Pancreatica.org is a Clearinghouse for Current, Credible, and Comprehensive Research and Information for Pancreatic Cancer Patients

Daniel Von Hoff Inducted into Lederberg Society for Work on Abraxane in Pancreatic Cancer

One of our favorite physician pancreatic cancer researchers, Daniel Von Hoff, has been honored by induction into the Joshua Lederberg Society on February 13, 2014 primarily for his work in shepherding the development of Abraxane (nab-paclitaxel) in combination with gemcitabine for the treatment of advanced cancer of the pancreas (ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas). This award is presented by Celgene (which the late Dr. Lederberg, a Noble laureate, helped found) on the criteria of researchers whose work has changed the practice of medicine. Celgene produces Abraxane which is now approved for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Daniel Von Hoff is certainly one of the world’s foremost experts on pancreatic cancer. Presently, he is the Physician in Chief and Director of Translational Research at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN) in Phoenix. He is also the Chief Scientific Officer for US Oncology, and a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona.

Interestingly, in the mid-1990s Dr. Von Hoff led a team in key early clinical studies on the drug-agent gemcitabine for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved gemcitabine for the treatment of pancreatic cancer in 1996.

In the case of the more recent Abraxane plus gemcitabine work, Dr. Von Hoff functioned as the lead of an international consortium of 151 academic and community centers in eleven nations in Europe, including the United States and Australia. The study was called the Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Clinical Trial (MPACT), eventually evaluating the outcomes of 861 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

The results of the research from this Phase III clinical trial were published in the October 31, 2013 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Essentially, the combination regimen of gemcitabine and Abraxane demonstrated an improved survival benefit for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer over that of treatment with gemcitabine alone. The Pancreatica Blog has followed the results of this work Here, Here and Here. The combination of Abraxane plus gemcitabine for metastatic pancreatic cancer was approved by the FDA in September 2013.  In December, the European Commission followed suit.

Dr. Von Hoff took his undergraduate degree at Carroll College in Montana, and his MD from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He took residency at UCSF and completed a Fellowship in oncology at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Von Hoff is currently serving on the U.S. National Cancer Advisory Board.  He is a past president of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).  And he has served on the ASCO Board of Directors. He has received numerous awards in medicine. Dr. Von Hoff has to his credit the publication of two medical books, more than 135 book chapters and more than one thousand scientific papers.

 

Dale O’Brien, MD

 

Dr. Daniel Von Hoff