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Doctors pushing hard for Medicare pay fix

The Hill: "Capitol Hill and K Street are starting to wonder if a Republican victory in the House or Senate could be good news for doctors in 2011. ... Physicians are asking for a 13-month fix to the problem, and sources say a Republican victory could create momentum for that to happen in November" (Pecquet, 10/9).

12 Oct 2010

Health premiums climb

Buffalo (N.Y.) News: "Two of the region's three dominant health insurers intend to raise premiums on average by double digits for next year, and the third wants a double-digit increase for plans not structured as health maintenance organizations. The premium for one insurance plan could rise almost 36 percent. The insurers cite rising costs of medical care and federal health care reforms." The increases must be approved by the state (Epstein, 10/10).

12 Oct 2010

Identifying subsets of patients who will respond to subsequent lines of chemotherapy

In a study presented at the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), Dr Giovanni Bernardo from Fondazione Maugeri in Pavia, Italy, presented results that suggested it may be possible to identify subsets of metastatic breast cancer patients who are likely to respond to subsequent lines of chemotherapy.

11 Oct 2010

Phase 3 study shows everolimus delays tumor progression in hard-to-treat neuroendocrine tumors

The results of a large Phase-III clinical trial have shown that the drug everolimus delays tumor progression in patients with a hard-to-treat group of rare cancers that affect particular hormone-producing cells.

11 Oct 2010

Sexual issues a major concern for cancer patients taking new targeted drugs

New drugs that target specific molecular mechanisms of cancer have improved the treatment of cancer patients in recent years, but those benefits may come with a cost to the patient’s sex life, researchers have found. At the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Milan, Italy, French researchers reported on one of the few studies to investigate the impact of cancer therapy on the sexual functioning of patients.

11 Oct 2010

Early cancer drug trials flawed by inconsistencies in prohibited drug lists, study finds

Researchers in Canada and France have raised concerns about substantial inconsistencies in a basic aspect of the way Phase-I and Phase-II cancer clinical trials are designed.

11 Oct 2010

New phase 2 study shows first-line promise of lung cancer drug PF-299

A new-generation lung cancer drug has shown an impressive ability to prevent disease progression when administered as a first-line treatment in patients with advanced disease, investigators reported at the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).

11 Oct 2010

$Pazopanib shows promise in phase-2 trial for relapsed/refractory urothelial cancer$

Pazopanib shows promise in phase-2 trial for relapsed/refractory urothelial cancer

An ongoing Phase-II trial investigating a new, targeted therapy for metastatic urothelial cancer has generated promising early results, Italian researchers reported at the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Milan, Italy.

11 Oct 2010

Obesity treatments falter, but researchers announce gene links

The Wall Street Journal: "An international research consortium says it has identified 18 new gene sites linked to obesity and 13 others associated with how fat is distributed in the body, advances that shed new light on the complex biology underlying one of the world's most pressing public-health problems. The findings are based on studies involving nearly 250,000 people, making the effort the largest so far to unravel the genetic basis of common human traits, researchers said.

11 Oct 2010

Attorney Keith Jensen announces $3.78 million settlement with Pfizer on TEN case

Attorney Keith Jensen of the Fort Worth, Texas-based law firm of Jensen, Belew & Gonzalez is announcing a $3.78 million settlement with pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer Inc. on behalf of the family of a nine-year-old New York girl who died in June 2004 as the result of a drug-induced disease known as Stevens Johnson Syndrome, which caused all of her skin to peel off.

11 Oct 2010

Genta announces EMA Orphan Drug designation for tesetaxel

Genta Incorporated today announced that tesetaxel, the leading oral taxane in clinical development, has been designated as an Orphan Drug by the European Medicines Agency for gastric cancer. The drug has previously received Orphan Drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for both gastric cancer and melanoma, as well as Fast Track designation by FDA for gastric cancer.

11 Oct 2010

First Edition: October 11, 2010

Today's early morning highlights include articles on new options for open season, concerns among retirees about the provisions of the federal health law and the latest campaign arguments over that new overhaul.

11 Oct 2010

Researchers identify factor that affects breast cancer patients' survival time in chemotherapy

11 Oct 2010

DTC genetic tests require innovative approach to enter global market

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests available from retailers and the Internet let people learn about their genomes without going to a doctor, but they raise the question of who is responsible for oversight and regulation of these tests. Critics worry about safety risks if consumers base important lifestyle or medical decisions on inaccurate or misunderstood test results.

11 Oct 2010

Drugs may prevent temporary combativeness in children after surgery

Temporary combativeness after surgery-a complication affecting up to half of anesthetized children-may be preventable with drugs that decrease epinephrine production, according to a Medical College of Georgia pediatric anesthesiologist.

11 Oct 2010

Takeda, Envoy enter three-year research alliance to develop schizophrenia drug

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a global pharmaceutical company, and Envoy Therapeutics Inc., a recently formed drug discovery company, today announced that they have formed a three-year research alliance aimed at discovering drugs for schizophrenia that will have greater efficacy and safety compared to current therapies.

11 Oct 2010

Phase-II clinical trial of MLN8237 drug shows promising results for treating ovarian cancer

A drug being developed as a treatment for ovarian cancer has shown single agent activity with durable disease control in some patients in a Phase-II clinical trial, an international research group has reported.

11 Oct 2010

Research may offer new therapy targets for drug-resistant breast tumors

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found how gene expression that may contribute to drug resistance is ramped up in unusual types of breast tumors. Their findings may offer new therapy targets.

11 Oct 2010

Anti-HER2 antibody-drug conjugate effective as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer: Research

A new type of breast cancer treatment has shown encouraging activity as a first-line therapy in HER2-positive metastatic disease, researchers reported at the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Milan, Italy.

11 Oct 2010

Opinions: Learning to live with malaria; U.S. food aid policy; foreign aid reform

Recent discoveries of a possible wild reservoir for humankind's most malignant malaria, some 130 years after the discovery of the malaria parasite, could mean that it will be impossible to eradicate malaria,Sonia Shah, the author of The Fever, How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years,observes in an International Herald Tribune opinion piece.

11 Oct 2010

Drugs News and Research

Doctors pushing hard for Medicare pay fix

Health premiums climb

Identifying subsets of patients who will respond to subsequent lines of chemotherapy

Phase 3 study shows everolimus delays tumor progression in hard-to-treat neuroendocrine tumors

Sexual issues a major concern for cancer patients taking new targeted drugs

Early cancer drug trials flawed by inconsistencies in prohibited drug lists, study finds

New phase 2 study shows first-line promise of lung cancer drug PF-299

Pazopanib shows promise in phase-2 trial for relapsed/refractory urothelial cancer

Obesity treatments falter, but researchers announce gene links

Attorney Keith Jensen announces $3.78 million settlement with Pfizer on TEN case

Genta announces EMA Orphan Drug designation for tesetaxel

First Edition: October 11, 2010

Researchers identify factor that affects breast cancer patients' survival time in chemotherapy

DTC genetic tests require innovative approach to enter global market

Drugs may prevent temporary combativeness in children after surgery

Takeda, Envoy enter three-year research alliance to develop schizophrenia drug

Phase-II clinical trial of MLN8237 drug shows promising results for treating ovarian cancer

Research may offer new therapy targets for drug-resistant breast tumors

Anti-HER2 antibody-drug conjugate effective as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer: Research

Opinions: Learning to live with malaria; U.S. food aid policy; foreign aid reform

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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