Lanreotide and Keytruda – the PLANET study (NCT03043664)
Update 13th February 2025. In my main coverage of Immunotherapy for Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (NENs), you will see a section where one NET specialists described Neuroendocrine Tumours as an “immunological desert”. What was meant by is that there’s little evidence immunotherapy is effective in the majority of Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs). The output from this trial continues to back that view. It is important to note the nomenclature of NETs rather than NENs as almost all the immunotherapy drug approvals to date have been for Neuroendocrine Carcinomas (NECs). As the trial abstract conclusion said, "We conclude that immune checkpoint blockade had low…
In the war on Neuroendocrine Cancer, let’s not forget to win the battle for better quality of life
Originally published March 2017 OPINION. Date of Article March 2017. In the last 24 months, there seems to have been announcement after announcement of new and/or upgraded/enhanced diagnostics and treatment types for Neuroendocrine Cancer. Increased availability of radionuclide scans, increased availability of radionuclide therapies, combination therapies, increased availability of somatostatin analogues, biological therapies, enhanced surgical and minimally invasive techniques, new oral drugs for carcinoid syndrome, more trials including immunotherapy. Admittedly, some of the announcements are just expansions of existing therapies having been approved in new regions. Compared to some other cancers, even those which hit the headlines often, we appear…
Update – Oncolytic Virus Trials for Neuroendocrine Cancer
Updated 28th May 2025 What exactly are Oncolytic Viruses? Oncolytic Viruses infect and break down cancer cells but not normal cells. Oncolytic viruses can occur naturally or can be made in the laboratory by changing other viruses. Certain oncolytic viruses are being studied in the treatment of cancer. Some scientists say they are another type of immunotherapy whilst others say it's too early to classify them as such. The good news is that Neuroendocrine Cancer seems to figure in this work with two of these viruses apparently working on mice to date. Listed below are two active projects involving NETs,…
CAR-T clinical trials for Neuroendocrine Cancer
Updated 4th June 2025Chimeric Therapeutics (ASX: CHM) has received fast-track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for lead candidate CHM CDH17 to treat gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEP-NETs).The FDA based its designation on the drug’s potential to improve outcomes for patients who have progressed beyond at least one prior line of therapy in the advanced or metastatic setting.What does fast-track mean? It will create a faster development pathway for CHM CDH17, giving Chimeric access to more frequent meetings with the FDA to discuss the drug’s development plan and eligibility for accelerated approval.Read more hereUpdated 31st August 2024 to provide…
Neuroendocrine Cancer: Glossary of Terms
Welcome to my Neuroendocrine Cancer terms and definitions list providing a source of meanings for acronyms and medical terms, all sourced from top Neuroendocrine Cancer sites. How to use this list: 1. If your term begins with an A, see the list of As etc. Ditto for B to Z. Select your term from the list, the definition will show along with any of my blogs where that term is mentioned – this adds context. . 2. Numerical terms are also listed. Please note I’m constantly working on the repository to clean up all definitions, adding and removing links where necessary, and…
Clinical Trial: Phase 1/2a Study of 23ME-00610 in Patients With Advanced Solid Malignancies (incl Neuroendocrine Neoplasms)
Updated 13th November 2024Glad you found this interesting blog. However, I must warn you that it is in jeopardy due to the following announcement intercepted by my google agents. Read more by clicking here.I will monitor this for further information and update as necessary. Who are 23andMe?I personally had not heard of 23andMe but many people in North America might have. When you first look at what they do, you can be excused for thinking they are just another 'Ancestry' company, but they are more than that. They also get involved in genetics and health. To quote their marketing "we’re all of…
A Phase II Clinical Trial of Nivolumab and Temozolomide for Neuroendocrine Neoplasms
What is Nivolumab (Opdivo) Nivolumab is a type of cancer treatment drug called an immunotherapy. It is a treatment for a number of different types of cancer. You might have it as part of a clinical trial for other types of cancer. What is Temozolomide (Temodal) Temozolomide is a type of chemotherapy. It is well known in Neuroendocrine Cancer as the TEM in CAPTEM Trial Summary The purpose of the trial. Treatment options are sometimes limited in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (NEN). The primary endpoint was response rate (using RECIST 1.1). Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival…
Curtis Crump: “If I’m going down, it won’t be without a fight.”
