Stand Up To Cancer

We appreciated Elizabeth Edwards' tribute to Tony Snow in this week's issue of Newsweek. It's a touching eulogy for a man she considered a friend, but it's also a call for change.

"Tony Snow has died. A young man (with my next birthday being number sixty, I am entitled to the folly of calling a fifty-three year old 'young'), with a facile mind, an easy smile, and a quick wit; a man who had a perpetual twinkle in his eye when he was doing what he was born to do; a man who loved his wife and his children; a man who loved politics and maybe a little more loved the verbal sparring that comes with politics well-played; a man who desperately did not want to die. And when he died, I cried. I know I cried not just for him, but--filled with fear--for myself as well. The diagnoses of our cancer recurrences ('recurrences' being one of those misnomers we simply endure) tumbled out upon one another by days, and I felt--and feel-- connected to a man who loved what I loved, although we came to nearly every argument from opposite corners of the ring.

"Last week--when Tony was still alive and I was not so afraid--I rode my bicycle in a small Fourth of July parade at the beach to which we have gone for close to two decades. When I got to the celebration and stepped off the bicycle, an older man approached me. I hope you are doing well, he said, and then he added--oddly, it is more often the case that people do feel obliged to confess the gap between us--'although we don't agree on much of anything.' I thanked him for his good wishes and then I added--as I often do--'and I suspect we agree on more than you think.' He smiled, I smiled, and that was that. And then Tony died. And I thought more about the things on which we agree and the things on which we disagree. And as with my parade companion, I suspect Tony and I agreed on more things that we might have guessed.

"We each chose to reach for something larger than the life and body with which we were saddled when we kept our course after the last diagnoses. We did it because we thought it was important and because (although it is chic to say that one detests politics) we actually loved the give and take it, the struggle to find what you think is right and the imperative to make others understand and agree. But what, in the end, does it tell us about what we each found to be really important? I am guessing it is not school vouchers or the expensing of stock options or class action lawsuits about salacious material in video games. It was that woman who stood with him years before and promised to love him in sickness and in health; it was those children, whose births marked the very best days of his life. And it isn't so different for any of us, is it? Not for the rich man or the poor man, for the Ethopian or the Thai or the Oregonian. So why do we have such trouble turning what we have in common into common cause? There will always be fault lines where we just disagree, but can't we find--maybe in our founding documents--the things on which we do agree and work from there instead of starting always, always perched as soldiers along those fault lines?

"We hear the words of common cause recited. We even felt it as a nation--maybe as a planet--after the horrors of September 11th made us forget whom we supposed to hate. But the finely worded leaflet blows away in the wind, or the calendar pages turn. And we are back where we always were.

Three of the captives who were released after five and a half years in Colombia were interviewed this past week. We had a great deal of time, they said, to examine our former selves--our conduct, our values, our choices--and we now know something none of you can know about what really matters. And we are different today because we know. Is that the only way we get to the point of dropping our guard, our weaponry? The horrors of September 11th, half a decade in captivity, the guillotine of a fatal disease over our heads? It cannot be. We cannot let it be.

"Tony Snow has died. And lots of people who valued the same things Tony did--a family well-loved and work well-done--have died and will die of colon cancer, those who have preceded Tony and those who will follow him. Can't we start with something easy on which we can agree? That no one should die of a disease we can find and stop? And when we agree--and agree to do something about it--then we can move on toward those fault lines, like Tony, not taking no for an answer."

To view the piece in its original context, visit Newsweek's website.

Posted on July 17, 2008 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

SU2C was in Chicago on Monday to pump up the crowd at US Cellular Field and shoot part of the opening segment for the TV show (but shhhhh, we didn't tell you that!). Tribune busybody Fred Mitchell noted in his "Around Town" column that cancer survivors Lance Armstrong and Elizabeth Edwards were both spotted at the ballpark:

"'If you asked me 11 years ago if you would see me sitting here and we would still be facing this epidemic, I would say no,' Armstrong said after filming the segment. 'I would have been optimistic and said, I want to be cured. And I suspect everyone else will be too. But we haven't. And the numbers are still startling.'"

