Barbara Jacoby

Indeed, it blocks the Wnt cell signaling pathway—a disruption of the cell mechanism that causes many cancers, including triple-negative breast cancer. In the case of triple-negative breast cancer, as well as in other cancers such as liver or colon cancer, one of the main suspects is the Wnt signalling pathway. In 2014, Professor Katanaev’s team (at UNIL back then) had shown in vitro the inhibitory effect of clofazimine on the Wnt signalling pathway in triple-negative breast cancer. Alexey Koval, a researcher at the CRTOH of the UNIGE at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the UNIL and co-first author of this study, analyses these results: “Clofazimine acts as an inhibitor of the Wnt signaling pathway: The sick cell can no longer divide, but does not die.

(Nasdaq:SGEN) today announced completion of enrollment in the potentially pivotal innovaTV 204 phase 2 clinical trial evaluating the efficacy, safety and tolerability of tisotumab vedotin as monotherapy for patients with recurrent and/or metastatic cervical cancer who have relapsed or progressed after standard of care treatment. Tisotumab vedotin is an investigational antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) designed to target Tissue Factor antigen on cancer cells and deliver the cell-killing agent monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) directly inside cancer cells. Completing enrollment in this potentially pivotal phase 2 trial marks an important step forward in evaluating tisotumab vedotin for women with previously treated recurrent and/or metastatic cervical cancer. For more information about the phase 2 innovaTV 204 clinical trial and other clinical trials with tisotumab vedotin, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.

CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE American: CVM) announced today that the Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) for the Company’s pivotal Phase 3 head and neck cancer study of its investigational immunotherapy Multikine* (Leukocyte Interleukin, Injection) has completed its recent review of the Phase 3 study data. IDMCs are committees commonly used by sponsors of clinical trials to protect the interests of the patients and the integrity of the study data in ongoing trials, especially when the trials involve patients with life threatening diseases, and when, as in cancer clinical trials, they extend over long periods of time. Therefore, in the Phase 3 study CEL-SCI treats patients who are newly diagnosed with advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with Multikine first, BEFORE they receive surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy. Per the study’s protocol, newly diagnosed patients with advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma are treated with the Multikine treatment regimen for 3 weeks prior to receiving the Standard of Care (SOC), which involves surgery, radiation and/or concurrent radiochemotherapy.

It’s not clear in this case whether the delay altered the course of the patient’s disease, said Michael Diaz, MD, a medical oncologist at Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute, St. Petersburg, who is president of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA). At some point, the PBM for the patient’s insurance company decided that prefilled syringes were not covered but that vials — the use of which involved the patient’s drawing her own blood — would be covered. Clearly, some oncologists prefer Medicare Part B’s fee-for-service approach to paying for prescription medications, which according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) gives providers ‘incentives for use of higher-priced drugs when lower priced alternatives exist,’ ” Greg Lopes, a PCMA spokesman, told Medscape Medical News. UnitedHealth Group owns OptumRx; CVS has merged with Aetna and already owns the PBM CVS/Caremark; Cigna owns Express Scripts; Anthem has developed its own PBM, IngenioRx; and Humana owns a PBM.