Curtis Crump: Credit MD Anderson Cancer Center Curtis Crump has an amazing story to tell. Given 6 months to live, he refused to accept that prognosis and looked elsewhere. He found a top hospital that directed him to an established clinical trial of immunotherapy. Curtis has a high grade aggressive type of Neuroendocrine Cancer called Neuroendocrine Carcinoma (with a Colon primary). The immunotherapy has some effect to the point that he was able to have surgery, a treatment option not always available to poorly differentiated Neuroendocrine Carciomas. His story is relevant to many people's experiences across the broad spectrum of…
Assessment of Clinical Response Following Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab Treatment in Patients With Neuroendocrine Tumors: A Nonrandomized Clinical Trial
Background Well differentiated NETs have been described as an "immunological desert" in recent years mainly due to the poor response rate data coming out of clinical trials of immunotherapy drugs. Poorly differentiated NEC has favoured better but mainly in the more obscure types. Which is why these data of a combo treatment containing one immunotherapy drug caught my eye. What is atezolizumab? It is a type of monoclonal antibody and a type of immune checkpoint inhibitor. It's a Programmed cell death protein -1 (PD-1)/ Ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor. A drug that binds to the protein PD-L1 to help immune cells…
Clinical Trial: Dostarlimab, anti–PD-1 monoclonal antibody in Neuroendocrine Carcinoma
BackgroundFollowing the Americal Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in June 2022 (ASCO is the biggest Oncology event in the world), the media widely featured the results of the Phase 2 clinical trial of the drug Dostarlimab, an anti–PD-1 monoclonal antibody. The media often looks for headline-grabbing stories and this was one of them. One UK TV outlet said they may have found the cure for cancer, which is a reckless statement when you look at the size and boundary of the clinical trial referenced. The detail is, that this was a phase 2 trial for "rectal adenocarcinoma", but specifically…
Neuroendocrine Tumors: Targeted Therapies – Update from NET Specialist Diane Reidy-Lagunes, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center – August 2021
Background. For those who want a quick run through of Neuroendocrine Tumors from diagnosis to selection of treatment, about the treatments themselves plus what is the Future Directions in the Management of Neuroendocrine Tumors. There are 8 episodes, and each is around 3-5 minutes long. I personally found them very useful and in a language understandable to patients. Great job by OncLive and Dr Reidy-Lagunes! Episode 1 - Understanding the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Neuroendocrine Tumors Diane Reidy-Lagunes, MD, provides an overview of neuroendocrine tumors, along with specific considerations for optimal diagnosis and prognostication. Understanding the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Neuroendocrine Tumors (onclive.com)…
Clinical Trial of Tidutamab in Neuroendocrine Cancer (DUET-1)
UPDATE: 13th July 2022Xencor halted this clinical trial due to disappointing results. Click here to read moreXencor, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announced that initial data from its ongoing Phase 1 dose-escalation study of tidutamab (XmAb®18087), an SSTR2 x CD3 bispecific antibody, in patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) will be presented during the upcoming North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society’s 2021 Multidisciplinary NET Medical Virtual Symposium (note - it was also presented at NANETS 2020). What are monocloncal antibodies? See here About Tidutamab Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-produced molecules engineered to…
Clinical Trials of PV-10 (Rose Bengal) for the treatment of Neuroendocrine Tumours (NET)
Reviewed and edited 17th March 2022Provectus Biopharmaceuticals Announces Presentation of Full Study Data from Metastatic Neuroendocrine Cancer Phase 1 Trial of PV-10® at ENETS Conference 2022Provectus (OTCQB: PVCT) today announced that data from an ongoing clinical trial of investigational cancer immunotherapy PV-10 (rose bengal sodium) for the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors (NET) metastatic to the liver (mNET) refractory to somatostatin analogs (SSAs) and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) (NCT02693067) was presented at the annual conference of the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS), held from March 10-11, 2022 in a hybrid setting in Barcelona, Spain and online.The oral presentation was made…
Clinical Trial SPARTALIZUMAB – Immunotherapy for Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (PDR001)
UpdateTrial complete. Conclusion abstract - Single agent PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have not demonstrated clinical utility in an unselected NET population and should not be used outside of clinical trials. The potential for PD-L1 inhibition in the thoracic cohort warrants further investigation. Read more here. PDR001 (anti-PD-1) is an investigational immunotherapy being developed by Novartis to treat both solid tumors and lymphomas (cancers of the blood). It is currently being trialled on many cancers including Neuroendocrine. Its brand name is SPARTLIZUMAB.How PDR001 worksPDR001 is a type of immunotherapy, meaning that it acts by activating the body’s own immune system to recognize and fight…
Recent Progress in NET Management – Positive presentation from Jonathan R Strosberg MD
I recently wrote a blog called Neuroendocrine Cancer – Exciting Times Ahead! I wrote that on a day I was feeling particularly positive and at the time, I wanted to share that positivity with you. I genuinely believe there's a lot of great things happening. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot still to be done, particularly in the area of diagnosis and quality of life after being diagnosed. However, this is a really great message from a well-known NET expert. In an interview with OncLive, Jonathan R. Strosberg, MD, associate professor at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida, discussed…
Your Money or Your Life
As I have a 2 year old post about Danielle, I wanted to preface it with this message. It is with great sadness that I let you know Danielle Tindle passed away at the end of August 2017 after a prolonged battle with Neuroendocrine Carcinoma. She had been fighting cancer in one form or another for 12 years and became passionate in campaigning for more attention for young cancer patients. I've been following her story for almost 2 years and she has really inspired me. The title of this article is based on the title of a TV programme about…