Content about Colorectal cancer

MIAMI — Navarro Discount Pharmacy is promoting colon cancer screenings in the month of March under a partnership with a group focused on the disease, Navarro said Friday.

The regional retail pharmacy has partnered with StopColonCancerNow.com to promote the screenings, which screening guidelines advise adults older than 50 years to receive, or 45 years if they are African-American. According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for colon cancer is 90% when detected and treated in the earliest stage.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new use for a cancer drug made by Roche unit Genentech, the agency said.

The FDA announced the approval of Avastin (bevacizumab) combined with fluoropyrimidine-irinotecan or fluoropyrimidine-oxaliplatin chemotherapy for treating colorectal cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, also known as metastatic colorectal cancer, or mCRC.

The drug is also approved for treating lung cancer, kidney cancer and brain cancer.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for colorectal cancer developed by Bayer HealthCare.

Bayer and Onyx Pharmaceuticals announced the approval of Stivarga for colorectal cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, also known as metastatic CRC, specifically for those patients who have received treatment with currently available therapies.

Bayer developed the drug and will pay royalties to Onyx on future global net sales of the drug for cancer. The two companies will promote the drug together in the United States.

ATLANTA — A large new observational study published Friday found more evidence of an association between daily aspirin use and modestly lower cancer mortality, but suggested any reduction may be smaller than that observed in a recent analysis. The study appeared online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

LONG BRANCH, N.J. — The 2012 Jersey Shore Undy 5000 raised more than $80,000 for local and national colon cancer screening, awareness and support programs, Boehringer-Ingelheim — which sponsored the event under its Dulcolax brand — announced Saturday.

WAYNE, N.J. — An experimental drug made by Bayer HealthCare extended the length of time that patients with gastrointestinal tumors survived without their disease getting worse, according to results of a late-stage clinical trial released Monday.

LONDON — Evidence supporting the daily use of aspirin to help prevent and possibly treat cancer was published Tuesday in a collection of three papers — two in The Lancet and one in Lancet Oncology.

BRONX, N.Y. — A new study conducted by researchers at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that high blood-sugar levels may be associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer.

Researchers examined the fasting blood sugar and insulin levels of nearly 5,000 postmenopausal women — all of whom were enrolled in the National Institutes of Health's landmark Women's Health Initiative study — several times over a 12-year period.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug made by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly & Co. for treating head and neck cancer, the agency said Monday.

The FDA announced the approval of Erbitux (cetuximab) for use with chemotherapy in treating head and neck cancer that had spread to other parts of the body. The drug originally was approved in 2004 for treating certain cases of late-stage colon cancer in patients who had stopped responding to chemotherapy.

BOSTON — New research published in the October 2011 issue of Harvard Men's Health Watch suggested aspirin may play a role in fighting cancer, the publication announced Wednesday.

PHILADELPHIA — Despite flooding from severe weather in several parts of Pennsylvania earlier this month, nearly 600 people ran in their underwear in Philadelphia in support of those who have been affected by colon cancer.

Participants of the Fourth Annual Philadelphia Undy 5000 5K Run/Walk ran on MLK Drive, near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and raised just over $110,000 to fight colon cancer.