Pharmacology

• Studies show efficacy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma, gastric cancer, urothelial cancer, and head and neck carcinoma.
• Pembrolizumab was recently approved for treatment of a subset of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
• The objective response rate with pembrolizumab has been as high as 71%.
• Pembrolizumab is a monoclonal antibody designed to block PD-1 interaction with its ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2.

The following is a brief literature review to accompany our full article on the interaction between omega-3 fatty acids and chemotherapeutic drugs in cancer patients.

You can see our review article here.
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• Advise patients to abstain from fish oil supplements for at least one day before and after chemotherapy.
• Suggest that patients also avoid eating fatty fish — mackerel, and sardines, for instance, — for at least one day before and after chemotherapy.
• The fatty acid 16:4(n-3) has been shown to have chemotherapy-negating effects and was rapidly taken up in the plasma of human volunteers.
• Strength of this finding: 3/5.

• Advise patients to abstain from fish oil supplements for at least one day before and after chemotherapy.
• Suggest that patients also avoid eating fatty fish — mackerel, and sardines, for instance, — for at least one day before and after chemotherapy.
• The fatty acid 16:4(n-3) has been shown to have chemotherapy-negating effects and was rapidly taken up in the plasma of human volunteers.
• Strength of this finding: 3/5.

• Pain specialists are increasingly suggesting that opioid analgesia be reserved for patients who do not respond to all other available pain therapies.
• An increasingly wide variety of drug types are being used to effectively treat patients in pain.
• Always request a pregnancy test in any woman of childbearing years before prescribing an opioid analgesic.