J&J Loses $110 Million Verdict Over Talc Cancer-Link Claim

May 10, 2017 6:46 pm

Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a St. Louis jury to pay more than $110 million to a Virginia woman who blamed her ovarian cancer on the company’s talcum products.

Imerys Talc America, which provided the talc to J&J, was … Read more

Adding Bevacizumab to Chemo May Prolong Survival

May 8, 2017 8:58 pm

Adding bevacizumab to platinum-based chemotherapy may improve survival among women with recurrent ovarian cancer, according to a study published in Lancet Oncology.1

Bevacizumab is emerging as an effective strategy as a first-line or maintenance therapy for recurrent ovarian … Read more

Combination Therapy Could Provide New Treatment Option For Ovarian Cancer

May 5, 2017 4:05 pm

Researchers have been trying to understand why up to 85 percent of women experience recurrence of high-grade serous ovarian cancer — the most common subtype of ovarian cancer — after standard treatment with the chemotherapy drug carboplatin.

Preclinical research from … Read more

Ending a Dry Spell of Years Without Treatment for Ovarian Cancer

May 3, 2017 7:04 pm

Teri Woodhull is decidedly proactive. A strong family history of breast cancer led her to undergo a preventive bilateral mastectomy at age 30. Seventeen years later, she was diagnosed with stage 3b high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer.

“I do have … Read more

Study Supports Risk-Reducing Salpingo-Oophorectomy

April 24, 2017 12:25 am

A large hereditary cancer study supports National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidance to consider risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) between ages 45 and 50 years for women with BRIP1, RAD51C, or RAD51D mutations, Lydia Usha, MD, said at the annual meeting of the … Read more

Recruitment Begins for World’s First Ovarian Cancer Vaccine Trial

April 21, 2017 6:16 pm

UConn Health is beginning to recruit patients for the world’s first personalized genomics-driven ovarian cancer vaccine clinical trial. The goal: to prevent an often deadly relapse of the disease in women diagnosed at advanced stages.

The pioneering injectable vaccine OncoImmunome … Read more

Hypertension Linked to Better Outcomes for Subset of Ovarian Cancer Patients

April 20, 2017 1:54 am

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, may come with a plus side, at least for a subset of women with ovarian cancer. New research from epidemiologists at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control, provides evidence … Read more

PARP Inhibitor Approvals Offer Ovarian Cancer Patients New Hope

April 18, 2017 5:20 pm

The ovarian cancer treatment paradigm underwent another transformation near the end of 2016 with the FDA approval of the PARP inhibitor rucaparib (Rubraca) for patients with BRCA-positive advanced ovarian cancer who have received at least 2 prior lines of … Read more

Expert Discusses Surgery’s Evolving Role in Ovarian Cancer

April 14, 2017 7:03 pm

Surgical resection continues to be useful in treating patients with advanced ovarian cancer, according to Shana Wingo, M.D.

Whether a treatment plan includes cytoreduction upfront or neoadjuvant chemotherapy, patients with advanced disease are likely to benefit from surgical approaches that … Read more

The Healing Power of Writing About Cancer

April 11, 2017 7:15 pm

In her recent book, Reading & Writing Cancer: How Words Heal, Susan Gubar explores the various ways reading and writing about cancer can be a valuable, often therapeutic, tool for patients with cancer. Whether it’s writing a memoir, engaging … Read more

The Importance of Sharing Our Stories

April 5, 2017 6:45 pm

By: Annette McElhiney

When I was growing up in the 1950s, none of my immediate family, but many neighbors, distant relatives and acquaintances had cancer. Somehow, a cancer diagnosis always elicited silence, sadness, grief, and dread. Then, some people even … Read more

New Imaging Test Can Show Key Enzyme in Ovarian Cancer to Help Guide Treatment

April 3, 2017 9:09 pm

A new imaging test may provide the ability to identify ovarian cancer patients who are candidates for an emerging treatment that targets a key enzyme cancer cells need to survive. Currently, epithelial ovarian cancer patients with BRCA1 mutations are considered … Read more

Research Into Talcum Powder–Ovarian Cancer Link

March 31, 2017 4:38 am

An estimated 22,000 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year, and mortality rates are high if the disease is not caught and treated early.

Members of the clinical community have attempted to identify modifiable … Read more

Niraparib Approved for Ovarian Cancer Maintenance Tx

March 27, 2017 4:33 am

Niraparib (Zejula, Tesaro) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the maintenance treatment of recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer in patients who are in complete or partial … Read more

Immunotherapy Motolimod Fails to Improve Survival in Ovarian Cancer

March 24, 2017 4:29 am

The addition of the immune therapy motolimod to pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) failed to improve overall survival among women with recurrent epithelial ovarian carcinoma in a randomized phase II trial. There was a survival advantage, however, specifically in patients who … Read more

Olaparib Maintenance Therapy Boosts PFS in Ovarian Cancer

March 21, 2017 4:23 am

Maintenance treatment with olaparib (Lynparza, AstraZeneca) can significantly extend progression-free survival (PFS) in a subset of patients with ovarian cancer.

The results of a phase 3 trial showed that in patients with germline BRCA-mutated, platinum-sensitive, relapsed ovarian … Read more