Cancer vaccines make headway
US News & World Report reports on the development of new cancer vaccines,
with a special focus on Cell Genesys.

A recent compilation of tests lists 21 anticancer vaccines that may have improved patient survival. Lung cancer and melanoma are just a couple. Doctors take great pains to say patients shouldn’t get their hopes up based on these early data. But the approaches, as experiments, are intriguing.

Cell Genesys, a biotech firm in South San Francisco, is developing vaccines to treat leukemia, prostate cancer, and pancreatic cancer.

US News: More cancers in the eye of the vaccine needleBy Josh Fischman Posted 3/28/06

Cell Genesys Initiates Second Phase 3 Clinical Trial Of GVAX® Vaccine For Prostate Cancer
July 5, 200

Cell Genesys Clinical Trials

National Cancer Institute Cancer Vaccine Fact Sheet

New York Times health editor Jane Brody reported yesterday that the epilepsy drug Neurontin (gabapentin), prescribed off-label for her pain after knee replacement surgery, helped her menopausal hot flashes. Brody went back to her doctor and asked for more after her knee pain ceased.

Gabapentin was developed, Brody says, “to help avoid the addictive quality of drugs called GABA analogues (Valium, Ativan and Xanax) used for anxiety and seizure disorders. The modified drug proved nonaddictive.”

Since this drug is non-hormonal and works on the brain, I wonder if it relieves hot flashes in men taking androgen blockade for prostate cancer?
(full story…)