Robert Pirker

ROBERT PIRKER , Medical University of Vienna
Phase III study results have detected improvements in overall survival among patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with a monoclonal antibody targeted to the epidermal growth factor receptor: EGFR. Robert Pirker told the Turin congress he thinks is an emerging role for EGRF-targeted antibodies in lung cancer for patients who test positive for the epidermal growth factor receptor. He discussed the data with Peter Goodwin.

Ugo Pastorino

UGO PASTORINO , Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan
Even the most sophisticated and powerful detection method for lung cancer detection, spiral CT, is still unproven in the context of mass screening for lung cancer. At the conference in Turin, Ugo Pastorino, urged delegates to wait for the findings of the large randomized studies of spiral CT now being conducted before deciding whether to use this technique. He discussed his group’s findings with Peter Goodwin.

Martin Dreyling

Reporting From: 4th European Congress on Hematologic Malignancies, Paris 22-24 February, 2008
MARTIN DREYLING, University Hospital Grosshaden, Munich
Since the 1970s therapies for mantle cell lymphoma have greatly extended life, Martin Dreyling told conference delegates in Paris. He gave Peter Goodwin his latest data on combination therapy using the antibody, rituximab, and the emerging rôles of other targeted agents.

John Gribben

Reporting From: 4th European Congress on Hematologic Malignancies, Paris 22-24 February, 2008
JOHN GRIBBEN, Bartholemews Hospital, London
New promise for treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia is arising from combining antibody therapies rituximab and alemtuzumab with new drugs such as lenalidomide alongside standard fludarabine therapy. At the Paris symposium John Gribben gave Peter Goodwin the latest details.

Eugene Schiff

REFERENCE: General Session IV
EUGENE SCHIFF, University of Miami
Screening for Hepatitits C and B, and subsequent screening for cancer, can save millions of lives from hepatocellular carcinoma. Eugene Schiff told the Gastrointestinal Cancers Conference in Orlando which populations are most at risk. He discussed his data with Peter Goodwin.

William Blot

REFERENCE: General Session 1: Cancers of the Esophagus and Stomach
WILLIAM BLOT, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN
Obesity emerged as a key cause of esophageal cancer from data presented by William Blot who told Peter Goodwin about the changing pattern of both esophageal and stomach cancer throughout the world, and about the likely ways of preventing them.

Richard Peto

REFERENCE: Lancet 371:29-40; January 5, 2008
RICHARD PETO, Oxford University
The prospect of cutting breast cancer mortality in half throughout the world is held out by Richard Peto of the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG). He talks with Peter Goodwin following the group’s most recent publication in The Lancet.

Margaret Foti

MARGARET FOTI, American Association for Cancer Research, Philadelphia
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium will, in the future, be presented jointly by the Cancer Therapy and Research Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and the American Association for Cancer Research. Peter Goodwin found out more on this new collaboration from Margaret Foti, CEO of the American Association for Cancer Research in Philadelphia.