Katherine O'Brien

I know I am not alone in still expecting one of her Facebook bulletins in all caps There were photos of Beth with her fellow Girl Scouts, high school friends, marching band friends and play group friends. There were college photos, wedding party photos and newborn baby photos and  epic family vacation photos. I must concede Beth’s knowledge was far more encyclopedic than mine–she could have hosted her own Turner Classic Movies show.

As the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) reported in this blog post: Dr. George Sledge presented new data from Monarch 2 that showed the addition of abemaciclib improved progression free survival from 9.3 months to 16.4 months, further demonstrating a clinical benefit of CDK4/6 inhibitors for this group of patients. Discussing the promising results seen with CDK 4/6 inhibitors, Dr. Ingrid Mayer of Vanderbilt University Medical Center summarized the current status of CDK4/6 in the treatment of HR+ metastatic breast cancer: 1) CDK4/6 inhibitors are likely to be most effective in combination with other treatments, as has been shown with endocrine (anti-estrogen) therapies. This wasn’t the focus of an ASCO 2017 presentation, but for HER2 positive patients tracking new developments, the ongoing phase III SOPHIA trial (NCT02492711), researchers are comparing margetuximab plus chemotherapy with trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus chemotherapy. In a late breaking abstract presentation, Dr. Mark Robson, presented new data on OlympiAD study, a Phase III clinical trial comparing the single agent PARP inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) to standard-of-care chemotherapy in patients harboring inherited mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

A Phase 2 SM-88 clinical trial for breast cancer isn’t yet recruiting; a Phase 2 trial for prostate cancer patients is open. SM-88?  In November 2011, Luminant Biosciences (the precursor company to Tyme) filed for approval of a clinical trial for SM-88 (then known as SMK) with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of New York Downtown Hospital. As is generally the case for a Phase 1 trial, the patient population was comprised of patients who failed all available anti-cancer treatments and had the following cancer types: 14 had breast cancer, four had non-small cell lung cancer, three had pancreatic cancer, two had prostate cancer, and one patient had each of small cell lung cancer, hepatic cancer, tongue cancer, appendix cancer, thyroid cancer, colon cancer, and a cancer of unknown origin. Biotech analyst David Bautz reported that in an affidavit filed Feb 5, 2013 with the US Patent and Trademark Office, Jeanetta Stega, MD, PhD stated the following in regards to the 14 breast cancer patients who participated in the Phase 1 study: Under an expanded access program, 57 individual case studies were also performed with the approval of New York-Presbyterian / Lower Manhattan Hospital IRB.

Cancer quackery (along with charlatanism surrounding HIV/AIDs) has to be one of the most noxious of all pseudoscience-based enterprises and, perhaps it’s just my line of work, but I can’t help but feel that it’s on the rise. The reliably high prevalence of cancer represents immensely fertile ground for scammers, and “alternative” treatments for it are sought by millions, supporting a steady cash-flow in the direction of fakes, phoneys, and otherwise ignorant followers of charismatic nasties. As well as fostering a generalised distrust in science and burning holes in wallets, cancer pseudoscience often steers patients away from their one and only shot at survival. The Internet is abuzz with “natural remedies” and “holistic” measures against cancer, and a quick trawl through some of the websites spouting them reveals that the nature and extent of the errors (and lies) upon which they are based are as varied as they are pernicious.