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Genentech, Inc. (NYSE:DNA) today announced that it has been informed by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) that an ongoing Phase III study (NSABP C-08) of Avastin® (bevacizumab) plus chemotherapy in patients with early-stage colon cancer will continue as planned.

The National Cancer Institute has awarded two grants totaling more than $4.25 million to a Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researcher for two studies to examine delays and disparities in colon cancer diagnosis. “African Americans get more colon cancer and die from it more often than their white counterparts,” said principal investigator Laura A. Siminoff, Ph.D.

Genes are not the be all and end all of carcinogenesis.

Biothera announced today it began dosing patients in the second arm of its metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) trial in August. This arm of the trial is evaluating the combination therapy of its lead drug candidate, Imprime PGG®, with Erbitux®, an anti-cancer monoclonal antibody from ImClone Systems. Unlike the first trial arm, the second treatment arm does not include chemotherapy.

Changing the approach to genetic screening for cancers in Australia could effectively halve deaths caused by an inherited form of bowel cancer, says a University of Melbourne expert.

Endocan, previously called endothelial cell specific molecule-1 (ESM-1), is over expressed in human tumors, and its serum levels are elevated in late-stage lung cancer and experimental tumors, as measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay or by immunohistochemistry.

Decision Resources, one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, of the many targeted cancer agents in Phase III clinical trials in the adjuvant setting, surveyed oncologists say that Genentech/Roche/Chugai’s Avastin in early-stage colorectal cancer holds the most promise to achieve regulatory approval.

CTC (virtual colonoscopy) is a thin slice CT scan of the abdomen after adequate bowel preparation and colon insufflation in which data are reconstructed providing axial, multiplanar, and endoluminal views, in order to visualize internal colonic wall.

Biothera announced today that it completed enrollment in the first arm of its metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) trial in July. The dual-arm trial is evaluating the combination therapy of Imprime PGG®, the company’s lead drug candidate, and Erbitux® (cetuximab), a monoclonal antibody from ImClone Systems, with or without chemotherapy.

Based on results of a landmark study, researchers at Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus see a future in which virtual biopsies will eliminate the need to remove colon polyps that are not cancerous or will not morph into the disease.