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Posts with tag Oxaliplatin
Posted Jul 19th 2007 8:51PM by Martha Edwards
Filed under: Drug, Colon and Rectal Cancer, Daily news
It's good news if you live in Alberta, like I do, or even if you don't, it's a step in the right direction on a larger scale:
The cost of a very pricey colon cancer treatment will be footed by the government at an expense of $7M per year. The place I live in is notorious for putting healthcare on the backburner and making more money for already-wealthy oil executives on the front burner, so I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that at least some patients in this messed-up system get the treatment they deserve at the expense of the government. Sorry -- rant over.
The drug in question is called Oxaliplatin and it's been shown to be an extremely effective tool in fighting colorectal cancer. In the wake of announcements like this, not to mention eye-opening movies like
Sicko, I hope North America is heading in the right direction -- and dying or gravely ill patients won't be denied access to the drugs that could save their lives.
Posted Jun 12th 2007 7:30PM by Kristina Collins
Filed under: Chemotherapy, Colon and Rectal Cancer, Clinical Trials, Research
At the 2007 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, results were presented from a clinical trial that stated -- Continuous maintenance therapy may improve survival among patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
Maintenance therapy is used when a patient's cancer is stable and not exhibiting signs of progression. Researchers want to find a way to improve survival, but they also want to find a program that is not too intense and will have limited side effects.
This brings us to the study that was done on 202 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The patients were split in two groups, one group received continuous maintenance chemotherapy with a drug called Eloxatin (oxaliplatin). The second group was only treated again with chemotherapy once their cancer had started to progress.
Continue reading Metastatic colorectal cancer and maintenance therapy
Posted Dec 13th 2006 9:00AM by Jacki Donaldson
Filed under: Drug, Colon and Rectal Cancer, Research, Daily news
The latest Phase III study of Roche's cancer treatment Xeloda -- featuring 627 previously treated colorectal patients -- has reached its primary endpoint of progression-free survival.
Study results show that the chemotherapy combination XELOX (Xeloda plus oxaliplatin) was as effective as the combination FOLFOX-4 (infused 5-FU/leucovorin plus oxaliplatin) in delaying disease progression -- a result that will be used in worldwide submissions of the drug.
Xeloda, an oral chemotherapy agent that can be taken at home, is already used in previously untreated colorectal cancer patients. It has also been approved for treatment of early stage colon cancer and for breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
