Cancer Therapy News and Research

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International community must approach cancer as a global health priority

Once thought to be a problem primarily in the developed world, cancer is now a leading cause of death and disability in poorer countries. Almost two-thirds of the 7.6 million cancer deaths in the world occur in low- and middle-income countries.

16 Aug 2010

New T cell engineering approach can improve success rate of immune-cell therapies

Clinical trials using patients' own immune cells to target tumors have yielded promising results. However, this approach usually works only if the patients also receive large doses of drugs designed to help immune cells multiply rapidly, and those drugs have life-threatening side effects. Now a team of MIT engineers has devised a way to deliver the necessary drugs by smuggling them on the backs of the cells sent in to fight the tumor. That way, the drugs reach only their intended targets, greatly reducing the risk to the patient.

16 Aug 2010

Hana Biosciences second-quarter net loss decreases to $6.3 million

Hana Biosciences Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on strengthening the foundation of cancer care, today reported financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2010, and provided a corporate update.

13 Aug 2010

Study finds Olaparib can reduce tumor size in ovarian cancer women

Understanding the underlying genetic weakness of certain types of cancer may lead to targeted therapy and provide the key to effective treatment, a new study suggests. An international consortium of researchers has shown that an investigational drug, Olaparib, can reduce the size of tumors in women with advanced hereditary ovarian cancer with BRCA gene mutations.

13 Aug 2010

Cancer Research Technology grants Valirx global rights to develop VAL 201 for cancer treatment

Cancer Research Technology has signed a deal to provide biotech company ValiRx plc with the global rights to develop a promising compound to treat hormone-resistant prostate cancer.The compound, now called VAL 201, has been shown in pre-clinical tests in mice to stop growth of tumours which have been unresponsive to hormone treatments. VAL 201 blocks genes which can cause prostate cancer to develop. The compound has been shown to be effective in treating mice with breast and prostate cancer and is now rapidly progressing towards the first clinical trials in patients.

13 Aug 2010

Transgenomic second-quarter net loss increases to $1.1 million

Transgenomic, Inc. today reported financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2010, and provided a business update.

13 Aug 2010

Aeterna Zentaris second-quarter revenues decrease to $5.6 million

Aeterna Zentaris Inc., a late-stage drug development company specialized in oncology and endocrinology, today reported financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

12 Aug 2010

Investments in screening, new drugs reduce breast cancer mortality rates in UK

Breast cancer death rates have fallen steeply in the UK in the last 20 years - and at a faster rate than in any other European country except for Iceland, a new study in the British Medical Journal has found.The research challenges previous claims about the UK's cancer services, which were based on poor survival rate in comparison to other western European countries.

12 Aug 2010

Numerate collaborates with Intellikine to identify drug-like inhibitors of PI3 kinase alpha

Numerate, Inc. and Intellikine, Inc. today announced the successful conclusion of their research collaboration to discover novel small molecule compounds targeting the PI3K/mTOR signaling pathway. The collaboration combined Intellikine's unique capabilities in x-ray crystal structure-guided medicinal chemistry and drug discovery with Numerate's powerful computational drug design platform to identify potent, selective and drug-like inhibitors of PI3 kinase alpha, an important target in cancer therapy.

12 Aug 2010

Seattle Genetics, Genentech expand antibody-drug conjugate collaboration

Seattle Genetics, Inc. announced today that it has expanded its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) collaboration agreement with Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group. Under the expanded agreement, Genentech will pay an upfront fee of $12 million for rights to utilize Seattle Genetics' ADC technology with additional antigens to be named by Genentech.

12 Aug 2010

Study examines link between breath, cancer detection

A test using a patient's breath could be developed to detect lung, breast, bowel and prostate cancers, a team of scientists have discovered. While these results are only preliminary, the study1 published in the British Journal of Cancer today (Wednesday), found that sensors could distinguish between the breath of healthy patients and those who have cancer.

11 Aug 2010

Premier international conference to highlight understanding of cancer disparities

This year, the American Association for Cancer Research will host its third conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in Miami, Fla.

11 Aug 2010

Researchers to develop a prototype for laser based radiation therapy

Currently, new treatment facilities for radiation therapy with ions are built all over the world. These particles destroy cancer cells and have a better ability to spare the surrounding healthy tissue than other techniques. Today, accelerated hydrogen and carbon ions are mainly used to treat inoperable tumors in organs like the brain and bone marrow, which are sensitive to radiation therapy.

11 Aug 2010

Immunomedics receives additional patent for CD74 target

Immunomedics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer and other serious diseases, today announced that additional claims for the patent family "Internalizing anti-CD74 antibodies and methods of use," were issued as U.S. Patent No. 7,772,373. The new patent, which will expire in March 2023, covers any humanized antibodies that compete for binding to CD74 with milatuzumab, or bind to the same epitope as milatuzumab.

11 Aug 2010

ACD launches RNAscope Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded Assay Kit

Advanced Cell Diagnostics, Inc., announces the launch and immediate availability of RNAscope™ FFPE Assay Kit, a line of RUO products designed to detect RNA biomarkers in routine Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded tissue specimens with single molecule sensitivity.

From Advanced Cell Diagnostics 11 Aug 2010

Scientists develop new method to enable drug release inside cancer cells

Scientists from UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute and Korea's Yonsei University have developed an innovative method that enables nanomachines to release drugs inside living cancer cells when activated remotely by an oscillating magnetic field.The new system - the first to utilize a class of porous nanomaterials driven by a magnetic core - has the potential to improve both targeted drug-delivery and magnetic resonance imaging in the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

11 Aug 2010

Breath test to detect cancer: Study

According to researchers cancer may soon be detectable using a breath test. They are now developing sensors that can detect chemical markers of lung, breast, bowel and prostate cancer in a person's breath. The new portable device has been purported as an “electronic nose” that can detect early cancers. As a cancer grows, the surface of the cells emits chemicals. The research found that sensors – involving gold nanoparticles – could be used to detect these chemicals in the breath.

10 Aug 2010

Study results provide rationale for use of PI3K inhibitors in therapeutic settings

Research at the Babraham Institute, investigating how white blood cells known as B cells develop, has revealed that genes from the Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase family of enzymes are critical in enabling the B cells to produce antibodies in the spleen and lymph nodes.

10 Aug 2010

Theragenics reports consolidated revenue of $20.8M for second-quarter 2010

Theragenics Corporation, a medical device company serving the surgical products and prostate cancer treatment markets, today announced consolidated financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

10 Aug 2010

Curis announces preliminary results of GDC-0449 Phase II clinical trial in advanced ovarian cancer

Curis, Inc., a drug development company seeking to develop next generation targeted small molecule drug candidates for cancer treatment, today announced that it has received preliminary results from a Phase II clinical trial of GDC-0449 from Roche and Genentech, Curis' collaborator and a member of the Roche Group.

9 Aug 2010