The single-agent efficacy of gemcitabine is equivalent to other agents commonly used to treat NSCLC. Gemcitabine has an unusually mild side effect profile for such an active agent. The nausea and vomiting experienced with gemcitabine are mild and generally well controlled with standard antiemetics; 5-HT3 receptor antagonists are typically not required. The use of gemcitabine does not cause significant alopecia, and hematologic toxicity is modest and unlikely to require hospitalization. Gemcitabine may have a role as monotherapy in patients with inoperable NSCLC.

The activity, toxicity, and side effects of TOR in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive or -unknown metastatic breast cancer are similar if not equivalent to those of TAM. We detected no clear evidence of a dose-response effect for TOR. TOR60 is an effective and safe agent for the treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer and can be considered an alternative to TAM as first-line treatment for such patients.

The triptorelin 6-month formulation was well tolerated and was able to achieve and maintain castration for the treatment of locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer. By reducing the frequency of required injections, this new formulation offers a more convenient treatment regimen. (Clinical Trial Registration,NCT00751790 at www.clinicaltrials.gov).

This is the largest study confirming the encouraging single-agent activity of pemetrexed in chemotherapy-naïve patients with NSCLC. In addition, this study demonstrates that a dose of 600 mg/m2 can be delivered safely; however, treatment should be restricted to patients with a PS of 0 or 1. The results of combination studies are awaited with interest.

From 1965 to 1985, 262 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma were treated with cytostatics only; radiotherapy (RT); RT and cytostatics; or decortication plus RT plus cytostatics. The median survival (MS) from diagnosis was 9.6 months. This was similar for all comparable treatment groups. In a univariate analysis, significant favorable prognostic factors were good performance status (PS), duration of symptoms greater than 6 months at the time of diagnosis, early stage of disease, white race, and female sex. In a multivariate analysis, PS, race, duration of symptoms, and stage were of significance for a favorable prognosis. Age, pain as first symptom, histologic subtype, and RT dose were not of prognosis significance in this study. The stepwise addition of treatment modalities did not increase survival, which remained the same as that reported for untreated patients. Therefore, phase II trials of new agents offer the only hope for advance in the treatment of this disease.