Updates from Oncology Meetings

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Updates from Oncology Meetings

Oncology & Biotech News

provides updates from major oncology meetings because symposia remain an important means for disseminating new data. It is our goal to have this information reach the community-based physician. In this month’s cover stories, we highlight two important meetings: 2007 Breast Cancer Symposium (in San Francisco) and the World Conference on Lung Cancer (in Korea). Both meetings provided a wealth of information on two prevalent cancers. Although there are several major breast cancer meetings held each year, the first annual 2007 Breast Cancer Symposium focused on translational science. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) co-sponsored the event, along with the American Society of Breast Disease, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the Society of Surgical Oncology. This meeting provided oncologists with the opportunity to discuss major developments in breast cancer treatment in a more intimate setting than the larger meetings.

Some of the more significant news from the 2007 Breast Cancer Symposium included new data on Pfizer’s Sutent showing promising activity in combination with paclitaxel for the first-line treatment of advanced breast cancer. The results of a Phase III trial comparing the combination of Eli Lilly’s Gemzar and paclitaxel with paclitaxel only in patients with unresectable, locally recurrent, or metastatic breast cancer were also presented. Median overall survival was shown to be significantly better for those patients receiving the combination therapy. Our coverage of the 2007 Breast Cancer Symposium can befound on pages 9 and 10.

The 12th World Conference on Lung Cancer was held in Seoul, Korea, and highlighted ongoing efforts to develop new and effective treatments for patients with non—small cell lung cancer as well as those with small-cell lung cancer. Our cover story highlights new data on cetuximab (Erbitux), gefitinib (Iressa), and erlotinib (Tarceva).

Also included in this issue are reports on recent developments from the American Head and Neck Society’s meeting (page 22) and our regular departments. If there is any information or topics you would like to see covered in the pages of this publication in future issues, please let us know. We welcome your feedback.