Expert review of anticancer therapy
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Expert Rev Anticancer Ther · Aug 2013
ReviewPalonosetron for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) remains both a feared side effect of cancer treatment and a focus of many supportive care initiatives/guidelines. The class of medications known as serotonin receptor antagonists (5-HT3RAs) are integral in the prevention of CINV from both moderately and highly emetogenic chemotherapy. ⋯ This may allow palonosetron an advantage in control of CINV. This review article examines the available evidence, the pharmacokinetics and the safety and tolerability of palonosetron in the prevention of CINV.
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Pulmonary complications of antineoplastic therapy are common and are an important cause of respiratory morbidity. The pulmonary toxicity should be taken into account in every patient with respiratory problems who is or has been treated with antineoplastic agents. ⋯ The treatment of pulmonary abnormalities caused by chemotherapy is mostly supportive and based on cessation of the causative agent. However, the therapeutic options in oncology setting are usually limited thus the decision about changing the treatment should be taken with caution.
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The incidence of malignant melanoma is increasing annually. Early stages can be cured with surgical intervention but metastatic disease has generally had a dismal prognosis with few effective interventions. ⋯ Vemurafenib is an orally active, purposely designed mutant BRAF inhibitor, which has recently been shown to have a survival benefit measured in months in metastatic patients. In this article, the authors discuss the scientific rationale, drug development process and clinical trials that have led to vemurafenib becoming the first BRAF inhibitor approved for the treatment of patients with mutant BRAF metastatic melanoma.
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Expert Rev Anticancer Ther · Apr 2013
ReviewRegorafenib: carving a niche in the crowded therapeutic landscape.
The oral multikinase inhibitor regorafenib targets both tumor cell proliferation and vasculature and is active in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, for which the US FDA granted its approval in September 2012. The benefit for regorafenib was seen in these patients in most prespecified subgroups. The drug is also being used in other tumor types where it has shown exciting potential especially in gastrointestinal stromal tumors. ⋯ Common side effects include asthenia/tiredness, loss of appetite, hand-foot skin syndrome, diarrhea, mucositis, weight loss, infections, hypertension and rash. Serious adverse events to look out for are liver toxicity, hemorrhage and gastrointestinal perforation. Biomarker data should help us to optimize the use of these drugs to select which patients are most likely to benefit.