• 2014 GIST Summit

    Posted by Barbara Dore on June 10, 2014

    The 2014 GIST Summit was held Saturday September 13, 2014 at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and it was the best ever! Watch videos now.

  • UCLA GCAF forum March 24

    Posted by Barbara Dore on February 10, 2014

    GIST Cancer Awareness Foundation and UCLA are hosting a free educational forum for GIST patients and caregivers on March 24 in Los Angeles.  See details below on how to register. For more about GCAF see their website www.gistawareness.org    

  • Survey on Mutation Analysis

    Posted by Barbara Dore on January 6, 2014

    Boston University School of Medicine is conducting a study regarding GIST patients’ understanding of tumor testing and personalized medicine. Feel free to read more below! The direct link to the survey is: https://bostonu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0MMOLgR37hBH1t3 For any questions or comments, please contact the researchers directly.

  • 2014 NIH Wildtype GIST Clinic

    Posted by Barbara Dore on January 3, 2014

    For more information about the NIH clinic for pediatric & wildtype GIST, see our webpages about past clinics.  Patients of all ages with wildtype GIST are encouraged to participate.  Participation enables the patient to receive special tests and consultations with wildtype GIST experts from numerous hospitals as well as the

  • Combination trial imatinib + MEK162

    Posted by Barbara Dore on December 15, 2013

    New combination trial for GIST:  imatinib plus MEK inhibitor MEK162 A new clinical trial opened in November 2013 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to test the combination of imatinib (Gleevec) plus MEK162, an inhibitor of the MEK pathway.  Trial NCT01991379, A Phase Ib/II Study of MEK162 in Combination With Imatinib

  • Ponatinib trial halts enrollment

    Posted by Barbara Dore on October 13, 2013

    Ponatinib (Iclusig®), under development by ARAID Pharmaceuticals, entered a Phase II trial in summer 2013 for patients with inoperable or metastatic GIST.   The three trial locations are Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Fox Chase Cancer Center and Oregon Health Science University.  This open-label trial will enroll about 30 patients with exon-11 GIST and

  • GIST News from 2012 ASCO

    Posted by Barbara Dore on October 6, 2013

    Becky Bensanhaver and Nancy Berezin attended the ASCO meeting in June 2012 on behalf of GIST Support International and all GIST patients.  This is an effort reqiuring stamina, comfortable shoes, and keen attention to cover the huge meeting and absorb the new information.  MANY THANKS to Nancy and Becky for their

  • Regorafenib Approved

    Posted by Barbara Dore on October 6, 2013

    FDA Approves Stivarga (regorafenib) for GIST On February 25, 2013 the FDA approved regorafenib (brand name Stivarga) for treatment of GIST patients with “advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) that cannot be surgically removed and no longer respond to other FDA-approved treatments for this disease” (Gleevec and Sutent). This makes regorafenib the first drug

  • Votrient approved for sarcoma

    Posted by Barbara Dore on October 1, 2013

    On April 26, 2012  the FDA announced approval of pazopanib (votrient) for soft tissue sarcoma. Earlier the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted March 20, 2012  to approve a New Drug Application for pazopanib tablets (Votrient, GlaxoSmithKline) in the treatment of patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma

  • FDA approves adjuvant Gleevec extension to 3 years

    Posted by Barbara Dore on February 4, 2012

    FDA news release, Jan 31, 2012: FDA approves Gleevec for expanded use in patients with rare gastrointestinal cancer Confirmatory trials show significantly prolonged survival in patients; drug granted regular approval The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today granted Gleevec (imatinib) regular approval for use in adult patients following surgical removal