Julian Lewis had an aggressive form of prostate cancer that spread throughout his body. He says he went on a standard-type of treatment and after a few years, it stopped working. With few options doctors gave him an experimental drug called a PARP inhibitor. Today he is doing well and his cancer, caused by a genetic mutation, is shrinking. Dr. Johann De Bono of the Institute of Cancer Research calls this treatment “the holy grail of cancer treatment.” The drug also seems to be effective against certain forms of breast and ovarian cancer. In a small study, British researchers gave PARP inhibitors to 19 patients with genetic mutations called BRCA one or two. In 12 cases the cancer either shrank or stabilized. It’s still very early in the research process, and right now the drug only seems to treat cancers with certain genetic characteristics. However, scientists are very excited about the potential. “The
fundamental breakthrough here is this new way of developing cancer drugs,” said Dr. Daniel P. Silver of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Certain types of cancers spread with the help of a chemical called PARP. These new drugs stop that chemical. Dr. De Bono says it spares normal cells, while killing cancer cells selectively. And unlike chemotherapy, patients on PARP inhibitors don’t suffer side effects, like hair loss and extreme nausea.
Brad Heath and Blake Morrison, USA TODAY
The government’s latest snapshot of air pollution across the nation shows residents of New York, Oregon and California faced the highest risk of developing cancer from breathing toxic chemicals.
The results, compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency, represent the most sweeping analysis to date of the state of the nation’s air. The analysis is based on emissions from 2002, the latest year for which the EPA had detailed estimates of pollution from across the nation.Many of those people — about 847,000 — lived in New York City. The worst single neighborhood lay between two freeways in Cerritos, Calif., outside Los Angeles. There, the EPA estimated an excess cancer risk of more than 1,200 in 1 million, 34 times the national average.http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-06-23-epa-study_N.htm
Patients with inoperable prostate disease recover after single dose of drug
Two patients with inoperable prostate cancer have made dramatic recoveries after receiving one dose of an experimental drug that is creating excitement among cancer specialists.
The results were so startling that researchers decided to release details of the two cases before the drug trial – in which the patients took part – was complete. Doctors said their progress had exceeded all expectations. The men were treated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the US, one of the top medical centres in the world.
Dr Eugene Kwon, the urologist who was in charge of their treatment, compared the results to the first pilot breaking the sound barrier.
“This is one of the Holy Grails of prostate cancer research. We have been looking for this for years,” he said. Read More »
Negative perceptions and tough economic times keep women away from screening programs, but self-examination still highly rated.
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Mistrust, costs reduce breast cancer screening among minorities
Researchers from Italy have reported that computed tomographic (CT) colonography more accurately identified advanced neoplasia 6 mm or larger than conventional optical colonoscopy in persons at increased risk for colorectal cancer. The details of this study were published in the June 17, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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CT Colonography May Be Appropriate Screening Test for Some High-risk Individuals
New York Times A Wife’s View of Prostate Cancer New York Times,
ITV.com American Medical Association Calls for Heightened Awareness of … FOXNews The American Medical Association Monday called for heightened awareness of male breast cancer and called on the insurance industry to cover male breast cancer monitoring and diagnostic methods, including mammography. “Male breast cancer is rare, … Cancer man name gripe Mirror.co.uk Breast Cancer Awareness Day Set for Thursday 93.1 WIBC Indianapolis Man bids for breast cancer name change ITN Essex Echo
[ NYTimes ] WASHINGTON — For years, the Food and Drug Administration has withheld information about drugs and medical devices from the public when their makers cite trade secrecy — even in cases where the agency suspects that the products are causing serious illness or death. Now the new leadership at the F.D.A. may change that. The Obama administration plans to announce on Tuesday that it is setting up a task force within the agency to recommend ways to reveal more information about F.D.A. decisions, possibly including the disclosure of now secret data about drugs and devices under study. The task will be complicated. Agency confidentiality decisions are governed by several interconnected laws, including the Federal Trade Secrets Act. Changing them would “involve more than one Congressional committee and impact thousands and thousands of companies, and thus would be an extremely difficult legislative path,” said Peter Barton Hutt, a former general counsel to the
agency. Still, the goal is to open up a system in which the agency failed to inform the public that a widely prescribed heartburn drug was especially toxic to babies; that a diabetes medicine and a painkiller increased heart attack risks; and that antidepressants increased suicidal thoughts and behavior in children and teenagers. “Many people have been harmed over the last decade because the F.D.A
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Obama administration creates task force to boost FDA transparency
ORLANDO, Fla. — New data presented today at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncologist (ASCO) Annual Meeting support the use of a laboratory test, ChemoFX(R), to help physicians predetermine the effectiveness of chemotherapy in treating a woman’s endometrial cancer. Investigators found a significant correlation between the test results from 405 patient specimens analyzed using ChemoFx and published patient response rates for each chemotherapeutic regimen, suggesting less effective therapies could be eliminated prior to patient administration. Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer among women in the United States. “Limiting a patient’s exposure to chemotherapy is important, however determining t…
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New Data Support Use Of Simple Test To Predict Endometrial Cancer Response To Chemotherapy
HOUSTON — Novel chemotherapy and biological agents for metastatic colorectal cancer has resulted in increased patient survival, U.S. researchers say. Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston said researchers have made great strides in identifying active agents for the disease, resulting in U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of numerous chemotherapeutic agents. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that the median overall survival is now more than 30 months, compared with eight months for patients diagnosed before 1990. Five-year survival of patients diagnosed with the disease after 2004 is more than 30 percent. “In this study, we wanted to deter…
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Metastatic Colon Cancer Survival Rises
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