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.

New hybrid aspirin shrinks tumors, curbs cancer cell growth

The humble aspirin may soon have a new role. Scientists from The City College of New York have developed a new aspirin compound that has great promise to be, not only an extremely potent cancer-fighter, but even safer than the classic medicine cabinet staple.

9 Mar 2012

NCCN issues new guidelines for AYA oncology patients

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network announces that it has issued new NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology. AYA patients are defined in the guidelines as individuals 15 to 39 years of age at initial cancer diagnosis.

9 Mar 2012

Some bone marrow cells could prevent rejection of transplanted kidney in recipients: Study

Researchers transplanted certain cells from the kidney donor’s bone marrow along with the new organ. Five of eight transplant recipients who tried the method so far were off immune-suppressing medication up to 2½ years later, the researchers reported Wednesday. The preliminary results were considered important enough to be published in the journal Science Translational Medicine even though the study still is under way, because the technique worked for patients who didn’t have well-matched or related donors.

8 Mar 2012

Bellicum raises $20M in Series B financing

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has raised $20 million in a Series B financing. The funding will be used to advance its lead CaspaCIDe and DeCIDe programs through Phase 2 clinical development.

8 Mar 2012

First 'theranostic' agent for treatment of ALL

A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has developed the first "theranostic" agent for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

8 Mar 2012

Simple recommendations help reduce environmental exposures for women

Remove your shoes at the door of your home to avoid tracking in pollutants. Decrease consumption of processed and canned foods. Avoid the use of plastics with recycling codes #3, #4 and #7. Don't use chemical tick and flea collars or dips for pets. Reproductive health care providers should share these tips and more scientific information with women who want to become pregnant or who are pregnant, but that does not always happen.

7 Mar 2012

CTI fourth quarter net loss decreases to $17.9 million

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. today reported financial results and recent accomplishments for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2011.

7 Mar 2012

FDA issues Complete Response Letter to Eisai for Dacogen sNDA

Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a Complete Response Letter to partner Eisai for their supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for Dacogen (decitabine) for Injection for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in adults 65 years of age or older who are not considered candidates for induction therapy.

7 Mar 2012

EntreMed plans to establish drug development office in China

EntreMed, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, announced today that it has initiated plans to establish an office in China to facilitate the Company's drug development and clinical trials in that country.

6 Mar 2012

Scientists identify novel protein expressed by breast cancer cells

A team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center has identified a novel protein expressed by breast cancer cells - but not normal adult tissues - that could provide a new target for future anti-cancer drugs and treatments.

6 Mar 2012

Astex fourth quarter total revenues increase to $21.2 million

Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2011.

5 Mar 2012

Inovio's SynCon vaccine for HPV types 6 and 11 induces CD8+ T cells in mice

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that its SynCon therapeutic vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6 and 11, which are associated with head & neck cancers and genital warts, among other conditions, induced strong antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in mice.

5 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: The defeated Blunt Amendment, Obama's $100B Catholic hospital risk, fixing drug shortages

The amendment, which was attached to a highway bill, was defeated on a narrow 48-to-51 vote. But it showed once again how far from the mainstream Republicans have strayed in their relentless efforts to undermine the separation of church and state, deny women access to essential health services and tear apart President Obama's health care reform law.

3 Mar 2012

Survivors of cancer in childhood have higher risk of infertility in later life

Survivors of cancer in childhood have a higher risk of infertility in later life. This is the conclusion reached by Magdalena Balcerek and her co-authors in a study published in Deutsches -rzteblatt International.

3 Mar 2012

Northern Ireland has higher survival rates for pancreatic cancer, leukaemia

The first audit of leukaemia treatment and survival in Northern Ireland by the Cancer Registry (NICR) at Queen's University Belfast has shown that survival rates for the disease here are at the highest levels since data collection began in 1993.

2 Mar 2012

Dept. of Justice lawyers strategize on how to win key SCOTUS votes

Media outlets report on this and other health law implementation developments, including news about health exchanges and the measure's pre-existing condition insurance plan.

1 Mar 2012

Ruxolitinib boosts QOL and survival for patients with myelofibrosis

A drug that relieves the severe symptoms of a life-threatening bone marrow cancer called myelofibrosis also improves the survival of patients with the disease, according to a phase III clinical trial published in the March 1 edition of New England Journal of Medicine.

1 Mar 2012

NEJM publishes results from two Jakafi Phase III studies on MF

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) today published results from two Phase III studies (COMFORT-I and COMFORT-II) of Jakafi (ruxolitinib), a JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis.

1 Mar 2012

New NOSH-aspirin appears more effective against cancer

Scientists have combined two new "designer" forms of aspirin into a hybrid substance that appears more effective than either of its forebears in controlling the growth of several forms of cancer in laboratory tests. Their report on the new NOSH-aspirin, so named because it releases nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S), appears in the journal ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.

29 Feb 2012

EpiCept fourth quarter revenue decreases to $0.2 million

EpiCept Corporation today announced operating and financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011, and provided an update on the Company's key business initiatives.

29 Feb 2012