Leukemia News and Research

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Leukemia (Leukaemia) is a cancer of the blood cells. It is the most common type of blood cancer and affects 10 times as many adults as children. Most people diagnosed with leukemia are over 50 years old. No one knows why some people develop leukemia and others do not. However, scientists have identified some risk factors for the disease. Most people who have known risk factors do not get leukemia, while many who do get the disease have none of these risk factors. During the early stages of leukemia, there may be no symptoms. Many of the symptoms of leukemia don't become apparent until a large number of normal blood cells are crowded out by leukemia cells.

Sanofi-aventis receives FDA approval for new Taxotere Injection Concentrate formulation

Sanofi-aventis U.S. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new one-vial formulation of its chemotherapeutic agent Taxotere® (docetaxel) Injection Concentrate. The 1-vial Taxotere is anticipated to become available to cancer treatment clinics and hospitals nationwide in the fall in both 80 mg and 20 mg dosages.

5 Aug 2010

Ligand second-quarter net loss reduces to $0.3 million

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2010 and provided an update on key programs.

5 Aug 2010

Incyte second-quarter total revenues increase to $49.8 million

Incyte Corporation today reported second quarter 2010 financial results and described progress for several of its clinical programs.

5 Aug 2010

Life Technologies, UCSD Moores Cancer Center to use SOLiD 4 technology to study CLL

Life Technologies Corporation and the University of California at San Diego Moores Cancer Center today announced a partnership to use SOLiD 4 genomic analysis technology in a research program to study chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. The CLL research is made possible by funding from the National Institutes of Health and will enable scientists to survey the whole transcriptomes of 96 CLL tumor samples for potential biomarkers.

5 Aug 2010

Micromet second-quarter 2010 total revenues increase to $6.5 million

Micromet, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of next-generation antibodies for the treatment of cancer, today announced its financial results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2010.

5 Aug 2010

Cord Blood America strengthens balance sheet by reducing financial obligations

Cord Blood America, Inc., the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells, a biological insurance policy, to families nationwide and internationally, today said that it has had positive movement on two financial obligations that further strengthen its balance sheet.

5 Aug 2010

BioCryst second-quarter total revenues increase to $7.6 million

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced financial results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2010.

5 Aug 2010

ARIAD reports $159.3 million second-quarter net income

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported financial results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2010 and provided an update on corporate developments.

5 Aug 2010

Scientists identify tiny RNA molecule that increases blood stem cells

Investigators have identified a new mechanism that controls the number of hematopoietic stem cells - cells that give rise to all blood and immune system cells. In a report in the online Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute identify a tiny RNA molecule that increases the number of these blood stem cells, an advance that may improve treatment of blood system cancers.

5 Aug 2010

Certain human leukemias can be treated by targeting stem-cell microRNAs: Research

Hematopoietic stem cells provide the body with a constant supply of blood cells, including the red blood cells that deliver oxygen and the white blood cells that make up the immune system. Hematopoietic-or blood-stem cells must also make more copies of themselves to ensure that they are present in adequate numbers to provide blood throughout a person's lifetime, which means they need to strike a delicate balance between self-renewal and development into mature blood-cell lineages. Perturb that balance, and the result can be diseases such as leukemia and anemia.

5 Aug 2010

Access Pharmaceuticals initiates Phase I/II dose escalating study for Thiarabine

Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced it has initiated a Phase I/II dose-escalating study of its proprietary, anti-cancer drug, Thiarabine, a nucleoside analog for patients with hematologic malignancies (cancers of the blood). The primary objective of the study is to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) in two different dosing schedules with various leukemias and lymphomas and recommended Phase II dose. The program is being led by Hagop Kantarjian, M.D., Chair of the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

4 Aug 2010

U.S. clinical trials provide further evidence of importance of storing umbilical cord blood

Cord Blood America, Inc., the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells, a biological insurance policy, to families nationwide and internationally, today said that clinical trials ongoing in the U.S. using umbilical cord blood in the treatment of cerebral palsy, high-risk hematologic cancer, injured spinal cords and Type 1 diabetes provide significant further evidence of the importance of storing umbilical cord blood at the time of birth.

3 Aug 2010

BGU Professor awarded grant to develop target-specific, anti-cancer drugs

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Professor Varda Shoshan-Barmatz has been awarded a three-year, $600,000 grant from the U.S. Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to develop target-specific, anti-cancer drugs.

2 Aug 2010

$Pivotal PINNACLE trial results of VELCADE in patients with relapsed/refractory MCL released$

Pivotal PINNACLE trial results of VELCADE in patients with relapsed/refractory MCL released

Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company today reported new correlative science data from the pivotal PINNACLE trial of VELCADE (bortezomib) in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma. The data, derived from an analysis of archived tumor samples, tested pre-specified biomarkers for their association with time to progression and response to treatment with VELCADE in patients with relapsed MCL.

30 Jul 2010

Bio-Path commences dosing in Liposomal Grb-2 Phase I cancer study

Bio-Path Holdings, Inc.,, a biotechnology company with drug development operations in Houston, Texas, announced today that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase I study of its cancer drug candidate, Liposomal Grb-2 (L-Grb-2 or BP-100-1.01), in patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) or Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS).

30 Jul 2010

Prostate basal cell can spawn tumors in prostate gland: Research

A type of prostate cell that has been largely ignored by cancer researchers can, in fact, trigger malignant prostate cancer, according to new studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists and their colleagues.

30 Jul 2010

Cord Blood America announces highlights for 6-month period ended June 30, 2010

Cord Blood America, Inc., the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells, a biological insurance policy, to families nationwide and internationally, today announced highlights for the six-month period ended June 30, 2010. The Company believes the period was the most significant and eventful in its history.

29 Jul 2010

Clarient second-quarter net revenue increases 21% to $28.7 million

Clarient, Inc., a premier anatomic pathology and molecular testing services resource for pathologists, oncologists and the biopharmaceutical industry, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010. Second quarter 2010 net revenue was $28.7 million, a 21 percent increase over the $23.7 million net revenue in the 2009 second quarter and a sequential increase of nearly eight percent over the $26.6 million in the first quarter of 2010.

29 Jul 2010

Intensive chemotherapy may benefit elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia

The prognosis for nearly three-quarters of elderly patients on intensive chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is poor, with a median survival of less than six months, according to a study published online today in Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology. AML is the most common form of acute leukemia among adults and is a rapidly growing cancer of the bone marrow that requires immediate treatment. The average age at diagnosis is 67, and more than 12,000 people will be diagnosed with AML this year (according to the National Cancer Institute).

29 Jul 2010

New test to predict suitable treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia patients

Scientists in Japan may have developed a way to accurately predict those patients who will resist treatment with imatinib, which is the standard of care for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

29 Jul 2010