Genotype of Primary GIST Predicts OutcomeGenotype of Primary GIST Predicts Outcome
The genotype of primary gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) of gastric origin can be used to predict the risk of relapse and, thereby, identify patients for adjuvant therapy with imatinib, according to an analysis of a European database. Reuters Health Information (Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines)
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines - October 17, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Hematology-Oncology News Source Type: news
OPINION: Tackling the Proliferation of Patents to Avoid Limitations to Competition
In this column, Carlos Correa, the South Centre's special adviser on trade and intellectual property issues, argues that the global increase in number of patents does not indicate the strength of innovation but a weakening in the standards of what can be considered patentable. He calls for an intrinsically balanced system of protection of innovation that remains neutral in its effects on competition.By Carlos M. CorreaGENEVA, Sep 29 2014 (IPS)The steady increase in patent applications and grants that is taking place in developed and some developing countries (notably in China) is sometimes hailed as evidence of the strengt...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - September 29, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: carlos-m-correa Tags: Economy & Trade Global Headlines Health Natural Resources TerraViva United Nations Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Argentina China Chinese Patent Office clean energy competition developed Source Type: news
Bayer Bags EU Approval For Cancer Drug Stivarga
The European Commission has granted approval to Bayer HealthCare’s oncology drug Stivarga (regorafenib) for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) who have progressed or shown intolerance to prior treatment with imatinib and sunitinib. (Source: Pharmaceutical Online News)
Source: Pharmaceutical Online News - August 5, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Novartis Japan Apologizes Again for Second Side-Effects Scandal
The Japanese unit of Novartis has apologized for failing to report the side-effects of its leukemia drugs, Gleevec and Tasigna -- the second recent scandal the drugmaker has faced surrounding inappropriately-reported side-effects. (Source: PharmaManufacturing.com)
Source: PharmaManufacturing.com - July 31, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Musculoskeletal Pain on Stopping Imatinib: Should We Worry?Musculoskeletal Pain on Stopping Imatinib: Should We Worry?
A first report on a withdrawal syndrome documents patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia with musculoskeletal pain after imatinib withdrawal. Medscape Medical News (Source: Medscape Hematology-Oncology Headlines)
Source: Medscape Hematology-Oncology Headlines - July 31, 2014 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Hematology-Oncology News Source Type: news
RheumShorts: Fibromyalgia, Scleroderma, Spondylitis (CME/CE)
(MedPage Today) -- News in rheumatology this week included water therapy for fibromyalgia, Gleevec for the often-lethal interstitial lung disease in scleroderma, and a temporary setback for apremilast in ankylosing spondylitis. (Source: MedPage Today Primary Care)
Source: MedPage Today Primary Care - July 10, 2014 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news
FDA grants orphan drug status to Inhibikase's imatinib to treat PML
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to Inhibikase Therapeutics' imatinib for the treatment of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). (Source: Pharmaceutical Technology)
Source: Pharmaceutical Technology - May 22, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Sure, We'll (Eventually) Beat Cancer. But Can We Afford To?
Matt Herper’s tour de force article in the latest Forbes magazine suggests that companies and researchers are – perhaps – turning the tables on cancer using novel immunotherapies that are producing nearly unheard of outcomes even in late stage disease. The trillion dollar question: Can we afford to win the war on cancer, given current trends in drug development and pricing?
What is really remarkable about Herper’s article is how quickly the oncology field is changing. The search for drugs over the last decade or so has focused on disrupting tumor biology through targeted therapies modeled aft...
Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News - May 17, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Paul Howard Source Type: news
Deadly Virus Meets Deadly Cancer With Hopeful Results
The history of the first hundred years of cancer therapy is that of a war, pitting bigger surgeries and stronger poisons against tumors, with patients caught in the middle. Over the last two decades, researchers have found ways of fighting cancer more precisely. One of the most successful examples is that of Gleevec (NYSE:NVS). Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a kind of blood cancer, had been a tough disease to treat, even after the discovery of the genetic quirk responsible for its devastation. In the 90s, researchers discovered a chemical that specifically blocked the molecule produced by this abnormal gene and were a...
Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News - May 17, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Peter Lipson Source Type: news
Novartis, Sun Pharma settle dispute over generic Gleevec drug
Sun, which has tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for a generic version of Gleevec, is the most tangible threat to Novartis’ drug. (Source: The Economic Times Healthcare and Biotech News)
Source: The Economic Times Healthcare and Biotech News - May 15, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Sun Pharma settles Novartis lawsuit over leukemia drug
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said it was allowed to launch a generic version of Novartis' leukemia drug Gleevec in the US (Source: The Economic Times Healthcare and Biotech News)
Source: The Economic Times Healthcare and Biotech News - May 15, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
[Press Release] South Africa: Stand Strong Against Aggressive Pharma Campaign
JOHANNESBURG/NEWYORK, JANUARY 21, 2014—The international medical humanitarian organization Doctor Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is urging the South African government to continue to stand strong against a broad, multinational pharmaceutical industry effort to undermine and delay the efforts to reform patent laws and improve access to affordable medicines.
Documents leaked last week reveal plans for a covert, large-scale public relations campaign with a US$600,000 budget, financed largely by the US-based pharmaceutical lobby.
The goal of the proposed strategy is to disrupt South Afri...
Source: MSF News - January 21, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news
John Goldman obituary
Pioneer in bone-marrow transplantation for chronic myeloid leukaemia, which has enabled thousands of patients to live normal livesWhen John Goldman began his career in the 1960s, the diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) carried a grim prognosis and a life expectancy of only three to five years. Today, thousands of patients have been cured or enjoy relatively normal lives because of his seminal contributions. John, who has died aged 75, pioneered bone-marrow transplantation for CML and later championed the drug imatinib that transformed the treatment of the disease.For 23 years from 1988 he was medical director of t...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - January 13, 2014 Category: Science Authors: George Q Daley Tags: theguardian.com Obituaries Medical research Cancer Science Source Type: news
'Deep Molecular Response' Boosts CML Survival (CME/CE)
(MedPage Today) -- A majority of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia achieved a deep molecular response with imatinib-based therapy, which correlated with improved long-term and progression-free survival, a randomized trial showed. (Source: MedPage Today Hematology/Oncology)
Source: MedPage Today Hematology/Oncology - December 4, 2013 Category: Hematology Source Type: news