Amen. A more extensive piece in the Sun-Times also mentioned the inspiring words of SU2C ally Elizabeth Edwards:

"The newest statistics show one in two men and one in three women will get the disease.
"'I was delighted to have Lance ask me to participate in this,' said Edwards, a vocal advocate for health-care reform. 'You see people [like Thomas] who look the picture of life, but cancer is part of their life. I meet people from every walk of life, but for the ones who have cancer, we become connected in a deep and intimate way.'"

We also popped up on the Chicago news, meaning you can get a little glimpse of the goings-on at "the Cell" online:
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=46944@wbbm.dayport.com

Thanks for the glowing reception, Chi Town!

Posted on July 23, 2008 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Believe it or not Stand Up To Caner had a presence at this year's Comic-Con, the largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world. No, we didn't release a comic book about our adventures standing up to cancer (although that could be interesting). Instead, Carlton Cuse, writer and executive producer of the popular ABC show, Lost, so kindly mentioned our movement to the packed audience during his Saturday panel with actor Matthew Fox.

Carlton and fellow executive producer Damon Lindelof told their watching fans that they were donating 100% of the proceeds from the sale of cast autographs as well as a VIP trip to the set of Lost to Stand Up To Cancer via an auction at LiveAutographs.com.

Click on the video to see the excerpt from the panel:

-- Tara, www.tarametblog.com

Posted on July 29, 2008 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night, the Kitson clothing studio in West Hollywood, debuted the MUXO handbag collection designed by Brazilian born model Camila Alves (Matthew McConaughey's girlfriend). Camila has kindly selected Stand Up To Cancer as her charity and will soon be releasing a special SU2C handbag where a portion of the sales proceeds will benefit our organization. We'll keep you posted on this.

For those wondering what's MUXO? It means "Goddess of the Water" in an African language and that name is embossed into the leather of each of her rustic hand, clutch and travel bags. Each is hand crafted using the finest Brazilian leathers and hardware, for a glamorous look that is both elegant and casual.

The launch party featured Stand Up To Cancer signage, which stars like Perez Hilton, Camile Alves and Matthew McConaughey posed in front of:

-- Tara, www.tarametblog.com

Posted on August 11, 2008 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In the run-up to the big show last week and in its aftermath, lots of news outlets stepped up to give the issues surrounding cancer proper context and attention. Below are several highlight passages from a piece in the latest edition of Time magazine by Bill Saporito, a cancer survivor himself. To read the entire article, pick up the September 15th issue of Time this week or click here.

"For an increasing number of cancer activists, researchers and patients, there is too much death and too much waiting for new drugs and therapies. They want a greater sense of urgency, a new approach that emphasizes translational research over basic research--turning knowledge into therapies and getting them to patients pronto. The problem is, that's not the way our sclerotic research paradigm--principally administered by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI)--is set up. "The fact that we jump up and down when cancer deaths go from 562,000 to 561,000, that's ridiculous. That's not enough," says Lance Armstrong, 36, the cyclist and cancer survivor turned activist through his Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF).

"A new and more radical approach is being taken by groups like the newly formed Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), which plans to finance research designed to deliver big leaps and home runs rather than the incremental improvements that are more typical of mainstream science. The new focus for funding grants, said Dr. Eric Winer, chief scientific adviser to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, in a conference address, is results: "What we want to see is research that is going to change the number of women that are diagnosed with, or more importantly, die of, breast cancer within the foreseeable future." Others, like the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), are trying a no-nonsense business model to speed drug development.

"Doctors and scientists understand the frustration and the fear, and they don't necessarily mind the nudge. "We do need to change. Something needs to be done differently," says Tyler Jacks, director of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. "We have a lot of new insight, and we need to have a whole new collection of drugs, a new armamentarium."

***********************

"The New Paradigm

"These are precisely the kinds of challenges that gave rise to Stand Up to Cancer, the advocacy group organized by CBS newscaster Katie Couric and eight other women, all of them connected to Hollywood, including Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin, who has breast cancer. Says Couric, who lost her husband and sister to cancer: "It was clear to me and other people that this borders on the ridiculous. You ask yourself: What can be done?" SU2C has a scheduled Sept. 5 launch with an unprecedented three-network simulcast, hosted by Couric, Brian Williams and Charles Gibson. It features a roster of stars, including a performance by cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge and a film by Errol Morris (who produced Standard Operating Procedure, an acclaimed documentary about Abu Ghraib abuses). "I will make you laugh," says Ziskin, who produced the show. "I will definitely make you cry." But so, too, would any name-your-disease telethon.

