Gastrointestinal Cancer News

Nearly 5% of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma harbored a germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, according to study results.

New statistics from Cancer Research UK show that esophageal cancer rates in men have increased from 2,700 new cases in the early 1980s to 5,740 in 2012, representing a nearly 50% increase from 15 to 23 cases per 100,000 people after adjusting for population growth, according to a press release.

CHICAGO — A chemotherapy regimen composed of epirubicin, cisplatin and capecitabine demonstrated higher overall toxicity without improving OS compared with cisplatin and 5 fluorouracil in patients with surgically treated esophageal cancer, according to the results of a phase 3 trial presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

CHICAGO — In an ongoing phase 2 clinical trial, Inlyta and transarterial chemoembolization therapy was safe and yielded high response rates in Chinese patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, according to a poster presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

Exalenz Biosciences announced a clinical trial is underway to investigate whether its BreathID test is useful in diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma, according to a press release from the manufacturer.

CHICAGO — In a phase 2 trial, hypofractionated proton beam therapy was effective in improving overall survival in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, according to a poster presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

CHICAGO — The addition of rilotumumab to epirubicin, cisplatin and capecitabine chemotherapy yielded significantly shorter OS and worse toxicity in patients with advanced MET-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, according to the results of the phase 3 RILOMET-1 study presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

CHICAGO – Aspirin exposure after a colorectal cancer diagnosis improved OS and colorectal cancer-specific survival, according to study results presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

HemOnc Today’s annual Oncology Drugs in the Pipeline chart lists agents in phase 2 or phase 3 development for a variety of indications. Clinicians can use this chart as a quick reference to learn about the status of those drugs that may be clinically significant to their practice.

CHICAGO — Nivolumab appeared safe and effective for the treatment of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, according to interim study results presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.