Lots of news out of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology over the weekend. For those of you whose attention was elsewhere, here are some quick highlights. Melanoma: We knew melanoma would be a hot topic at ASCO , and indeed, two drugs are getting a lot of attention. Vemurafenib, from Roche and Daiichi Sankyo’s Plexxikon unit, works only in melanoma patients whose tumors carry a certain mutation in a gene called BRAF, as the WSJ reports . The median time before the disease progressed in patients taking the drug was 5.3 months, compared to 1.6 months in those on chemo. Another drug for people with advanced melanoma, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Yervoy, is already on the market. It affects the immune system, allowing it to hit the cancer harder, as the New York Times explains . Data on patients who received chemo plus Yervoy as a first-line treatment show that median survival increased slightly, by two months, compared to chemo alone. Some patients, though, responded very well to the drug. Both Yervoy and vemurafenib have side effects, some serious. Lung cancer: Pfizer’s drug for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, crizotinib, is aimed at a small group of patients whose tumors carry a specific mutation in a gene called ALK, as the WSJ reports . Data presented at the meeting suggest that nearly three-quarters of 119 patients treated with the drug were alive after a year and 54% after two years. A group of similar patients who weren’t

treated with the drug had significantly lower survival rates, though this wasn’t a randomized trial so it’s hard to make direct comparisons. Prostate cancer: Johnson & Johnson’s prostate-cancer drug, Zytiga, boosts survival to 15.8 months compared to 11.2 months for patients on a placebo, Dow Jones Newswires reports . Moreover, the data show that measuring the presence of cancer cells circulating in the blood might be an indicator of survival. That finding, if replicated by other research, could make it easier to study future treatments. Ovarian cancer: Two studies show that Roche’s Avastin — already used to treat some forms of cancer — seems to slow the progression of ovarian cancer, DJN reports . Still, it’s not yet clear whether the drug can actually help ovarian-cancer patients live longer. Coming up with better treatments for the disease is key, since screening healthy women for early signs of the disease, using ultrasound and the CA-125 blood test, doesn’t cut the risk of dying from the disease . GIST: Novartis’s drug Gleevec is already approved to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), but a study released at the meeting may push the standard length of treatment to three years from one, DJN reports . The drug is used in patients after they’ve had surgery. ASCO winds up tomorrow. Health Blog readers, what do you think has been most notable so far? Photo of a previous ASCO meeting: ASCO/Todd Buchanan

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Weekend at ASCO: Drugs for Skin, Lung, Ovarian Cancer