Biomira Announces Final Phase 2b Survival Results of Stimuvax® (formerly known as BLP25 Liposome Vaccine) Trial in Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Results Confirm Median Survical of 30.6 Months in Stage IIIB Patients on Vaccine Versus 13.3 Months in Control Patients

John Wagontall, a Lethbridge, Alberta firefighter, was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer at 46 years old. In his blog John writes:

I listened to the Urologist tell me the facts and the possible treatments. More tests were scheduled to see if the cancer was contained or if it had spread. I went to see another urologist and a couple of oncologists. It didn’t matter who I saw, they all painted a pretty grave picture of where I was headed. Final diagnoses, adenocarcinoma T4 Gleason 8 (4+4) PSA – 105.5 with a life expectancy of 5 to 7 years.
…. Treatment consisted of Hormone Deprivation Therapy and then 36 external beam radiation treatments in Calgary Alberta at the Tom Baker Cancer Center.

… Throughout the months since diagnoses and treatment, the one thing on my mind most is the fact that men need to be educated on this disease. We must talk openly about it. I have been as open and honest as I can be with the firefighters I work with and anyone else who will listen. They have been open to the information I have passed to them.

I have been an avid cyclist for many years…. In fact, I have ridden a bike to work for many years, rather than driving no matter what the weather. I have ridden in a few team triathlons and a duathlon. I’ve ridden with my sons. It is something I truly enjoy and was unable to do for a few months because of the cancer.

Because I enjoy biking and want to make others aware of prostate cancer, I have decided to do a cross Canada bike ride. The plans are to start in Victoria, BC in May of 2006 and finish in St. John’s, NL hopefully by the end of July 2006. I plan on stopping along the way to visit firefighters and others to share my story and hopefully promote a little more awareness. I am also hoping to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society ,the Lance Armstrong Foundation and The Prostate Center. These organizations have been very helpful since my diagnoses.

Visit John’s blog and take a good look around. Find out how you can help support his ride across Canada.
http://www.cycleforlife.ca/index.php

Unite 2 Fight, Indianapolis: Race Against Prostate Cancer is a chance to stand tall with thousands of others, united in purpose - to support those with the disease, and to wipe away prostate cancer. Team Captain’s meeting May 2. Race to be held July 8, 2006

Study links cancer rate to Mass. dye plant

AP reports in national newpapers today say that a “disturbingly high number of cancer cases have been linked to a former textile dye-making plant and its waste ponds, where several people now battling cancer swam when they were children, state health officials say.”
(full story…)

Targeted Nanoparticles Destroy Prostate Tumors

Biodegradable polymer nanoparticles, linked to a protein-binding nucleic acid known as an aptamer and loaded with the anticancer agent docetaxel, can target and kill prostate tumors growing in mice. Using this targeted nanoparticle to deliver docetaxel appears to reduce the toxic side effects associated with this drug.
(full story…)

Canada’s most common weed killer, 2,4-D, said to cause cancer
Canada’s most common weed killer, 2,4-D, said to cause cancer
Provided by: Canadian Press
Written by: DENNIS BUECKERT
Apr. 24, 2006

OTTAWA (CP) - The most commonly used weed killer on Canadian lawns and gardens - known only as 2,4-D - is “persuasively linked” to cancer, neurological impairment and reproductive problems, says a new study.

The report in the journal Paediatrics and Child Health directly contradicts a recent re-assessment of 2,4-D by the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency, which found the product does not cause cancer and can be used safely on lawns if directions are followed.

The product 2,4-D is found in many common pesticides, and has been controversial for decades.

Full story from Canadian press at C-Health

and at C-News

TheStar.com - A first — scientist to study how to prevent cancer
Apr. 24, 2006. 04:14 PM
CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER (CP) — British Columbia is providing $4 million in funding to the Canadian Cancer Society so an expert can research how the disease can be prevented — the first time in North America the issue will be targeted for study.

The research will be done at the University of British Columbia after an international search for an expert whose findings will influence national and international standards in public policy for cancer prevention.

Premier Gordon Campbell told a news conference Monday that research into cancer prevention is essential because currently someone in Canada dies from cancer every seven minutes.

“Understanding what we can do to prevent it, to reach into people’s lives and to get them to be part of that solution, is going to be critical,” he said about more promoting healthier lifestyles.

Dr. Gavin Stuart, dean of medicine at the university, said preventing cancer from striking in the first place is important because the existing health care system can’t sustain the cost of fighting the disease.

“To the best of our knowledge this is the first (expert) in primary cancer prevention, which is a very specific focus on not treating the disease better or detecting it earlier but actually understanding how we avoid ever getting there,” Stuart said.

“We cannot continue to treat disease without seeking to promote health and prevent the onset of disease.”
Full story The Toronto Star

Irish Medical Times
Pilot screening programme for prostate cancer need immediately

By Greg Baxter
A pilot screening scheme for prostate cancer is needed immediately.