"It's what happens next that is different. SU2C will not distribute funds to research institutions. Instead, it will assemble dream teams of scientists across disciplines and institutions, and they will work collaboratively on projects designed to deliver a product of sorts--as opposed to an academic paper--within a defined time period. Says Ziskin: "They can only get funded if they can produce a treatment."

"To vet and choose the projects, SU2C has recruited a high-powered scientific advisory committee chaired by Phillip Sharp, a Nobel Prize--winning cancer researcher at MIT. The selected projects will then be monitored by the American Association for Cancer Research. "What I hope to do is identify areas where we could accelerate progress, particularly in areas where there's need--ovarian, pancreatic, glioblastoma," says Sharp.

"Additionally, 20% of the funds raised will go to higher-risk projects with potentially greater paybacks. It's a science version of throwing it long. "If you run the same play every time, you're not going to win the game," says Armstrong. One of SU2C's advisers was the late Judah Folkman, a famed cancer scientist whose pathbreaking theory that tumors grow via angiogenesis (creating their own blood supply) was resisted for decades. "There may be other Judah Folkmans out there," says Ziskin. "We don't want them wandering around for 40 years."

"SU2C is not the only independent group shaking things up. The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation used a pay-for-results funding model that has more to do with Silicon Valley than Big Pharma to support research that in four years got four new treatments to patients--Thalomid, Velcade, Revlimid and Doxil. That's about six years faster than the decade it usually takes for such drug development and rollout. Multiple myeloma is a rare cancer of the bone marrow that sickens about 20,000 Americans each year--precisely the uncommon form of the disease that often falls into the research cracks. The MMRF benefited from the aggressive work of founder Kathy Giusti, a multiple-myeloma survivor and former pharmaceutical executive. When she and her group first raised enough money to start funding research, she faced a feeding frenzy of research applicants. "They will do what they have to do to get grant money. They're desperate," she says.

"The MMRF made sure it got the most from its grant dollars by adopting an enforced-collaboration model in 2004, linking work at four cancer centers into a consortium managed by PricewaterhouseCoopers and providing them all with patients, tissue samples and a set of targets and goals. "The odds of a cure coming from one center are nil," Giusti says. "You need a mutual fund to fight cancer." From not having a single drug in the pipeline, the MMRF now has 30, half of them in clinical trials. The average lifespan of a multiple-myeloma patient has been extended by three years, to seven.

"If the MMRF model works for a single, specialized cancer, it's not clear that a group like Stand Up to Cancer--which is casting a far wider research net--will show the same results. But clinicians say it's worth trying. "There needs to be a mechanism whereby we can bring groups of people together from different institutions in one group," says DuBois, who is part of SU2C's scientific panel. At the same time, there is hope that the 20% of grants SU2C is setting aside for outside-the-box research will yield something semimiraculous."

To read this article in it's entirety, go to:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1838776,00.html

Posted on September 11, 2008 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Patty Franchi Flaherty, a lifetime Massachusetts resident and community pillar of Natick, lost her courageous 9-year battle with ovarian cancer and died peacefully at home on August 18, 2008, surrounded by family and friends.

Patty was a native of Weston who graduated from Bentley College in Waltham. Afterward, she joined Natick-based Franchi Management Company, Inc., where she worked for over 30 years overseeing all business operations alongside her brother Louis Franchi. She was also a long-standing trustee at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in early 1999, Patty lived 9 years before succumbing to the same disease that took her mother Madeline's life 25 years earlier. After a promising remission, the cancer resurfaced in 2005 as a 6-centimeter tumor in Patty's pelvic area. Frustrated by how little ovarian cancer diagnosis and treatment had changed in a quarter-century, Patty was certain that she wasn't alone in her fight with ovarian cancer or in her frustration over medical insufficiencies. She was determined to help improve the odds for all ovarian cancer patients.

In early 2006, Patty co-hosted the Stuart Weitzman Fashion Show and Luncheon as a fundraiser. Proceeds from the show helped fund the Madeline Franchi Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Then, with the help and support of her dearest friends, Patty launched a non-profit organization called Ovations for the Cure to fuel other research initiatives around the country and actively change the face of ovarian cancer.

