The Food and Drug Administration now provides answers to questions about using erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) and their FDA-approved Medication Guides.  The Medication Guides are now part of labeling for ESAs Aranesp® (darbepoetin alfa), Epogen® (epoetin alfa), and Procrit® (epoetin alfa).

The Guides are designed to help patients make informed decisions about the risks and benefits of using ESAs and to give them a starting point for discussions with their doctors.  The Medication Guide must be given to directly patients or their caregivers at the time an ESA is dispensed. Read the rest of this entry »

Led by dropping rates of lung, breast, and colorectal cancer, the incidence rate of all new cancers in the United States is falling for the first time.  While overall cancer death rates have been decreasing since the early 1990′s, this is the first time that rates of new cancer diagnoses are also declining.

In the Annual Report to the Nation, the rate of newly diagnosed cancer fell 1.7 percent per year between 2001 and 2005.  Death rates for all cancers combined fell 1.8 percent annually during the same time period.

Both incidence of new colorectal cancers and colorectal cancer death rates continued to decline with the new report.  Between 1998 and 2005, incidence rates for men fell 3 percent annually while rates for women declined 2.4 percent.  Death rates fell 4.3 percent between 2002 and 2005 for both sexes.

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President Elect Obama has plenty of challenges ahead of him. Issues ranging from the economy, energy, the environment, and of course healthcare will be at the top of his policy agenda. He has also pledged to reinvigorate the war against cancer. To accomplish this he has promised to double federal funding for cancer research and ensure all Americans have access to preventative healthcare screenings; including those that will detect, and possibly prevent, colorectal cancer.

Take this opportunity to email him directly and hold him to his word. President Elect Obama, make colorectal cancer screening and treatment a national priority! Click here to Take Action

Clarient Inc. announced the launch of a commercially available test for the BRAF mutation in colorectal cancer.  The test detects mutations in colorectal cancer tumor tissue.

In a recent study, patients with mutated BRAF did not respond to treatment with two drugs that block epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) — Erbitux® (cetuximab) and Vectibix™ (panitumumab).  Patients in the study all had normal, wild-type KRAS, another mutation that blocks response to Erbitux and Vectibix. Read the rest of this entry »