Professor John Armstrong, chairman of the Irish Cancer Society, told Irish Medical Times that waiting for results from randomised trials in Europe and America about the efficacy of PSA testing would “waste lives” if the results came back positive. “Let us be sure, it is very likely the results will be positive because there is nothing intrinsically different about the biology of prostate cancer and breast cancer,” he said.

Full story at Irish Medical Times issue dated 28 April 2006

The West Australian: Poor kept in dark on cancer treatments

DAWN GIBSON

One in three medical specialists would not tell a cancer patient about a new drug that could prolong their life or improve their last days if the doctors thought the cost was well beyond the patient’s means.

Startling new medical research has highlighted how Australia has developed a two-tier system for cancer treatment - one for the rich and another for everyone else - because new-generation, life-prolonging drugs that cost up to $60,000 a year are not available under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

A national survey of almost 200 medical oncologists found some doctors were reluctant to tell patients about unsubsidised drugs if they thought they could not afford them.
(full story…)

United Press International - Health Business - GTx begins trial of prostate-cancer drug
GTx begins trial of prostate-cancer drug

MEMPHIS, April 21 (UPI) — GTx said Friday it is initiating a phase 3b trial of Acapodene in men undergoing androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer.

Prostate-cancer patients who have completed the full two-year treatment course in the pivotal phase 3 trial of Acapodene will be eligible to participate in the phase 3b trial for an additional year, GTx said. The aim of the phase 3b trial is to collect additional data about fractures and safety. Acapodene is intended as a treatment of the side effects of androgen deprivation therapy for advanced prostate cancer.

The company noted that the phase 3b study is considered a separate study and will not affect its anticipated timeline for submitting the new drug application for Acapodene. The phase 3b study also will not affect the expected completion date of the phase 3 pivotal trial in the second half of 2007.

The phase 3 trial, which is determining whether Acapodene reduces vertebral fractures and improves bone mineral density, completed enrollment in 2005. An interim analysis showed a positive change in bone mineral density in patients treated with Acapodene compared to the placebo group.

Men and women affected by cancer look for information about the disease in very different ways, a study of internet postings about prostate cancer and breast cancer patients and partners suggests.

While men seek medical-scientific and practical advice, women look for emotional support. Men concerned about prostate cancer were interested in cancer tests, symptoms, the latest treatments and side effects. Women concerned about breast cancer sought emotional and social support. They were eager to share their personal experience and the impact of their cancer on family and relationships.
(full story…)

RICHMOND, Va., April 12 /PRNewswire/ — Selenium levels may predict the
risk of a man’s prostate cancer, and now a simple, reliable selenium
test is available.

The first selenium test that predicts prostate cancer risk, SeleniumHealth(TM), is now available exclusively from Bostwick Laboratories, Inc., an international diagnostic pathology laboratory. A man simply trims one or more toenails and submits the clippings for selenium content. SeleniumHealth(TM) is provided by Bostwick Laboratories, Inc. under license from the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation.

Press release at: http://www.psa-rising.com/wiredbird/bostwick_selenium_0406.html

Israeli drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said on Wednesday the Food and Drug Administration has granted final approval for the company’s generic treatment for patients with prostate cancer, and it will begin shipping the product immediately.

The drug, called Mitoxantrone Hydrochloride injection USP, is used in combination with corticosteroids as initial treatment for patients in pain from advanced hormone-refractory prostate cancer. It can also be used in combination with other products for the initial therapy for acute nonlymphocytic leukemia in adults.

The Teva drug is the equivalent of Novantrone injection from Swiss biotech Serono SA.

Sources:
Teva

Associated Press at
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3240117,00.html

April 12, 2006 — Novacea, Inc. today announced the initiation of ASCENT-2, its pivotal Phase 3 clinical study evaluating the combination of the Company’s novel oral anti-cancer agent, DN-101, and Taxotere® (docetaxel) in men with prostate cancer for whom hormonal therapy is no longer working, also known as androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPC).

This randomized, controlled, multi-national study is seeking to enroll approximately 900 patients at over 125 medical centers in the United States, Europe, and Canada.
Full story:
http://www.psa-rising.com/wiredbird/novacea_0406.html

Prostate cancer linked to high cholesterol and to gallstones

April 12, 2006. Researchers from Italy have found what they believe to be the first direct link between high cholesterol levels and prostate cancer.

A possible association has been suggested before but evidence has been limited. This new study, published on-line (Wednesday 12 April) in Annals of Oncology, shows a statistically significant direct relationship between the two conditions.

Full story:
http://psa-rising.com/med/prevention/cholesterol06.html

More cancer screening could reduce deaths: report
Tue, 11 Apr 2006
CBC News

Some of the 70,400 Canadians expected to die from cancer this year could survive if screening programs were expanded and improved, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The Canadian Cancer Society estimates 153,100 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in Canada in 2006, and more than half that number of people will die.

