Ultrasound to Improve Effectiveness of Cancer Drugs: Interview with Focused Ultrasound Foundation ’s Jessica Foley, PhD
Most people think of ultrasound as an imaging modality. Yet, there are many other clinical uses for the high frequency soundwaves. Focused ultrasound waves can promote the opening of the blood-brain barrier, and they can be used to ablate fibroids, among other uses. Yet the potential of ultrasound in clinical medicine is far from fully realized, as new uses and studies evaluating them are rapidly sprouting, and a particularly interesting one involving checkpoint inhibitors to treat stage IV metastatic breast cancer is about to begin. To get a sense for how ultrasound can improve cancer care in combination with checkpoint i...
Source: Medgadget - August 10, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Medicine News Source Type: blogs
Yes, Mr. President. Health Care is Complicated. And Also Hard.
By ASEEM SHUKLA, MD
“Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated,” President Donald Trump told us a few weeks ago. As the failure of the House Republican bill shows: Healthcare is hard.
The American Healthcare Act failed to clear the House of Representatives despite catering to longstanding conservative demands: rid the ‘individual mandate’ (designed to force able-bodied people to pay insurance so it’s cheaper for sick people), subsidies to individuals, and revamping Medicaid into block grants to states.
Even with the claim it could be deficit-neutral, the act failed to win enough moderat...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 14, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Brand new immunotherapy combination shows promise for patients with advanced melanoma
Treatment with a combination of ipilimumab (Yervoy) and Coxsackievirus A21 (CVA21; Cavatak) led to durable responses in a number of patients with advanced melanoma, including some whose melanoma had progressed despite prior treatment with an immune gate inhibitor, and fewer than anticipated undesirable events, according to results from a stage Ib clinical trial presented here at the AACR Annual Meeting 2017, April 1-5.
Related Posts:Radioimmunotherapy, Gemcitabine combination shows early…New nanopharmaceutical may help overcome resistance to…Tucatinib (ONT-380) progressing in pivotal demo against…Analy...
Source: My Irritable Bowel Syndrome Story - April 5, 2017 Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Ken Tags: IBS News Source Type: blogs
The Proposed Federal ‘Right-To-Try’ Law Is Not The Answer For Critically Ill Patients
Currently, patients have two main options to access experimental therapies that may treat their conditions but that have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA): enrolling in a clinical trial or applying to FDA’s expanded access (also known as compassionate use) program. But because FDA’s expanded access program has been viewed as cumbersome and overly restrictive, 31 states have passed “Right-To-Try” laws in the past two years. Based on model legislation created by the Goldwater Institute, a public policy think tank, right-to-try laws are intended to authorize use of experimental, not-yet-a...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - September 27, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Jonathan Friedlaender Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology Featured Health Professionals Narrative Matters Quality clinical trials Compassionate Use right-to-try laws Trickett Wendler Right to Try Act Source Type: blogs
Changes in the Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype or Failing Immune Surveillance?
Cells can become senescent in reaction to a variety of environmental stresses or forms of damage, activating a program that halts cellular replication and triggers the generation of a mix of potent signals that can influence surrounding cells and tissue structure, a state known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Senescent cells have a role in embryonic development, controlling the shaping of tissues at the extremities, such as the growth of fingers. Their existence in adults is perhaps because the same mechanism, particularly the arrested growth aspect of it, serves to suppress cancer risk - or at lea...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 5, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Big Steps Forward In Melanoma Treatment But Tread Carefully
In this study, which is billed as the largest phase I (initial) drug trial ever done, 411 patients received the drug. 34% of the patients-including patients who had received prior immune treatment using a different approach-responded. In those patients who responded, 88% continued to show evidence of benefit at the time the study was analyzed. The researchers estimated that 74% of the patients who had not received prior treatment with ipilimumab would be alive at one year, while the one year survival for those who had received prior ipilimumab was 65%.
In another report, researchers described a study which included a small...
Source: Dr. Len's Cancer Blog - June 2, 2014 Category: Cancer Authors: Dr. Len Tags: Access to care Cancer Care Medications Research Skin Cancer Treatment Source Type: blogs
Therapeutic teamwork: Coupling oncolytic viruses with immunotherapy to destroy tumor cells
This article was written for extra credit by a student in my recently concluded virology course.
by Nayan Lamba
A recent study by scientists at the Ludwig Center for Cancer Immunotherapy offers a new, multifaceted therapy for destroying tumors. A team of researchers led by Dmitriy Zamarin combined checkpoint blockade, a technique aimed at enhancing antitumor immune responses, with oncolytic viral therapy, a technique that uses viruses to kill tumor cells. By employing the two immunotherapies together, the researchers had more success in destroying tumor cells than they have had while investigating each therapy independent...
Source: virology blog - May 20, 2014 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information antitumor checkpoint blockade melanoma Newcastle disease virus oncolytic viral therapy Source Type: blogs
Cancer - Big Pharma want to drain you of cash before you die
Avastin, $5,000/month; Zaltrap, $11,000/month; Yervoy, $39,000/month; Provenge, $93,000/course of treatment; Erbitux, $8,400/month; Gleevec, $92,000/year; Tasigna, $115,000/year; Sprycel, $123,000/year.
(Photo: Illustrations by Remie Geoffroi)
http://nymag.com/news/features/cancer-drugs-2013-10/#! (Source: PharmaGossip)
Source: PharmaGossip - October 29, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Pharmalot... Pharmalittle... Good Morning
Good morning, everyone, and how are you today? We are just fine, thank you, although as busy as ever, thanks to a calendar brimming with meetings and phone calls this week. In fact, we will be leaving a wee bit early today in order to chat with a high-level type at a large company. More on that later. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits, as usual, which we trust you will find useful. So, have a smashing day and do stay in touch...
Bayer Is Latest Target In China Bribery Probe (South China Morning Post)
Bristol's Yervoy Drug Falls Short In Prostate Cancer Study (Reuters)
Genentech Aims For Precedent With FDA OK For Breast Canc...
Source: Pharmalot - September 12, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
The Gray Tsunami
You may recall recent findings that the rate of dementia among people 65 and older has been falling in England and Wales, and this is likely true here as well. It's basically because people are generally healthier. But . . .It's very strange how the general reaction seems to have been, "Oh well then, what have we been so worried about?" News that isn't quite as bad as you thought it was going to be is still bad news. And the fact is that the prevalence of dementia still rises with age, and we're still going to have a lot more people living with dementia in coming years. The estimate here of tripling by 2050 might be too hi...
Source: Stayin' Alive - September 11, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs
Maybe It Really Is Different This Time For Patients With Advanced Melanoma
Every convention and large meeting has a theme, and at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago the theme is "Building Bridges To Conquer Cancer." But for me, the theme as articulated in my blog the other day is "Is it really different this time?" Some agree with me and some don't, but that's OK. I am wearing a badge that says I am a "35 year member of ASCO" (I actually have been attending these meetings longer than that) so I perhaps have a bit of a different perspective than those younger than me. And there is plenty of commentary to back up my well-meaning and hopefully thought provokin...
Source: Dr. Len's Cancer Blog - June 3, 2013 Category: Cancer Authors: Dr. Len Tags: Cancer Care Medications Other cancers Research Survivors Treatment Vaccines Source Type: blogs
