Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

GE Healthcare announces completion of tender offer for Clarient

GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company announced today that it has completed the tender offer by GE's wholly owned subsidiary, Crane Merger Sub, Inc., for all outstanding shares of common and preferred stock of Clarient Inc., a leading player in the fast-growing molecular diagnostics sector. Clarient provides pathologists and oncologists with access to key diagnostic tests that shed light on the complex nature of various cancers.

23 Dec 2010

Research: Arsenic trioxide may benefit individuals with connective brain tumors

Arsenic is usually thought of as a poison. Despite this, it has been used in medicine for over 2000 years, and the arsenic compound arsenic trioxide (ATO) is FDA approved for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia.

23 Dec 2010

Merck announces FDA approval for GARDASIL against HPV-related anal cancer

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved GARDASIL® [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16, and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] for the prevention of anal cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 and for the prevention of anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN) grades 1, 2 and 3 (anal dysplasias and precancerous lesions) caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18, in males and females 9 through 26 years of age.

23 Dec 2010

Certain drugs may block tumor host interactions but do not destroy cancer cells

A class of drugs thought to kill cancer cells may in fact block "cross talk" between the cancer cell and normal immune cells, resulting in reduced cancer growth and spread-a discovery that could significantly alter the way cancer drugs are evaluated in the future.

23 Dec 2010

Patients with over expression of P-Rex1 protein are more likely to develop cancer metastasis

Overexpression or hyperactivation of ErbB cell-surface receptors drives the growth of many breast cancers. Drugs, like Herceptin, that block the receptors' signals halt tumor progression in some patients.

23 Dec 2010

In State budgets, Medicaid goes under the knife; Costs high for Florida Medicaid's doctor-immunity plan; N.J. practices to launch ACOs

Governors nationwide are taking a scalpel to Medicaid, the jointly run state and federal health-care program for 48 million poor Americans, half of whom are children. The single biggest expense for states, Medicaid consumes about 22 percent of their total $1.6 trillion in expenditures, more than what is allocated to elementary and secondary education, according to a National Governors Association report.

23 Dec 2010

Photon-based radiation therapy may result in better survival rate in patients with spinal-cord tumor

A study comparing the long-term outcomes of patients with spinal-cord tumors following radiation therapy suggests that certain subsets of patients have better long-term survival.

23 Dec 2010

FDA approves Gardasil for prevention of anal cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the vaccine Gardasil for the prevention of anal cancer and associated precancerous lesions due to human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16, and 18 in people ages 9 through 26 years.

23 Dec 2010

Researchers discover protein that suppresses melanoma progression

In a breakthrough that could lead to new treatments for patients with malignant melanoma, researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered that a particular protein suppresses the progression of melanoma through regulation of an oncogene, or gene responsible for cancer growth. The study is published in the December 23 issue of Nature.

23 Dec 2010

mTORC1 cellular pathway affects aging phenotype

Whitehead Institute researchers have linked hyperactivity in the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) cellular pathway, to reduced ketone production, which is a well-defined physiological trait of aging in mice.

23 Dec 2010

NCI grants U-M Cancer Center $10.7M for study of colorectal and pancreatic cancer

The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center has received a five-year $10.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study colorectal and pancreatic cancer.

23 Dec 2010

FDA approves Novartis' Amturnide for treatment of high blood pressure

Today Novartis announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Amturnide (aliskiren, amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide) tablets for the treatment of high blood pressure. Amturnide combines the only approved direct renin inhibitor worldwide, Tekturna (aliskiren), with the widely used calcium channel blocker amlodipine and the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ).

23 Dec 2010

Immunomedics announces additional claim for RS7 antibodies patent family

Immunomedics, a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development of monoclonal antibody-based products for the targeted treatment of cancer, autoimmune and other serious diseases, today announced that additional claims for the patent family, "RS7 antibodies," were issued as Patent No. 1,002,443 in Korea.

23 Dec 2010

Today's Opinions: Congressional funding vote leaves out health law; Price controls on health; Tough choices in Washington State

The Senate passed the Continuing Resolution 79-16 this afternoon. Another way of saying that: The Senate voted to defund the implementation of both health-care reform and financial-regulation reform.

23 Dec 2010

FDA approves Watson's novel oral contraceptive

Watson Pharmaceuticals today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a novel oral contraceptive product – the first and only low dose oral contraceptive to combine 0.8 mg norethindrone and 0.025 mg ethinyl estradiol in chewable form, with four 75 mg ferrous fumarate (iron) placebo tablets. Taken orally, once daily, the product is proven effective in lowering the risk of pregnancy.

22 Dec 2010

People with high RBC folate levels more likely to have two tumor-suppressing genes

People with higher levels of folate in their red blood cells were more likely to have two tumor-suppressing genes shut down by methylation, a chemical off switch for genes, researchers report in the December issue of Cancer Prevention Research.

22 Dec 2010

Tekmira begins patient dosing in TKM-PLK1 phase 1 trail for cancer

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a leading developer of RNA interference therapeutics, announced today it has initiated patient dosing in a Phase 1 human clinical trial for its lead oncology product, TKM-PLK1. TKM-PLK1 targets polo-like kinase 1, or PLK1, a cell cycle protein involved in tumor cell proliferation and a validated oncology target.

22 Dec 2010

Study finds specially designed probiotic can prevent obesity

Specially designed probiotics can modulate the physiology of host fat cells say scientists writing in Microbiology. The findings could lead to specialised probiotics that have a role in the prevention or treatment of conditions such as obesity.

22 Dec 2010

New nanoparticle-based diagnostic platform provides rapid detection of sepsis

Blood poisoning can be fatal. If you suffer from sepsis, you used to have to wait as much as 48 hours for laboratory findings. A new diagnostic platform as big as a credit card will now supply the analysis after as little as an hour. This system is based on nanoparticles that are automatically guided by magnetic forces.

22 Dec 2010

NIH Clinical Center opens doors to Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators

A new pilot partnership between the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research, and the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation will offer some of the capabilities and expertise of America's research hospital to an external group of clinical investigators in cancer research. The special talent and resources of the NIH will allow Damon Runyon-funded investigators to undertake studies and collaborations that will advance understanding of the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.

22 Dec 2010