Novartis announced on 27th February that the European Commission (EC) has approved an update to the Glivec® (imatinib)* label to include 36 months of treatment after surgery for adults with KIT (CD117)-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) who met the inclusion criteria of the pivotal study. This extended treatment regimen has been shown to improve recurrence-free […]

On 1ST February AB Science published a press release announcing encouraging results from a phase2 trial of their drug masitinib. The trial compared masitinib vs sunitinib for the second-line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic imatinib-resistant GIST. Members of SPAEN and clinical experts felt at the time that AB Science’s claims were premature. […]

Jayne Bressington has written a paper on PAWS GIST for the Newsletter of SIOPE (European organisation for the support of paediatric oncology). Click here to download the newsletter as a PDF. Jayne’s article is on pages 16 and 17.

The assessment of Bayer HealthCare’s investigational drug regorafenib for the treatment of stomach tumoursis to be fast-tracked by US authorities for the treatment of stomach tumours Click here to read the report.

ASCO 2011 News reports that 36 months adjuvant Imatinib treatment for high risk GISTs improves recurrence-free survival (RFS) and even overall survival (OS). Click here to read the report.