Microarrays and the fingerprints of cancer
July 10, 2011
How Bright Promise in Cancer Testing Fell Apart | www.nytimes.com
Genetic testing in regards too cancer cells has been a long time projectMicroaaray techniques using more reliable RNA versus DNA patterns will likely lead the wayProteionomic is is yet a further downstream approach to classifying cancer uniqueness
Profitable palliation of none at all?
July 4, 2011
There is a plethora of new treatments for cancer.Universally new cancer treatments are very expensive.There are as many cancer patients being treated for palliative purposes as cure
Avastin: a targeted drug without a target?
June 30, 2011
Breast Cancer Patients Plead for Avastin Approval | www.nytimes.com
Targeted cancer therapy is the trend in oncology therapyAvastin is a targeted therapy that has only theory backing up it's mode of actionAvastin has the benefit and drawback of being designated as broadly active yet specific to no cancer!
New Agents in Melanoma Show Advances at ASCO
June 9, 2011
Drugs Show Promise Slowing Advanced Melanoma | www.nytimes.com
Data presented a the ASCO meeting showed an overall survival benefit for patients receiving Roche/Genentech's vemurafenib and Bristol-Myers Squibb/s Yervoy (ipilimumab) when these agents were compared to standard of care therapy.
Tarceva gives more proof: One should know the target for Targeted therapy
June 4, 2011
Roche’s Tarceva Stalls Lung Cancer With Gene Mutation in Late-Stage Study | www.bloomberg.com
So called targeted therapy has been a term coined over the last decade in the approach to treating cancer. A recent Roche study demonstrates almost doubling of disease control when one uses a patient population that has a defined target is treated with the drug Tarceva
Necessity may be the mother of invention,but the father is profit.
April 16, 2011
Shortage Worsens of Leukemia Drug | online.wsj.com
There is a shortage of many cancer fighting medications, as more and more of the agents used to treat cancer become generic. The problem is both profit and regulation driven.
Long term Revlimid (Celgene) may cause cancer.
December 7, 2010
Celgene shares plummet on Revlimid malignancy data | www.reuters.com
Data presented at the American Society of Hematology Convention suggests the possibility that long term use of Revlimid may be a associated with the development of secondary malignancies.
Outlook is better for Provenge
November 20, 2010
Medicare Panel Supports Use of Provenge in FDA-Approved Population | blogs.wsj.com
A Medicare advisory panel gave a lukewarm endorsement to Provenge. Final Medicare opinion is pending.
Provenge - Do we really have a choice?
November 19, 2010
Medicare Panel Supports Use of Provenge in FDA-Approved Population | blogs.wsj.com
Provenge has received FDA clearance for the use in hormone resistant prostate cancer, a disease that kills over 30,000 American men each year. The data says this will extend life for several months on the average, but some may achieve surprising results of regression of disease and even years. The cost is rather high, over $90k for the treatment.
Will provenge fall the way of radioimmunotherapy
November 19, 2010
Medicare Panel Supports Use of Provenge in FDA-Approved Population | blogs.wsj.com
Provenge recently approved for HRPC .Provenge was designed for asymptomatic patients with increasing PSAsProvenge involves referral to a specialized center to perform the procedure
February 7, 2012
What do the cloud, collaboration and virtualization have in common?
January 27, 2012
Clinical diagnostic acquisitions dominate 2011 top ten list
January 12, 2012
Gene therapy success threatens drugs for hemophilia and rare diseases
December 13, 2011
Medtech M&A activity accelerates in 2011
November 30, 2011