In the 9 years she lived with ovarian cancer, Patty Franchi Flaherty turned a very personal crusade into a meaningful legacy for all women facing the disease. Thanks to Patty, women can now share information the likes of which her mother never had, and have hope where before there had been none. In just over 3 years' time, Patty led Ovations' growth from a lingering idea to a thriving organization--with momentum that continues to build across North America.

In July of 2008, The Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts awarded Patty its highest community honor, the prestigious Brandeis Award, which Patty's husband Paul accepted on her behalf. The award pays homage to Justice Louis Brandeis and his defense of the rights of individuals, and was given to Patty in recognition of her innovation, bravery, and commitment to furthering the research and awareness of ovarian cancer.

Known for her unshakable determination, Patty turned her mission to beat ovarian cancer into a nationwide entity with palpable impact. In so doing, she created a living legacy of hope for everyone who faces the disease. Patty's personal contributions to the fight against ovarian cancer have earned her a champion's status in the hearts of those she has forever touched.

Creating a brighter future

Compared with other diseases making headlines today, ovarian cancer is far from attention-grabbing. Its foremost symptoms are so common and nonspecific that they are often mistaken for something else, if not ignored. Meanwhile, early detection methods are still in their infancy and late-stage diagnosis makes for only a limited number of successfully treated patients. Perhaps most surprisingly, ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate of all gynecologic cancers, and yet more tax dollars are spent fighting more prevalent diseases with significantly lesser mortality rates.

Contributing to the high mortality rates of ovarian cancer is the lack of accurate screening and clear symptoms. As a result, only 19 percent of cases are detected before the cancer has spread beyond the ovaries, when treatment options are limited.

"Ovarian cancer is often misunderstood, misinterpreted, and unfortunately misdiagnosed," said Dr. Ursula Matulonis, attending physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital and medical advisor to Ovations for the Cure.

"In an effort to overcome this silent killer, Ovations for the Cure is dedicated to supporting cancer research centers to find accurate and early detection screenings. If caught in the early stages of diagnosis, ovarian cancer patients have a 90 percent chance of survival beyond five years and increased odds of beating the disease," Matulonis added.

"Ovations for the Cure has helped change the dynamics of the medical profession by contributing valuable research funds for detection and treatment while educating women on its subtle symptoms."

Today, Ovations continues to help make miracles possible for all women with ovarian cancer by shedding light on a disease that is still full of darkness. They have launched an aggressive ovarian cancer educational program, distributing awareness brochures to more than 3,000 physicians' offices across the nation. Additionally, the development of their television and radio public service announcements outlining ovarian cancer symptoms has helped women identify the disease before it spreads to advanced stages. By spring of 2008, Ovations had already donated nearly one million dollars to ovarian cancer initiatives through Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, City of Hope Hospital in L.A., and the University of Pennsylvania.

From loss to legacy

"Patty started Ovations for the Cure with the idea of saving women from this horrible disease," said Debbie Soprano, one of Patty's closest friends and first Executive Director of Ovations for the Cure. "While she could not save herself, her everlasting optimism and spirit will forever lead the fight against ovarian cancer until we find a cure."

Patty Franchi Flaherty may have lost her own battle against ovarian cancer, yet through Ovations for the Cure, she'll continue to help thousands of women to win the war.

For more information about ovarian cancer visit www.ovationsforthecure.org.

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. To learn more, visit ovariancancer.org.

- Cat, SU2C.org

Posted on September 29, 2008 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SU2C is building a movement - and we couldn't do it without the generosity of the American people, who can always find a few dollars to spare for a good cause even in tough economic times like these.

Of course, sometimes a cash windfall comes from an unexpected source. Just ask Casey Taylor, the college student from Austin who was surprised to find an Olympic gold medal in a velvet box under her seat on an airplane. Taylor reunited the medal with its owner, swimmer Brendan Hansen, and in return was awarded $8,000. So what did she do? Donate half to the Red Cross and half to SU2C! Check out a video from the Today Show in SUTV (under Uprising) to learn more.

Thanks, Casey - your generosity is definitely appreciated!

