Leukemia News and Research

RSS

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.

Genzyme presents 4-year follow-up data from Phase 2 MS trial at neurology meeting

Genzyme Corporation today reported four-year follow-up data from its completed Phase 2 multiple sclerosis (MS) trial showing an estimated 71 percent of alemtuzumab treated patients remain free of clinically-active disease as much as three years after most patients received their last course of the investigational compound. The data were presented at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting.

15 Apr 2010

Researchers identify new strategy for treating acute myeloid leukemia

Researchers have identified a self-feeding "vicious circle" of molecules that keeps acute leukemia cells alive and growing and that drives the disease forward.

15 Apr 2010

New experimental compound offers hope for patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Researchers from the Sackler Center at Weill Cornell Medical College have designed a new class of drugs that targets BCL6, a master regulatory protein responsible for causing the most common type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

15 Apr 2010

EntreMed commences Phase 2 study of ENMD-2076 for platinum resistant ovarian cancer

EntreMed, Inc. today announced the initiation of a multi-center Phase 2 study with its lead oncology product candidate, ENMD-2076, in patients with platinum resistant ovarian cancer. The study will be conducted at up to six sites in the United States and Canada. In addition, EntreMed received a No Objection Letter (NOL) from the Therapeutic Products Directorate of Health Canada on its Clinical Trial Application to conduct the Phase 2 clinical trial in ovarian cancer patients.

13 Apr 2010

BeaconEquity.com releases investment report on Cord Blood America

BeaconEquity.com announces an investment report featuring umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company Cord Blood America. The report includes financial, comparative and investment analyses, and industry information you need to know to make an educated investment decision.

12 Apr 2010

Research shows association between LRP16 expression in colorectal cancer and disease related death

Leukemia related protein 16 gene is an important estrogen-responsive gene. LRP16 gene plays an important role in the carcinogenesis and progression of hormone-dependent cancer. LRP16 expression was also reported to be associated with invasion, metastasis and prognosis of gastric carcinoma. But no comprehensive description of LRP16 protein expression in colorectal cancer has been reported.

12 Apr 2010

Researchers find better way to predict treatment outcomes in young leukemia patients

Researchers from the Children's Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center may have found a way to more accurately predict treatment outcomes in young leukemia patients using information from a common and simple complete blood count test, also known as a CBC.

12 Apr 2010

FDA issues complete response letter regarding the NDA for OMAPRO

ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals announces that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Oncology Drug Products has issued a complete response letter regarding the new drug application for OMAPRO for the treatment of adults with chronic myeloid leukemia who have failed prior therapy with imatinib and have the Bcr-Abl T315I mutation.

12 Apr 2010

A*STAR announces fifth major collaboration with Italian research centres and universities

Two research units under Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC) and Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), are collaborating with Italy's Siena Biotech S.p.A. to develop new drugs and targeted antibodies respectively, which will potentially help millions of cancer and bone loss patients across the world. This is the fifth major collaboration A*STAR has with research centres and universities in Italy .

9 Apr 2010

Researchers make dramatic strides in understanding and treating leukemia

In the past decade, researchers have made dramatic strides in understanding and treating leukemia, according to the April issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter.

9 Apr 2010

Fate Therapeutics to acquire Ottawa biotechnology company Verio Therapeutics

Fate Therapeutics, Inc. announced today a definitive agreement to acquire Verio Therapeutics Inc., a privately held biotechnology company based in Ottawa, Ontario, which is developing drug candidates targeting the activation of endogenous stem cells. Verio Therapeutics is advancing the work of several of Canada's leading stem cell scientists, including Michael Rudnicki, Ph.D., FRSC, and Lynn Arthur Megeney, Ph.D., who have made breakthrough discoveries relating to muscle and pancreatic regeneration.

9 Apr 2010

Calistoga Pharmaceuticals commences CAL-101 trial in combination with Rituxan and/or Treanda

Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the leader in the development of isoform-selective phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) inhibitors for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases, today announced the initiation of a Phase 1 trial of CAL-101, the Company's oral, PI3K delta inhibitor, in combination with standard of care agents Rituxan® (rituximab) and/or Treanda® (bendamustine) in patients with relapsed or refractory indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

7 Apr 2010

Cytrx to commence Phase 2 trial of bafetinib for advanced prostate cancer

CytRx Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in oncology, today announced plans to initiate a Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial in the second half of 2010 to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of its oncology drug candidate bafetinib (formerly known as INNO-406) in patients with an advanced form of prostate cancer known as metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

7 Apr 2010

Cepheid to launch GeneXpert Infinity-48 in Europe at 20th ECCMID

Cepheid will initiate European launch of its newest addition to the GeneXpert® family of molecular diagnostic testing systems, the GeneXpert Infinity-48, at the 20th annual European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Vienna, Austria. The GeneXpert Infinity-48 System is the world's first and only fully-automated, random-access system designed for management of the entire molecular testing workflow — from sample data, cartridge loading and unloading, to final reporting of test results and disposal of cartridges.

7 Apr 2010

MMRC initiates Phase Ib/II study of Treanda in combination with Revlimid and dexamethasone

The Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC) today announced the initiation of a Phase Ib/II study of bendamustine (Treanda®), an anticancer agent currently approved for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid®) and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma. The trial, led by Shaji Kumar, MD, of Mayo Clinic, is open for enrollment at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.), City of Hope Cancer Center (Duarte, Calif.) and the University of Chicago (Chicago, Ill).

7 Apr 2010

Newer treatments, closer monitoring of childhood cancer may improve longevity

Although more children today are surviving cancer than ever before, young patients successfully treated in the 1970s and 80s may live a decade less, on average, than the general population, according to a study from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Harvard School of Public Health.

7 Apr 2010

Emory University researchers develop experimental clinical test for XMRV

The recently discovered retrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), has been identified in some prostate cancer patients. In light of conflicting data concerning XMRV, standardized diagnostic testing is important to identify patients in which XMRV is present and to determine whether it plays a role in the incidence of prostate cancer.

6 Apr 2010

Rebirth of the cursed drug Thalidomide

Thalidomide was once a dreaded name in the Pharmaceutical industry. It was initially marketed in some European countries nearly 5 decades back as a sedative and after millions of pregnant women took it for morning sickness it had devastating results on the babies. The babies were born with flippers instead of limbs a condition known as phocomelia. Since then it has been under strict control.

5 Apr 2010

Study: Trial vaccine eliminates residual cancer cells in CML patients

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers say preliminary studies show that a vaccine made with leukemia cells may be able to reduce or eliminate the last remaining cancer cells in some chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients taking the drug Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec).

3 Apr 2010