It says the numbers would be lower if there were more screening programs for cervical, breast and colorectal cancer.

For colorectal cancer, screening can help prevent malignancies from developing. Pre-cancerous polyps can be detected during a simple fecal occult blood test and snipped off during a colonoscopy. The test is recommended every two years for those over 50.

An estimated 20,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, and 8,500 will die from it.

“If they had [the test] every two years, we could reduce the death rates from colorectal cancer by 17 per cent and that’s based on strong scientific evidence,” said Heather Logan, the cancer society’s director of cancer control policy.
Full story at CBC News

The Canadian Cancer Society is urging municipalities across New Brunswick to ban the use of pesticides on residential and public property.
Apr 12 2006 CBC News

The Canadian Cancer Society says evidence linking pesticides with cancer is growing, and it simply doesn’t make sense to use a substance that could cause cancer to make a lawn look pretty.

Lynn Ann Duffley speaks for the Canadian Cancer Society in New Brunswick and says a ban is especially important to protect children. “We do know that children are very susceptible to the toxins within pesticides. And we know that repeated exposures to pesticides can increase the incidence of brain cancer, leukemia, non-hodgkins lymphoma.”

CropLife Canada is a trade association that represents pesticide companies, and its executive director Peter MacLeod rejects the cancer society’s argument. “I think that their explanation is very simplistic and misleading.”

MacLeod says no pesticide used in Canada is known to cause cancer, and he believes towns and cities should steer clear of regulation. “We just feel that municipalities by and large do not have the scientific capacity to make that choice, whether a product should be used or not. We should leave that to Health Canada.”

Seventy-three municipalities across Canada have already banned pesticide use, but only three of those are in New Brunswick – Shediac, Caraquet and Sackville. St. Andrews is holding a public hearing on the matter on April 24.

Reported April 10, 2006
By Julie Marks, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

PARIS (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Researchers at the 21st Annual Congress of the European Association of Urology in Paris report exciting findings on the use of magnetic nanoparticles for patients with prostate cancer.

Scientists know thermotherapy using biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles inhibits prostate cancer growth in mice. Now, however, researchers are using the novel therapy in humans with the disease.

The new therapy is one of the first applications of nanotechnology in medicine and involves the heating of nanoparticles in a magnetic field. With the technique, it is possible to heat up almost every region of the body within very small ranges.

Investigators in Germany used the therapy on nine patients with locally recurrent prostate cancer. The patients had six weekly thermotherapy sessions that lasted 60 minutes each. Treatments were delivered using the first AC magnetic field applicator for use in humans.

Study results show the nanoparticles were retained in the prostate for several months. No toxic side effects were observed. Seven of the nine patients experienced a moderate decline in PSA levels.

“Interstitial heating using magnetic nanoparticles was feasible in patients with previously irradiated and locally recurrent prostate cancer,” study authors say. “Further optimism will focus on intraprostatic nanoparticle distribution and patient tolerance at higher magnetic field strengths. In the future, this treatment modality may be suitable for combination with irradiation in patients with localized prostate cancer.”

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: The 21st Annual Congress of the European Association of Urology in Paris, April 5-8, 2006

Epigenomics, a molecular diagnostics company developing tests based on DNA
methylation, is developing a test for the methylation of a single gene, PITX2, that can predict recurrence of prostate cancer after radical surgery. This new test is not yet available but it looks worth watching out for. The same company is developing a blood test for early detection of colon cancer. The company presented study results this week at 97th AACR Annual Meeting in Washington D.C., USA. Full stories:

Clinical Study Proves Prognostic Power of Epigenomics’ Biomarker in Prostate Cancer

Epigenomics Presents Data Confirming Screening for Methylated DNA in Blood as Key to Early Colorectal Cancer Detection

Mon Apr 3, 12:53 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A compound formed when meat is charred at high temperatures — as in barbecue — encourages the growth of prostate cancer in rats, researchers reported on Sunday.

Their study, presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, may help explain the link between eating meat and a higher risk of prostate cancer.
It also fits in with other studies suggesting that cooking meat until it chars might cause cancer.

The compound, called PhIP, is formed when meat is cooked at very high temperatures, Dr. Angelo De Marzo and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore reported.

It appears to both initiate and promote the growth of prostate cancer in rats, they said.

“We stumbled across a new potential interaction between ingestion of cooked meat in the diet and cancer in the rat,” De Marzo said in a statement.

“For humans, the biggest problem is that it’s extremely difficult to tell how much PhIP you’ve ingested, since different amounts are formed depending on cooking conditions.”

For the study, Yatsutomo Nakai and other members of De Marzo’s team mixed PhIP into food given to rats for up to eight weeks, then studied the animals’ prostates, intestines and spleens. They found genetic mutations in all the organs after four weeks.

Source: Reuters: Barbecue meats linked with prostate cancer - Yahoo! News