A cancer medication already available for other cancers, such as breast cancer, has now been given the FDA-go ahead to be used for a type of brain cancer, called glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
Senator Edward Kennedy was diagnosed last year with brain cancer called glioma. GBM is the most advanced of this type of brain cancer.
The FDA reported yesterday:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved Avastin (bevacizumab) to treat patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) when this form of brain cancer continues to progress following standard therapy.
GBM is a rapidly progressing cancer that invades brain tissue and can impact physical activities …read more

The experimental compound cyclopamine was previously known to shut down a critical cell-signaling pathway (Hedgehog) in the most common and aggressive type of adult brain cancer: glioblastoma multiforme.
Now, according to Johns Hopkins scientists, cyclopamine have been able to successfully kill cancer stem cells thought to fuel tumor growth and help cancers evade drug and radiation therapy.
According to Charles G. Eberhart, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pathology, ophthalmology and oncology, who led the work:
“Our study lends evidence to the idea that the lack of effective therapies for glioblastoma may be due to the survival of a rare population of cancer stem …read more