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FDA Approves Chemotherapy for Cervical CancerThe FDA has approved a two-drug combination for women with advanced cervical cancer who can't be treated with surgery or radiation.
The combination includes topotecan hydrochloride (Hycamtin) and cisplatin. Clinical trials suggested that it improves survival times over treatment with cisplatin alone. Patients will be given the drugs only if they have advanced cervical cancer (Stage IVB) or recurrent cancer that has spread to other organs and can't be treated with surgery or radiation therapy.
Pharmaceutical Sponsors Can Influence Physician Choices; Doctors Choose Their Drugs
Physicians in a trial sponsored by a pharmaceutical company prescribed the sponsor's drugs more frequently than other medications, a new study has found.
Morten Andersen, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, and colleagues examined how pharmaceutical sponsorship of clinical trials impacted physicians' practices in a trial examining use of asthma medication. The authors looked at 10 physician practices (5,439 patients) that were involved in the trial and 165 practices (59,574 patients) that were not.
The researchers found that physicians in the trial followed international guidelines for treating asthma patients. However, these physicians were more likely to prescribe the sponsor's asthma medications than other asthma medications. While both groups used more of the company's drug, an inhaled steroid, those in the trial had a greater increase over 2 years, from 74.8% to 81.5% in the trial group compared with 73.6% to 76.6% in the control group.
"Our study confirms the hypothesis that physician involvement in clinical trials is a powerful tool for influencing company-specific drug preferences," the authors write.
The study was published in the June 21 issue of JAMA.
Genetic Mutation Linked to Rare Adrenal Cancer
A rare cancer of the adrenal glands comes from a genetic mutation that deletes an important enzyme.
Constantine Stratakis, M.D., D.Sc., of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues examined the DNA of patients with a rare tumor of the adrenal glands, called micronodular adrenocortical hyperplasia. They found that several patients lacked a copy of a gene called PDE11A, which is responsible for blocking a cell's response to hormones and stopping cell division. The researchers suggest that mutated PDE11A is strongly associated with this adrenal tumor's development.
The study was published online June 11 in Nature Genetics.
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