Posted on October 8, 2008 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

With the 2008 presidential election just a week away, do you know the candidates' stance on health care in general and cancer in particular? Both Senator McCain and Senator Obama have pledged to increase federal funding for cancer research, among other measures, and both have sections on their websites dedicated to their plans. Check 'em out:

McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com/issues/healthcare/fc.htm
"He will work to better coordinate the efforts between the government sector and the private sector, especially with a focus on translational research so new discoveries in laboratories can be translated quickly and more efficiently to patients' bedsides . . . Importantly, John McCain recognizes the need to understand the reasons behind the onset of cancer are just as important as the research to treat it. He has co-sponsored legislation that would create research centers that would study environmental factors that may be related to the etiology of breast cancer."

Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/healthcare/Fact_Sheet_Cancer_FINAL.pdf
"Their plan will provide additional funding for research on rare cancers and those without effective treatment options; for the study of health disparities and evaluation of possible interventions; and efforts to better understand genetic factors that can impact cancer onset and outcomes . . . When cancer patients and cancer survivors change health insurance plans, their new insurance companies currently have the ability to deny them insurance benefits because of their "preexisting" condition. The Obama-Biden plan will end insurance company discrimination."


Oh, and in case you missed it, both senators took a few minutes to summarize their plans for SU2C:

To watch the full September 5th Special, click here.

Happy voting!

Posted on October 28, 2008 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Have you heard yet about Alec Greven, the country's teensiest relationship expert? The Colorado nine-year-old is the author of "How To Talk To Girls," a new book of dating advice featuring such timeless and universal gems as "Most girls don't really like bugs and gross things" and "Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil."

Well, now it looks like the little Romeo has a new move to add to his playbook: "Donate money to charity." (Girls LOVE it!) During his appearance on the Today Show last week, Alec announced that he will use some of the money he earns from this book to donate to Stand Up To Cancer.

He has already started his own team on SU2C.org:
The Giving Team
and has already made a $10,000 donation to his team!

Check out some of Alec's advice in his own words:

Thanks so much, Alec - we definitely appreciate your help!

Posted on December 9, 2008 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

On Tuesday President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. The stimulus package includes $10 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health, which in turn funds the majority of cancer research in the US.

Thanks to everyone in the SU2C community who took time out of their lives to e-mail their senators about the importance of this funding. Grassroots support makes a big difference in the fight against cancer!

Posted on February 18, 2009 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued a statement regarding a government-funded panel's new mammography recommendations, as the Secretary aimed to address "the great deal of confusion and worry among women and their families across this country."

The statement came in the wake of Monday's release of new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations on breast cancer screenings and widespread news coverage of the recommendations, as well as reaction from the cancer community and advocacy groups like the American Cancer Society. In her statement, Secretary Sebelius makes clear that the Task Force's recommendations are not a reflection of federal policy, that the policy on breast cancer screenings remains unchanged, and that the recommendations are simply evidence for consideration and further study.

Most importantly, she advised women to "talk to your doctor about your individual history, ask questions, and make the decision that is right for you."

The Secretary also pointed to the "great need for more evidence, more research and more scientific innovation to help women prevent, detect, and fight breast cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths among women."

Your contributions to Stand Up To Cancer have enabled scientists to collaborate on precisely that type of innovative research. Two of the five Dream Teams we have funded thus far have a significant focus on breast cancer. Their work, coupled with that of their colleagues on the other three teams, has the potential to lead to better screening tests and better therapies; tools that will make diagnosis and treatment more reliable, more comprehensive, more precise, more targeted and more effective for many cancer types.

With the controversy about screening casting a glaring spotlight on the need for such research, we wanted to take a moment and express our profound gratitude for your support.

--

Here's the full text of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's statement on breast cancer screenings:

"There is no question that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations have caused a great deal of confusion and worry among women and their families across this country. I want to address that confusion head on. The U.S. Preventive Task Force is an outside independent panel of doctors and scientists who make recommendations. They do not set federal policy and they don't determine what services are covered by the federal government.

"There has been debate in this country for years about the age at which routine screening mammograms should begin, and how often they should be given. The Task Force has presented some new evidence for consideration but our policies remain unchanged. Indeed, I would be very surprised if any private insurance company changed its mammography coverage decisions as a result of this action.

