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TORONTO, Canada--For years, scientists have known that defective genes allow tumors to grow. Today, researchers blame as many as 30% of all cancers on just one of those genes, the ras gene, the first oncogene discovered in human cancers. Animal research presented at the meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) may someday lead to cancer drugs that can block the effects of this oncogene in humans.

BOULDER, Colo--NeXagen, Inc. and Vestar, Inc. have merged to form NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. One focus of the new company will be the liposomal delivery of oligonucleotides. The company's initial product, AmBisome, is a liposomal formulation of amphotericin B, which has been approved for marketing in 16 countries for the treatment of life-threatening systemic fungal infections that fail to respond to conventional amphotericin B therapy.

NEW YORK--If the immune system represents the front runner in the fight against cancer, opinion remains divided on the best way to harness it. Some researchers are betting on the interleu-kins; others believe that the tumor cell itself must be altered to make the immune system recognize it as the enemy.

NEW ORLEANS--Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have initiated a trial of an angiogenesis inhibitor in children with recurrent solid tumors, the idea being to stunt the growth of new blood vessels that nourish the tumor. Speaking at the American Cancer Society Science Writers Seminar, Dr. Stephen Skapek, of the Department of Pediatrics, Harvard, said that an agent known as TNP-470 (formerly AGM-1470) was found to be a "potent" inhibitor of blood vessel growth in immunosuppressed mice and produced a desirable adverse effects profile.

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Research from Ohio State University points to phosphoramide mustard as the cyclophosphamide metabolite with the greatest alkylating activity, and suggests that a reformulation of the chemotherapeutic agent to deliver only this metabolite could reduce toxicity without decreasing anticancer activity.

BETHESDA, Md--Wayne Jonas, MD, director-designate of the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), who will take office on July 1, has attended his first meeting of the Alternative Medicine Program Advisory Council (AMPAC).

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla-Worksite cancer screening programs are designed to help reduce cancer morbidity and mortality among employees, but have the added benefit of enhancing the employer's corporate image and boosting employee morale.

WASHINGTON--The House Budget Committee proposed a plan that calls for a 5% reduction in funding for NIH in fiscal 1996, which amounts to about $1 billion out of a total NIH budget of $11.8 billion.

NEW YORK--Fatigue is too often a part of life for cancer patients and can erode their quality of life. "We need to talk to cancer patients about their energy level and ability to cope, and educate them about how to deal with the treatment and the disease itself," said Lois Almadrones, RN, MPA, OCN, clinical research associate, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

RICHMOND, BC, Canada--Xillix Technologies Corp. has closed the North American multicenter clinical trial of its LIFE (lung imaging fluorescence endoscope)-Lung Imaging System that began in April, 1993.

NEW YORK--About 30% of the cancer patients he is asked to evaluate for depression turn out to have delirium, said Memorial Sloan-Kettering psychiatrist William S. Breitbart, MD, at a conference sponsored by Cancer Care, Inc.

WASHINGTON--The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF), a public interest group, has claimed that the FDA violated the First Amendment rights of physicians by denying them access to information about the off-label use of certain oncologic drugs.

he development and testing of a new method of high quality clinical fat/water separated 3D breast MR images was recently announced by Advanced NMR Systems Inc., with its subsidiary, Advanced Mammography Systems Inc.

n NEW YORK--Roughly 70% of cancer patients complain of fatigue at some point in their illness, and a search for reversible causes and multiple etiologies of such fatigue should be a part of standard practice, Ronald Blum, MD, said at a a symposium on fatigue in cancer sponsored by Cancer Care, Inc.

WASHINGTON--The Physician Payment Review Commission (PPRC) released a study describing how managed care plans select and pay physicians in their networks. The study, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research and the Medical College of Virginia, is the first systematic attempt to compare forms of managed care.

NEW ORLEANS--An antifolate that has been "shelved" for decades appears to be more potent than methotrexate in the treatment of childhood leukemias and could prove particularly helpful in patients who are not likely to respond to the traditional agent.

HOUSTON--Passage of the Contract with America legislation, as currently written, could hinder tobacco control efforts for years to come, a Washington, DC, attorney said at the American Society for Preventive Oncology (ASPO) meeting.

BOSTON--During its 48th Cancer Symposium, the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) presented Richard A. Bloch, founder of H&R Block, with its James Ewing Layman's Award, given annually to a nonphysician. The award honors Mr. Bloch for his contribution to improving the care of cancer patients.

CHICAGO--A ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit may put a damper on the class action suit filed in a federal court in Louisiana against tobacco manufacturers.

ATLANTA--To date, more than 58,000 cases of AIDS have been reported among adult and adolescent women in the United States, as well as more than 5,000 cases among children who acquired the disease perinatally. In 1994 alone, more than 14,000 women (25% of the total to date) were reported with AIDS.

NEW ORLEANS--Intensive research into cigarette smoking behaviors has offered a glimpse into the minds of many young smokers. A recent survey shows that most preadolescent smokers already have a favorite brand, suggesting that they are highly affected by the tobacco industry's $5 billion annual marketing budget.

Although several recently published textbooks and handbooks have some variation of "Surgical Oncology" in the title, a new text, Cancer Surgery, edited by McKenna and Murphy, shifts the emphasis from oncology to surgery. This focus is explicitly

ANNAPOLIS--The General Assembly of Maryland passed into law a bill introduced by Governor Parris Glendenning (D) to ban smoking in every indoor workplace in the state, except for restaurants and bars that hold liquor licenses. The bill was a compromise with the Governor's original intention to include restaurants and bars in the smoking ban. Nevertheless, the law, which went into effect March 29, is considered the most restrictive state law in the nation.

BETHESDA, Md--Scientific prog-ress in mapping the human genome has been rapid and remarkable, but development of social and public policy in response to the scientific discoveries has lagged behind and is woefully inadequate, members of the President's Cancer Panel decided after an all-day meeting.

WASHINGTON--As the size of the American family declines, the number of transplants from donors other than human leukocyte antigen (HLA) identical siblings can be expected to rise sharply in coming years, John A. Hansen, MD, said at a meeting on blood and marrow transplantation, sponsored by the Leukemia Society of America.

TORONTO, Canada--Oncologists may someday have a powerful new gene delivery tool to help in the war against cancer--a "gene gun" that blasts pure DNA right inside tumor cells. The gun was described at a media conference held in conjunction with the American Association for Cancer Research meeting.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla--Why would members of a managed care group whose coverage includes mammography not take advantage of the benefit? Focus groups, conducted last year by Sanus, the managed care division of the New York Life Insurance Company, found that the answer was lack of access, said Candy J. Rudy, manager of account services at New York Life/Sanus.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla--When the executive director of a retirement community in Salisbury, NC, arranged to have a mobile mammography van come to the facility to screen the residents and employees, she had to be strongly reminded by her colleagues to visit the van herself. The mammogram Meg Veloff had that day proved to be abnormal and led to early detection and successful treatment of a malignancy.

BOSTON--"Our members must stand up as champions of special training in surgical oncology," Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) president Bernard Gardner, MD, said at the Society's Annual Cancer Symposium. "We must continue to nourish this society because we provide something unique."

WASHINGTON--Bernard Fisher, MD, Distinguished Service Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, has won a court order requiring that scientific misconduct labels be removed from citations of his papers in federal databases (Cancerlit and Medline).