According to a study that appeared online in the January 22 issue of Lancet Oncology, patients taking Nexavar® (sorafenib) need to be carefully monitored and treated.
In clinical testing, Nexavar improved overall survival by 44 percent among people with HCC. Median overall survival was 10.7 months among those treated with the drug, versus 7.9 months among those who took a placebo. This was considered a major inroad against one of the most voracious cancers.
Nexavar is also being assessed to treat small-cell lung cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma.Earlier trials, however, had shown a 16 percent to 42.6 percent incidence of hypertension in …read more

Compared to either agent alone, the combination of interferon alpha and sorafenib has been found to work better for patients with renal cell carcinoma –the common form of kidney cancer.
Such were the findings of a pilot study led by Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers.
According to Jared Gollob, M.D., an oncologist at Duke and lead investigator on the study:
“We found that by combining a drug that enlists the immune system’s help in combating cancer with one that cuts off a tumor’s blood supply, we could substantially increase patients’ response rates to treatment.
Most tumors that respond to either therapy alone begin …read more

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals’ new kidney cancer drug Torisel™ (temsirolimus) has recently been approved by the FDA for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma – a type of advanced kidney cancer.
Torisel™ is an enzyme inhibitor (mTOR inhibitor to be exact) whose FDA approval came following results of prolonged survival in renal cell carcinoma patients.
According to Dr. Steven Galson, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research:
“We have made significant advances in the battle against kidney cancer. Torisel is the third drug approved for this indication in the past 18 months, and one that shows an increased time in survival for …read more

Regardless of the type of alcoholic beverage (beer wine, liquor) – in both men and women – drinking at least an average of one alcoholic beverage a day was found associated with a 30% reduction in renal cancer risk.
Such is the result of an analysis of 12 prospective studies of alcohol consumption among renal cancer patients, conducted by a team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston led by Jung Eun Lee, Sc.D.
Wait a minute. We shouldn’t be dancing the dance of joy and drink like there’s no tomorrow.
According to the study’s authors:
“However, because alcohol drinking …read more

According to a new study published online October 20, 2006 in the International Journal of Cancer (the official journal of the International Union Against Cancer or UICC), there is a significant link between high bread consumption and renal cell carcinoma and that eating a lot of pasta and rice may also raise the risk, while eating many vegetables may lower the risk.
Such were the findings of a case-control study of more than 2300 Italians led by Francesca Bravi of the Institute of Pharmacological Research “Mario Negri” in Milan.
Accounting for 2 % of all adult cancers, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the …read more