Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Seattle Genetics lymphoma drug gets FDA panel nod

Seattle Genetics Inc. has finally obtained the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) nod for a second type of blood cancer drug. The FDA advisory committee voted 10-0 on Thursday to recommend accelerated approval of the drug, under the proposed trade name Adcetris, for anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). The panel earlier unanimously approved the drug for Hodgkin's lymphoma, another type of blood cancer.

14 Jul 2011

Medical community welcomes $30 million funding to fast track cancer research

The medical research community can only be encouraged by the level of commitment demonstrated by the NSW government’s $30 million funding to fast track cancer research, the Dean of Medicine at the University of New South Wales, Professor Peter Smith, said today.

14 Jul 2011

Verastem raises $32 million to develop targeted cancer stem cell therapies

Verastem, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing drugs to treat breast and other cancers by targeting cancer stem cells, announced today that it has raised $32 million through a Series B financing. Proceeds from the financing will support ongoing research and development and will progress drug candidates into clinical development. The first candidate is projected to enter the clinic in 2012.

14 Jul 2011

FDA grants Novian Health IDE approval for Novilase ILT System to treat breast cancer

Novian Health, developer of Novilase® Breast Therapy, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted investigational device exemption (IDE) approval for the company to start a multi-center study of its Novilase® Interstitial Laser Therapy (ILT) System. Novian developed the ILT System for the ablation of small (up to 20 mm) malignant breast tumors.

14 Jul 2011

Eli Lilly makes charitable contribution to Patient Advocate Foundation

Eli Lilly and Company announced that it has made a charitable contribution to the Patient Advocate Foundation.

14 Jul 2011

USPTO awards patent for Convergen LifeSciences' CNVN202 to treat lung cancer

Convergen LifeSciences, Inc. announced today that another United States Patent 7,977,468 has been awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office jointly to The University of Texas System Board of Regents and The Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

14 Jul 2011

DVS Sciences completes $14.6M series A financing

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and DVS Sciences Inc., today announced that DVS Sciences has completed a $14.6 million series A financing.

14 Jul 2011

European Respiratory Society Congress to take place on September 24, 2011

The 2011 European Respiratory Society Congress will take place at the Amsterdam RAI congress centre from Saturday 24 September to Wednesday 28 September 2011.

14 Jul 2011

Study shows benefits of onion waste on human health

More than 500,000 tonnes of onion waste are thrown away in the European Union each year. However, scientists say this could have a use as food ingredients. The brown skin and external layers are rich in fibre and flavonoids, while the discarded bulbs contain sulphurous compounds and fructans. All of these substances are beneficial to health.

14 Jul 2011

Positive data from Inovio's VGX-3400X Phase I study against H5N1 influenza

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that significant T cell and antibody responses were generated in its Phase I clinical study of VGX-3400X, a SynCon DNA vaccine for the prevention of avian H5N1 influenza delivered using intramuscular (IM) electroporation.

14 Jul 2011

'Sex' between viruses can create new influenza pandemic

A new University of Maryland-led study finds that 'sex' between the virus responsible for the 2009 flu pandemic (H1N1) and a common type of avian flu virus (H9N2) can produce offspring -- new combined flu viruses -- with the potential for creating a new influenza pandemic.

14 Jul 2011

Men with early-stage prostate cancer can benefit from short-term ADT, radiation therapy

Short-term hormone therapy given in combination with radiation therapy for men with early-stage prostate cancer increases their chance of living longer and not dying from the disease, compared with that of those who receive the same radiation therapy alone, according to a Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) study published in the July 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

14 Jul 2011

RXi expands intellectual property portfolio with additional NeuVax patents

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing innovative therapies addressing major unmet medical needs using targeted biotherapeutics, announced today that it expanded its patent portfolio with additional patents covering worldwide rights to develop and commercialize NeuVax.

14 Jul 2011

Provision to eliminate lifetime benefit caps in medical insurance allows life-saving heart-lung transplant

The Affordable Care Act was signed into law March 23, 2010, with the aim of extending medical coverage to more Americans. The law has been a political football, and arguments continue to rage over whether it's good or bad for the country. This, however, is simply the story of how it affected one person.

14 Jul 2011

EC approves YERVOY for treatment of previously-treated advanced melanoma

Bristol-Myers Squibb today announced that the European Commission has approved YERVOY for the treatment of adult patients with previously-treated advanced melanoma.

14 Jul 2011

Scientists discover new mechanism of drug resistance in hospital microbes

Hospitals struggle to prevent the infections that complicate treatment for cancer, joint replacement, heart surgery and other conditions. Hospital-acquired infections are often resistant to multiple antibiotics, leading to approximately 100,000 deaths and more than $30 billion in additional health care costs yearly.

14 Jul 2011

Orexo acquires Wagner Analysen Technik

Orexo AB has, through its subsidiary Kibion AB, acquired the German company Wagner Analysen Technik GmbH.

14 Jul 2011

Scientists link human gene to risk of developing Mild Cognitive Impairment

Connecting a human gene to the risk of developing the Alzheimer's precondition known as Mild Cognitive Impairment has been somewhat of a holy grail for scientists, but a team led by researchers from Cornell University has ended the quest.

14 Jul 2011

Treatment with estrogen dramatically lowers rates of stomach cancer in male mice

Several types of cancer, including stomach, liver and colon, are far more common in men than in women. Some scientists have theorized that differences in lifestyle, such as diet and smoking, may account for the discrepancy, but growing evidence suggests that the differences are rooted in basic biological differences between men and women.

14 Jul 2011

Cancer studies less likely to make data available for future research

A new study finds that -- even in a field with clear standards and online databases -- the rate of public data archiving in cancer research is increasing only slowly. Furthermore, research studies in cancer and human subjects are less likely than other research studies to make their datasets available for reuse.

14 Jul 2011