If you are diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, you will probably receive about six months of treatment with FOLFOX after surgery. Research shows that this treatment regimen helps prevent recurrence for some – but not all – patients with stage III colon cancer.  A clinical trial has been launched to answer two questions about this current standard of care:

1. Will recurrence rates go down if both FOLFOX and celecoxib (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug similar to aspirin) are used for treatment?

2.  Will recurrence rates stay the same and long term side effects decrease if FOLFOX is used for three months?

Read the rest of this entry »

The X-PECT phase III clinical trial has finished recruiting over 430 patients, evaluating perifosine treatment for patients with advanced colorectal cancer who have exhausted standard treatments.

The trial compares the effectiveness of adding perifosine to Xeloda® (capecitabine).

Led by Johanna Bendell, M.D., from the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, TN, the trial is being conducted at 65 sites in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

Leading colorectal cancer advocacy organizations Colon Cancer Alliance and Fight Colorectal Cancer announced that they are teaming up on an initiative to encourage patients with colorectal cancer to take charge of their diagnosis and learn about clinical trials.

The Colorectal Cancer Clinical Trial Call to Action campaign matches colorectal cancer patients with currently recruiting clinical trials based on their individual medical situation. The easy-to-use resources, powered by EmergingMed, help patients discuss with their doctor clinical trials that may be appropriate for them.  The personalized service is free, confidential, and available to patients, loved ones and healthcare professionals.

“Patients who participate in clinical trials also help further colorectal cancer research,” said Carlea Bauman, President of Fight Colorectal Cancer. “Today’s clinical trial could be tomorrow’s standard treatment. Unfortunately the process of finding an appropriate trial can be mind-boggling to patients, which is why Fight Colorectal Cancer is pleased to join with EmergingMed and the Colon Cancer Alliance on this vital program.”

Read the entire press release from EmergingMed, Fight Colorectal Cancer and the Colon Cancer Alliance.

Are you done — or almost done — with your treatment for colon cancer?

Will you help answer a question about how to help colon cancer survivors  increase their physical activity?

You’ll learn more about colon cancer and may be randomly assigned to a special interactive program that is designed to help recovering colon cancer patients develop a healthy lifestyle.

The Survivorship Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) study is available in centers in Wisconsin, Texas, North Carolina, and Connecticut.  To be part of the research, you need to have completed treatment for stage I, II, or III colon cancer within the past 12 months.  Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Lenz

Because of the overwhelming response to my earlier post on PRI724, I wanted to clarify a little bit more about this trial and other trials available for patients with advanced colorectal cancer who have received all standard of care regimens including FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, Avastin and Erbitux (if they were wild-type KRAS).

Of course we will have PRI724. The reason we are so excited because it is the first in class to inhibit a pathway so essential for colon cancer stem cells.

The IND is filed at the FDA, which means we need to wait 30 days for the FDA to respond. If they have concerns, we need to answer them. When they agree, we will go ahead to get institutional review board (IRB) approval. We already have scientific approval from the Cancer Center Scientific Review. Once we have IRB approval we are ready to go.

In the first phase any solid tumor is eligible. However, phase I trials are heavily regulated, so patients need to meet eligibility criteria, which means almost normal function of renal, liver, blood etc. They have to be in reasonable shape (able to do their daily activities). We anticipate that this trial may open at the beginning of November. Read the rest of this entry »