The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.
Mukherjee writes.
Cancer’s life is a recapitulation of the body’s life, its existence a pathological mirror of our own.Down to their innate molecular core, cancer cells are hyperactive, survival-endowed, scrappy, fecund, inventive copies of ourselves. Read the rest of this entry »
Kate Murphy
Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Director of Research, Kate M. Murphy will be joining a distinguished list of guest speakers at the Colon Cancer Alliance’s upcoming national conference this June in Denver, Colorado. Her participation as a panelist will provide attendees with information on genetic risk factors and genetic testing, the importance of knowing your family history and an overview of HNPCC and FAP. She will be joined by panelists from the American Cancer Society and the Patient Advocate Foundation during the conference’s opening session.
The Colon Cancer Alliance’s conference, “Family Matters: What Every Family Needs to Know,” is being held in Denver, Colorado from June 23-25, 2011. Full and partial scholarships are available with an application deadline of May 13th. The event brings together experts from throughout the nation covering a wide range of topics such as genetic risks, designing a treatment plan, advanced disease treatment options and tips for living with colon cancer. The annual event is designed to bring families and friends together and encourage awareness and conversation around the disease. For more information on the conference, visit: www.ccalliance.org.
Advanced colorectal cancer is now an FDA approved indication for Fusilev® (levoleucovorin) in combination with 5-FU.
According to a news release from its manufacturer, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, the FDA agreed to include metastatic colorectal cancer on the Fusilev label on April 29, 2011.
Although Fusilev has been used off-label during the leucovorin shortage, it is now fully FDA-approved for the palliative treatment of advanced colorectal cancer that has spread beyond the colon or rectum. Read the rest of this entry »
ZALTRAP® (aflibercept) added to survival time when given along with FOLFIRI to colorectal cancer patients who had already progressed on earlier oxaliplatin treatment.
On April 26, 2011, sanofi-aventis and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced positive results for the Phase III VELOUR trial, which compared ZALTRAP to a placebo during FOLFIRI chemotherapy.
Detailed results will be available at an upcoming medical conference. Read the rest of this entry »
On Monday, April 25th, Fight Colorectal Cancer held a free patient webinar that tackled the somewhat complex but fascinating topic of personalized medicine.
Personalized medicine is what the cancer community calls treatments that are tailored to each patient’s genetic makeup. It is the future of cancer care and in some cases, it is already making a big difference in the ways patients are treated.
You can learn about these cutting edge treatments and about emerging findings in an archive of the webinar below.
Our thanks to Carolyn Grande, CRNP, AOCNP for leading the discussion. She a phenomenal educator on this topic and a member of our Medical Advisory Board. She graciously donated her time to bring this information to patients.
