The IBTA’s monthly e-News has been released and has emailed to all subscribers. Emailed to 5,000 people around the globe, including clinicians, patients, researchers and others, it gives a round-up of the latest research and treatment developments, news about brain tumour patient organisations around the world, and key forthcoming neuro-oncology scientific and patient conferences. You can sign up to receive the e-News every month by registering here.
This month’s highlights
You can read the IBTA e-News June 2024 edition in full online here.
Some highlights from this month’s round-up:
- A paper published on an open-access basis in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology reports on the largest dataset of TTFields therapy for CNS (Central nervous system) tumours to date. An international post-marketing analysis of more than highlights a tolerable safety profile of TTFields therapy for patients with with no new safety findings. The analysis of 25,000 patients found that most adverse events were localised and manageable non-serious skin events. The analysis concluded that: “Overall, the safety profile of TTFields therapy remained consistent among patient subgroups and the total cohort, suggesting feasibility in multiple subpopulations.”
- The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has now published technology appraisal guidance on treating BRAF V600E mutation-positive glioma (high grade and low grade) with dabrafenib and trametinib in children and young people age one year and older. Dabrafenib and trametinib can be given orally at home so children do not need to go to hospital to receive this treatment.
- The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded orphan drug designation for SurVaxM so that the treatment not only applies to adult glioblastoma but also to any malignant glioma in children or adults. SurVaxM is a synthetic cancer vaccine which stimulates the immune system to attack tumour cells that carry a protein called survivin.
- A report by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) has revealed an increasing need to grow New Zealand’s radiation oncologist workforce and provide extra investment for cancer care equipment. The College’s radiation oncology facilities report analysed surveys of treatment centres across New Zealand over a ten-year period and found that while the number of full-time equivalent radiation oncology positions has risen by 9%, this was outstripped by treatment courses rising by 29%, resulting in doctor caseloads increasing by 19%.
- A multicentre study published in Scientific Reports describes whether a device called the Sentry System could distinguish the three most common brain tumour types from normal brain tissue in real time and before resection. The Sentry System involves a handheld device that uses Raman spectroscopy alongside machine learning tissue classifiers.
- Drugs developed to combat HIV and AIDS are being trialled in patients with multiple brain tumours. Scientists at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth are conducting a clinical trial (RETREAT) to see whether using anti-retroviral medications, ritonavir and lopinavir, could help people with neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2), a rare inherited genetic condition causes brain tumours such as schwannomas (which include acoustic neuroma), ependymomas and meningiomas.
- The third edition of the Ependymoma Guide, which is aimed at newly diagnosed patients, care partners and advocates, has been released by the CERN Foundation (Collaborative Ependymoma Research Network), a programme of the National Brain Tumour Society (NBTS) in the United States. The goal of the guide is to provide basic facts about ependymoma in order to increase education and awareness about this rare disease. The guide is available here.
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