Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Senate approves women's screening amendment in first health bill vote

The Associated Press: The Senate voted 61-39 Thursday "to safeguard coverage of mammograms and preventive screening tests for women under any health care overhaul legislation." The revision, which was advanced by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, "would allow the Health and Human Services secretary to require insurers to cover preventive health screenings free of charge" (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/3).

3 Dec 2009

Lightlake Therapeutics granted ethical approval for gene testing subjects in obesity treatment trial

After two decades of scientifically and medically proven success in their field, Lightlake Therapeutics' experts have been granted ethical approval to begin selecting and gene testing subjects for a trial of a simple, safe and effective treatment for what the World Health Organisation has described as a global epidemic of unhealthy eating and obesity.

3 Dec 2009

American Pain Society supports FDA drug disposal guidelines

Calling it "an important first step in attempting to reverse an escalating public health menace caused by diversion of prescription opioid pain medications," the American Pain Society today announced its support for a new FDA initiative to encourage consumers to remove unused pain drugs from home medicine cabinets.

3 Dec 2009

AAD SEAL OF RECOGNITION program to be phased out

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) has decided to phase out its AAD SEAL OF RECOGNITION(R) program over the next two years, and will cease accepting new applications effective immediately. Products which were accepted into the program prior to November 15, 2009, will continue to carry the AAD SEAL OF RECOGNITION(R) until the end of their two-year terms.

3 Dec 2009

Today's opinions and editorials

Defenders of the status quo in health care would happily let the drive for reform bog down amid a debate over President Obama's new war strategy. Democrats can't let this happen (12/3).

3 Dec 2009

iCo Therapeutics to present an overview of its iCo-007 VEGF "+" agent at the ISOPT conference

iCo Therapeutics Inc. is pleased to announce that an overview of iCo-007, entitled "iCo-007 a VEGF "+" Agent for the Potential Treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema and Diabetic Retinopathy" will be presented at the 8th International Symposium on Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics ("ISOPT"), a major international ocular conference.

3 Dec 2009

At House hearing, panel seeks to clarify advice on mammograms

Members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force testified at a hearing Wednesday before the the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health.

3 Dec 2009

Enzon Pharmaceuticals announces share repurchase program

Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $50 million of its outstanding shares of common stock in order to return value to its shareholders.

3 Dec 2009

Don't stop dieting during the holiday season

As Americans gear up for the holiday season this month, Dr. Sasson Moulavi, a Board Certified Bariatric Physician, cautions that overweight and obese patients not give in to temptation and forget their dieting. Rather, Dr. Sass, founder of the Smart for Life(R) Cookie Diet, recommends alternative behavior for a positive outcome when it is time to ring in the New Year.

3 Dec 2009

Endo Pharmaceuticals receives FDA complete response letter for AVEED NDA

Endo Pharmaceuticals today announced that it received a complete response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the New Drug Application (NDA) for its extended-duration testosterone undecanoate injection, AVEED(TM), for men diagnosed with low testosterone.

3 Dec 2009

IsoRay to distribute Oncura's I-125 brachytherapy seed

IsoRay, Inc. announced today that it has signed a distribution agreement with Oncura to distribute the I-125 brachytherapy seed, OncoSeed™.

3 Dec 2009

Allos Therapeutics to launch the COMPLETE registry for patients with PTCL

Allos Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the launch of an international registry designed to address the urgent need to better understand treatment patterns and outcomes for patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). The registry, known as COMPLETE (Comprehensive Oncology Measures for Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma Treatment), is a global observational study that will enroll patients with newly-diagnosed PTCL and obtain data regarding longitudinal treatment patterns and outcomes.

3 Dec 2009

Update on Celsion's ThermoDox Phase III “HEAT” trial for HCC

Celsion Corporation, a leading oncology drug development company, today provided an update on the progress of its pivotal ThermoDox® Phase III “HEAT” trial for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of primary liver cancer. Following recent regulatory approvals in China, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, the study is now enrolling patients in eleven countries, with the majority of clinical sites located in the Asia Pacific region where HCC is most prevalent.

3 Dec 2009

Continued rise of PSA value in prostate cancer patients can indicate relapsing disease

Prostate cancer patients who have a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value of less than or equal to 1.5 at two years after external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) are less likely to have a cancer recurrence and cancer-related death, according to a study in the December 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

3 Dec 2009

Experimentation may lead to permanent smoking habit among Mexican-American adolescents

Whether non-smoking Mexican-American adolescents go on to experiment with smoking depends largely on their initial attitude toward the habit, researchers at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the December issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

3 Dec 2009

Financial aspects of cancer treatment reduces compliance

New data being released today by the Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW) demonstrate the extraordinary financial hardships that often complicate or compromise a patient’s battle against cancer. Sixty-three percent of oncology social workers surveyed said that financial issues reduce patients’ compliance with their cancer treatment – even though that treatment is key to their recovery. Forty percent of patients reported depleting their savings, while almost 30% reported dealing with bill collectors.

3 Dec 2009

China's SFDA initiates quality investigation of Simcere Pharmaceutical Group subsidiary's rabies vaccine

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, a leading pharmaceutical company specializing in the development, manufacturing, and marketing of branded generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals in China, today reported that China's State Food and Drug Administration ("SFDA") has initiated a comprehensive investigation into quality issues regarding human use rabies vaccine (vero cell) manufactured by Simcere's subsidiary Jiangsu Yanshen Biological Technology Stock Co., Ltd. ("Jiangsu Yanshen").

3 Dec 2009

PEG polymer may prevent GI injury during cancer radiotherapy

A non-absorbed, oral co-polymer therapy under development by Midway Pharmaceuticals demonstrated the ability to protect against damage to healthy gastrointestinal tissues and to prevent lethal bacterial infections in animal models of radiation damage.

3 Dec 2009

TGen scientists win $1,000 prize for best scientific paper presented at BIBM09

A team of scientists at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) won a $1,000 prize for best scientific paper presented at BIBM09, a premier bioinformatics and biomedicine conference.

3 Dec 2009

Macular Health eye vitamin supplement improves visual acuity

Adults are more likely to lose their vision than be diagnosed with cancer. For adults 65 and over, the odds of losing vision are one in three, whereas the odds of a man developing prostate cancer are one in six and odds of a woman developing breast cancer are one in nine. Vision loss threatens the overall health of aging adults by increasing the risk of injuries, depression and inability to complete daily tasks.

3 Dec 2009