National Comprehensive Cancer Network

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NCCN Updates Antiemesis Guidelines

JENKINTOWN, Pa., January 8, 2007 —The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is pleased to announce updates to the NCCN Antiemesis Guidelines. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ are used extensively by managed care companies and by Medicare as the basis for coverage policies.

The guidelines have a new recommendation for breakthrough treatment for chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting. Nabilone (Cesamet, Valeant) is now recommended for breakthrough treatment.

The guidelines table describing the emetogenic potential of different antineoplastic agents has been revised. Bortezomib (Velcade, Millennium), dasatinib (Sprycel, Bristol Myers-Squibb), decitabine (Dacogen, MGI Pharma), lenalidomide (Revlimid, Celgene), nelarabine (Arranon, GlaxoSmithKline), sorafenib (Nexavar, Bayer Pharmaceuticals), sunitinib (Sutent, Pfizer), thalidomide (Thalomid, Celgene), and trastuzumab (Herceptin, Genentech) are all now considered to have minimal emetic risk.

Metoclopramide (Reglan, Baxter) and diphenhydramine (Benadryl, Parke Davis) are no longer recommended for delayed emesis prevention for patients receiving moderate-emetic-risk chemotherapy.

NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in OncologyTM are developed and updated through a consensus-driven process with explicit review of the scientific evidence by multidisciplinary panels of expert physicians from NCCN member institutions. The most recent version of this and all the guidelines are available free of charge at www.nccn.org.

For questions about NCCN or for interview information, please contact Megan Martin 215.690.0576.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of 21 of the world’s leading cancer centers, is dedicated to improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers. The primary goal of all NCCN initiatives is to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of oncology practice so patients can live better lives. For more information, visit NCCN.org.

The NCCN Member Institutions are:

• City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center
  Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
• Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Fox Chase Cancer Center
• Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center / Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
• The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
• Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University
• Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
• H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
• The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute
• Roswell Park Cancer Institute
• Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital / University of Tennessee Cancer Institute
• Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Center
• University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center
• UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
• University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
• UNMC Eppley Cancer Center at The Nebraska Medical Center
• The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center