lot of buzz about celebrex (celecoxib) as a cancer drug, but almost all of it was among patients talking about it on the internet: oncologists watching the field hadn’t been impressed by the early returns, including this one (despite the fact that some of my earliest work […]

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Dose Escalation with Tarceva? Dosing to Rash?

May 19, 2008 - 9:09 pm

   As I’ve described in a prior post, there is some evidence that patients who develop a rash on tarceva (erlotinib) have an improved survival compared to patients who experience no skin toxicity on tarceva.  The key question is whether this is an issue of under-dosing some patients, or if it’s just a correlate of overall immune […]

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Stable disease is just fine, thank you.

May 10, 2008 - 2:36 pm

At the 1st ESMO-IASLC Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva last week I saw a presentation that I thought would interest this general readership. The study, presented by Dr Grossi, from Italy, is a retrospective review of 61 patients with advanced NSCLC of all subtypes treated with either Tarceva (erlotinib) or Iressa (gefitinib) […]

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Arguing Against Molecular Testing for EGFR in NSCLC

May 8, 2008 - 10:24 pm

     So I’ve been invited to be on the faculty of a lung cancer conference in Kauai next month (yes, a good gig, but this is the first year that the flights are so expensive that I can’t bring my family to this normally very family-friendly event), and my topic is to argue in a […]

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Biomarkers Predicting Clinical Benefits for BAC Patients Receiving Tarceva

April 30, 2008 - 9:35 pm

   Continuing with the analysis of a publication about tarceva (erlotinib) for patients with advanced BAC that I introduced in the last post, we’ll turn now to the analysis that Dr. Vince Miller and colleagues did on the biomarkers that might predict more or less clinical benefit with an EGFR inhibitor like tarceva (abstract here).   The trial looked at three […]

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Trial of Tarceva in BAC: New Info on Who Benefits with Tarceva

April 29, 2008 - 3:49 pm

   In a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dr. Vince Miller and colleagues published the results of an important trial of the EGFR inhibitor tarceva (erlotinib) in the unusual NSCLC subtype bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, or BAC (abstract here).   This work was predicated on the observation, also by Dr. Miller and his colleagues at Memorial […]

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Survival Benefit in Another Erbitux Trial for Advanced NSCLC Reported

April 23, 2008 - 10:07 pm

   Although it’s only a leak from a “reliable source”, news came yesterday (link here) about a new lung cancer development from a financial source (yet another example of us learning oncology from Wall Streeters).  Specifically, we heard that the BMS-099 that I described in a prior post is actually demonstrating a significant benefit in […]

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EGFR Vaccine Early Results Published

April 16, 2008 - 3:49 pm

  The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a central component of a cell pathway for growth and cell division that is thought to be affected in many cancers, including NSCLC.  EGFR inhibitors have been the focus of clinical trials for several years and are now used for many types of cancer.  Nearly all of […]

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Tarceva vs. Standard Chemo Compared for Marginal Performance Status Patients, by Dr Laskin

March 11, 2008 - 8:18 pm

   One of the issues we struggle the most with, as oncologists, patients, and families, is how to choose a therapy that won’t make someone feel worse. There are so many things to factor into these decisions: what is the baseline function of the person, what comorbidities (other chronic illnesses) might interact or interfere, what side […]

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Information and a Resource for Managing EGFR-Based Rash

March 2, 2008 - 9:53 pm

   There’s a really helpful resource for patients, developed by several leading experts in EGFR-based therapy and specifically the very common skin toxicity associated with EGFR inhibitors like iressa, tarceva, erbitux, and some others.  I’ve already described some early ideas about rash management (prior post) and a more recent medical education program video on the same […]

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