"What is clear is that there is a great need for more evidence, more research and more scientific innovation to help women prevent, detect, and fight breast cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women.

"My message to women is simple. Mammograms have always been an important life-saving tool in the fight against breast cancer and they still are today. Keep doing what you have been doing for years -- talk to your doctor about your individual history, ask questions, and make the decision that is right for you."

Posted on November 19, 2009 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Highlights from the World's Leading Breast Cancer Meeting
December 9-13, 2009

This December, more than 8,400 people from 97 countries descended on San Antonio for the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, now in its 32nd year. What began as a small gathering of mostly local colleagues in a hotel has exploded into an international event that draws physicians, scientists, advocates and media from all over the world (58 percent of attendees this year were from outside the United States) to discuss the latest in breast cancer prevention and treatment.

Part small town and part city, San Antonio is quickly overwhelmed by the energy of late breaking science as groups of people speaking multiple languages huddle over abstracts and posters. Restaurants are filled with animated conversation, and even cabdrivers pose questions like, "so what do you think of the bisphosphonate research?" before you have time to suggest a destination.

Although breast cancer has many success stories, over 40,000 women died of this disease in the United States last year. Researchers are now coming to a greater understanding of the complexities of breast cancer, and realizing that it is not one disease but several with varying natural histories and prognoses. Scientists and clinicians are working to develop new, highly specific, targeted therapies that will be more effective and spare women the debilitating side effects associated with breast cancer treatment.

Here's a sampling of some of the exciting news that came out of this year's meeting, which is now jointly sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research (SU2C's scientific partner), the University of Texas Health Science Center and Baylor College of Medicine.

Five Year Data Support Herceptin's Role in Boosting Breast Cancer Survival

Dennis Slamon, M.D., Ph.D., director of clinical/translational research for the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Revlon Women's Cancer Research Program at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and a co-leader of a Stand Up To Cancer Dream Team, presented five year data on the efficacy of Herceptin in treating breast cancer.

Herceptin targets HER2, a gene associated with more aggressive breast cancer. Slamon's results showed significant improvement for women with early breast cancer treated with drug combinations that include Herceptin. Prior to the introduction of Herceptin, women with this gene had significantly shorter survival than those without it.

Based on the success of Herceptin, Slamon believes that fewer women should receive chemotherapy regimens that include anthracyclines because they contribute to higher rates of cardiac toxicity and acute leukemia. He acknowledged that this is controversial because anthracyclines have been a standard component of adjuvant chemotherapy for many years and his recommendations represent a departure from an approach that is credited with helping to lower the mortality rates from breast cancer. Yet in Slamon's view, women who get the anthracyclines are "paying a higher price in safety and getting little added benefit."

To learn more about Dr. Slamon's research, click here.

Bisphosphonates May Lower the Risk of Invasive Breast Cancers in Post-Menopausal Women

Millions of post-menopausal women take drugs known as bisphosphonates, sold as Fosamax and other brands, to increase their bone density and reduce their risk of osteoporosis. New studies presented at the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium indicate that taking these drugs may also reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer.

Rowan T. Chlebowski, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine at David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and chief of the Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, presented data from the Women's Health Initiative that showed women who took bisphosphonates had significantly fewer invasive breast cancers than women not using these drugs.

Previous studies have indicated that bisphosphonates reduce the number of recurrences and cancers in the other breast by as much as 30 percent. "These agents appear to make bone less hospitable to breast cancers," Chlebowski said.

To learn more about Dr. Chlebowski's research, click here.

New Approaches to Treating Metastatic Breast Cancer Show Encouraging Results

In at least one study that showed a real treatment effect, Kimberly Blackwell, M.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Clinical Trials Program in Breast Cancer at Duke University Medical Center, showed that women who received Herceptin along with Tykerb had improved overall survival of 14.5 months compared with nine months on Tykerb alone.

This is dramatic because these women had already failed on several Herceptin-containing regimens. The theory behind this approach is that the Herceptin and Tykerb together form a "total blockade" of the HER2 pathway, which is more effective than using either drug alone. The trial enrolled 296 women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

To learn more about Dr. Blackwell's research, click here.

--Diane Balma, executive director of SU2C

Posted on December 16, 2009 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)