Responding to the interim decision by NICE not to recommend bevacizumab (Avastin) as a treatment for metastic colorectal cancer, Mike Hobday, Head of Policy at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘We think this is devastating news for cancer patients with metastic colorectal cancer, especially as this drug could have a significant impact on peoples’ quality of life. Although a few extra weeks or months might not sound much to some people it can mean an awful lot to a family affected by cancer…

Viatronix Incorporated, a Stony Brook, New York, based company announced the release of the latest version of its leading edge V3D-Colon software with the option to have the industry’s first FDA 510(k) approved colon CAD, VeraLook™ by iCAD. “We believe colon CAD when integrated with our latest V3D-Colon module provides the reading physician a distinct advantage along with an additional level of confidence,” said Zaffar Hayat, President and CEO of Viatronix Incorporated…

Etubics Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company developing “next generation” vector vaccines, has entered into Phase I trials at Duke University with its ETBX-011, a therapeutic vaccine candidate that is intended to treat Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA)-expressing cancers such as colorectal cancer. Etubics dosed its first patient yesterday. Etubics was recently granted clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Investigational New Drug (IND) application to begin studying ETBX-011 in humans. Michael Morse, M.D…

A recent questionnaire submitted to a group of patients at one of the nation’s largest general hospitals suggests that a significant number of patients, who have previously refused colorectal cancer screening, are willing to undergo computed tomography colonography (CTC) (or virtual colonoscopy), but not willing to pay for the exam themselves when not covered by insurance, according to a study in the August issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. Noninvasive CTC is increasingly being considered for colorectal cancer screening…

A team of scientists at GE Global Research, the technology development arm for the GE (NYSE: GE), has launched a study with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, (MSKCC) one of the world’s premier cancer centers, to better understand the early stages of colon cancer. The goal is to yield new insights that improve treatment selection and outcomes for cancer patients in the future. “Information is one of the best weapons we have in the fight against cancer,” said John Burczak, Chief Scientist for Molecular Imaging at GE Global Research…

The INTEGRIS Cancer Institute of Oklahoma and the ProCure Proton Therapy Center announce a breakthrough treatment approach for anal canal cancer. For the first time in the United States proton therapy is now being used to treat this type of cancer. “In the past, patients with gastrointestinal cancers, specifically those in the pelvis, have rarely had proton therapy as an option because the required field size and depths were too large. By using protons and uniform scanning technology, we can overcome these obstacles,” explains Sameer Keole, M.D…

ATLANTA (MedPage Today) — Universal screening for colorectal cancer could prevent 32,000 deaths a year — but not enough people are being screened, according to a study of recent trends in screening for colon and breast cancer.

The bowel cancer screening test is significantly less likely to pick up cancerous changes in summer than it is in winter, shows research published online in the journal Gut. This could have significant implications for the risk of interval cancers - malignancies that develop between screenings - say the authors, who point out that this is the first research to highlight the impact of temperature on the screening test’s accuracy. Bowel cancer screening relies on the detection of blood hidden in a stool sample - a procedure referred to as the faecal occult blood test, or FOBT for short…

Scancell Holdings Plc, (PLUS:SCLP), the developer of therapeutic cancer vaccines, announces a research collaboration with immatics biotechnologies GmbH (”immatics”) to explore the development of novel ImmunoBody® vaccines for colorectal cancer. Immatics discovers and develops tumor-associated peptides (TUMAPs) for the immunotherapy of cancer. TUMAPs with the highest specificity for particular cancers are identified directly from primary human tumour tissue samples…

Endoscopic resection of large sessile colorectal polyps is increasingly used as an alternative to surgery, but remains challenging because of its technical difficulty, the high risk of complications such as bleeding or perforation, and the possibility of coexisting malignancy. This research, lead by Dr. Sohn DK and his colleagues at the National Cancer Center, Korea, demonstrated the safety of endoscopic piecemeal resection (EPMR) for large sessile colorectal polyps and the research has recently been published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology…