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Eat to Beat Prostate Cancer Cookbook Author: David Ricketts; buy New: $12.97
Intimacy with Impotence: The Couple's Guide to Better Sex after Prostate Disease by Ralph Alterowitz, Barbara Alterowitz. Price: $10.20
Researchers hope the phenomenon can lead to a new path in treating cancer in humans.
By Thomas H. Maugh II, L. A. Times Staff Writer
May 9, 2006
White blood cells from mice that are naturally immune to cancer cured tumors in other mice and provided them with lifelong immunity to the disease, researchers reported Monday.
(full story…)
Wary of Backlash, Cancer-Drug Makers Weigh Price Limits
Wall Street Journal
By JOHN CARREYROU and GEETA ANAND
May 10, 2006; Page B1
As high prices of cancer drugs spark the kind of patient outrage that high AIDS-drug prices unleashed more than a decade ago, a few pharmaceutical and biotech companies are weighing caps and other cost-containment measures, before the outcry turns into a public-relations crisis for the industry.
ImClone Systems Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., co-marketers of Erbitux, one of the most expensive cancer drugs on the market, are “well down the road” toward establishing an annual patient price cap for the drug if its market expands, says Ronald Martell, senior vice president of commercial operations at ImClone. Such a program would set an annual ceiling on individual patients’ drug-treatment costs, beyond which companies would provide the drug free of charge or at a steep discount. Genentech Corp., of South San Francisco, Calif., is considering cost-containing alternatives for Avastin, which is currently approved for treatment of early-stage colorectal cancer.
While the backlash against cancer-drug prices is nowhere near as big as the one against AIDS-drug prices, ImClone’s Mr. Martell says the industry should make changes in its policies now. “Otherwise, at some point there will be a confluence of events — social pressure, volume of dollars — and something will have to give,” he warns.
Erbitux, priced at $10,000 a month, is currently approved only for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have failed a certain kind of chemotherapy. Their average total cost of treatment is currently about $40,000: In most of these patients, the illness has advanced to the point where they are only a few months from death.
But later this year, ImClone and Bristol-Myers, both based in New York, hope to win Food and Drug Administration approval to market Erbitux for patients in earlier stages of colorectal cancer, who have longer life expectancies. Approval for these patients would result in a sharp rise in the average cost of treatment with Erbitux — and a sharp rise in profits.
In the case of Genentech’s Avastin, the current cost of treatment — $4,400 a month, or $52,000 a year — could rise sharply if the FDA approves the drug as a treatment — at double the dose — to treat lung cancer and breast cancer. Such approvals, expected over the next year, could result in thousands of new patients paying, at current prices, more than $100,000 a year to take Avastin.
The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, which extended prescription-drug benefits to the elderly, has put financial pressure on elderly cancer patients, the age group with the highest rates of the disease. Under the old system, cancer patients receiving drugs intravenously at a hospital in practice often weren’t forced to make their 20% co-payment: The hospital would bill Medicare directly, and the Medicare reimbursement price — as much as 25% above the drugs’ market price — provided a sufficient profit cushion so that hospitals often didn’t collect co-payments.
But now, Medicare reimbursements are in line with drugs’ actual selling prices, and physicians and hospitals can no longer afford to forgive co-payments. As a result, many elderly cancer patients without supplemental prescription-drug insurance end up on the hook for thousands of dollars.
“There’s a groundswell of patients who are outraged,” says Jerry Flanagan, health-care policy director for the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights, a Los Angeles watchdog group.
Full story at Wall Street Journal: Wary of Backlash, Cancer-Drug Makers Weigh Price Limits
By JOHN CARREYROU and GEETA ANAND
May 10, 2006; Page B1 May require subscription or initial ad view.
Havana, May 5 (Prensa Latina) The Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) of Camaguey Province submitted a candidate vaccine to the National Medicine Control Center to begin clinical tests, part of its quest for a recombinant vaccine and therapy for prostate cancer.
Assistant Research Director Eulogio Pimentel said the CIGB is conducting research on several types of cancer, sometimes involving joint work with other institutions, such as the Molecular Immunology Center that has already developed similar projects for lung, breast, head, neck and prostate cancer.
(full story…)
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
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…)
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.
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…)
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…)
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.
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
Fresh lemon grass fields in Israel become mecca for cancer patients
By Allison Kaplan Sommer April 02, 2006
At first, Benny Zabidov, an Israeli agriculturalist who grows greenhouses full of lush spices on a pastoral farm in Kfar Yedidya in the Sharon region, couldn’t understand why so many cancer patients from around the country were showing up on his doorstep asking for fresh lemon grass.
It turned out that their doctors had sent them.
“They had been told to drink eight glasses of hot water with fresh lemon grass steeped in it on the days that they went for their radiation and chemotherapy treatments,” Zabidov told ISRAEL21c. “And this is the place you go to in Israel for fresh lemon grass.”
… Researchers at Ben Gurion University of the Negev discovered last year that the lemon aroma in herbs like lemon grass kills cancer cells in vitro, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
More: Full story by Allison Kaplan Sommer April 02, 2006, at Israel 21c
A new method of delivering chemotherapy to cancer patients without incurring side effects such as hair loss and vomiting is being developed.
The method, produced at the University of Bath, involves using tiny fibres and beads soaked in the chemotherapy drug which are then implanted into the cancerous area in the patient’s body.
These fibres are bio-degradable and compatible with body tissue, which means they would not be rejected by the patient’s body. They gradually turn from solid to liquid, releasing a regular flow of the chemotherapy chemical into the cancer site, and a much lower dose to the rest of the body.
(full story…)
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
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…)
New research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center shows that Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is more accurate than conventional imaging in identifying patients who have good responses to chemotherapy and radiation treatment – a finding that could one day help some patients avoid surgery.
The results, from a study of 64 patients with esophageal cancer, are published in the April issue of Annals of Surgery. PET, a technology that produces images of the metabolic function of tissue, was used to test patients for cancer after treatment with a combination of chemotherapy and radiation (chemoradiation).
“While additional multi-center studies are needed, the research clearly shows that PET is a useful tool for identifying patients who respond well to chemoradiation,” said Edward A. Levine, M.D., lead investigator. “Being able to identify these responders may alter the need to take some patients to surgery.”
(full story…)
Lung cancer patients should not be denied surgery based on their age, concluded UAB researchers Robert J. Cerfolio, M.D., and Ayesha S. Bryant, M.D., in a study of 726 patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
Researchers compared morbidity, mortality and long-term survival rates among different age groups, including patients younger than age 70, those between 70 and 74, 75 and 79, and 80 and older.
They found no significant difference in hospital length of stay, major morbidity or death rates during surgery between the elderly groups and the younger control groups. “Short-term risks and long-term survival are similar to younger patients,” Bryant said. The award winning study was presented at the 2006 Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ meeting in Chicago.
Speed of rise of prostate specific antigen that is measured in PSA blood test screening for prostate cancer may be affected by lifestyle and demographic factors, according to a study published in the January 15, 2006 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
The study reveals that the rate of change in concentration of prostate specific antigen (PSA) over time - a calculation called PSA velocity - can be significantly affected by age, race, and diet, leading to falsely lower or elevated values and possible misinterpretation by doctors. Single determinations of PSA concentration, the most common use of the PSA screening test, were minimally but significantly affected by age and body mass index (BMI).
(full story…)
Animal tests on the kind of drug given to the six men ill in a London hospital may not be the best way of evaluating the effects in people, an expert warns.
The drug they took stimulates a protein only found in humans.
Dr David Glover, an expert in drug testing, said this meant animal tests of medicines of this sort might give falsely reassuring results.
He said it might be better to look at innovative ways of testing small amounts of such drugs on people.
Full story from BBC: BBC Animal tests ‘false reassurance’