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WASHINGTON--The Department of Health and Human Services has disqualified 1,402 health-care professionals from payments by the Medicare and Medicaid programs for failure to repay money borrowed under the Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL) program. The total included 149 allopathic and 28 osteopathic physicians.

ROCKVILLE, Md--The Food and Drug Administration approved 121 new original drugs in 1997 and 431 generic products. Median approval time for new original drugs was shortened by 6%, falling from 15.4 months in 1996 to 14.4 months in 1997.

WASHINGTON--President Clinton has asked Congress to appropriate nearly $2.8 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for fiscal year 1999, and the Administration wants to increase funding for cancer research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by 65% over the next 5 fiscal years.

WASHINGTON--In his budget proposal, President Clinton has asked Congress to appropriate an additional $100 million for the FDA’s youth-tobacco prevention program. If approved, the increase would provide the program $134 million in fiscal year 1999.

ALEXANDRIA, Va--The Cancer Research Foundation of America (CRFA), a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to cancer prevention through scientific research and education, has awarded 16 new grants and fellowships totaling $528,605 for cancer prevention research. The money went to 14 institutions, most of it for 10 laboratory-based studies.

Clinical practice guidelines for gynecologic oncology were developed under the direction of the Medical Practice and Ethics Committee of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (SGO) in concert with national trends in medical care in the United States. The members of this committee are listed in Table 1, along with other individuals who contributed to the development of the guidelines. The guidelines, which were distributed in booklet form to the SGO membership in 1996, are being reprinted in this and successive issues of ONCOLOGY for distribution to the oncology community at large.

Scientists at Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Southern California (USC) have found a new fork in a much-studied genetic pathway, and their work may lead to new cancer therapies, according to the center’s director.

ORLANDO--Just as oncologists base treatment decisions on disease stage, they may base business decisions on the stage of the managed care market in their area, said Paula Filler, vice president of the Sachs Group, Maplewood, NJ, in her presentation at an education meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

The chairpersons of six National Cancer Institute (NCI)-sponsored cooperative groups have announced the formation of a new entity called the Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative Groups, Inc. The coalition was formed to establish a common platform upon which the cooperative groups can operate, while remaining complementary to the work already being performed within the existing NCI structure.

Researchers looking at a group of leukemia patients have found that a genetic defect that they discovered 2 years ago serves as an early warning signal, calling for a more aggressive approach to treatment in these patients.

BETHESDA, Md--Officials of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are attempting to resolve their conflicting interpretations of data regarding cancer in children. The NCI has forcefully challenged the EPA’s contention that the United States is in the midst of an epidemic of childhood malignancies.

SAN ANTONIO--Women who have locoregional cancer recurrence after breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy can safely undergo immediate breast construction and use of a TRAM flap after mastectomy for the recurrent disease. However, the breast reconstruction procedure should include use of a free flap, which has a lower risk of necrosis and flap loss than pedicle flaps, Bonnie Baldwin, MD, said at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

CHICAGO--The drop in AIDS mortality in 1997 in New York City, one of the epicenters of the epidemic in the United States, more than matched the overall US decline in deaths due to AIDS recorded in the first half of last year (48% vs 44%).

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla--Opinions from a diverse panel of experts, expressed at a special session of the NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network) third annual conference, reflect a nation heading toward convergence on the issue of providing broad access to peer-reviewed clinical trials.

SILVER SPRING, Md--On September 26, 1998, an event known to its organizers as simply "The March" will take place across the nation. Conceived by Ellen L. Stovall, executive director of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, "The March: Coming Together to Conquer Cancer" is not a march in the traditional sense, but will encompass many different events in many cities.

ORLANDO--Whether women age 40 to 49 should have routine mammo-gram screening continues to be debated, but a University of Chicago study shows that women in this age group benefit from mammography screening as much as women over 50. Jeffrey D. Bradley, MD, lead study author, presented the finding at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology (ASTRO).

WASHINGTON--Medicare patients who participate in most clinical cancer trials sponsored by the federal government would have their patient-care costs covered for the first time, under a proposal contained in President Clinton’s budget request for fiscal year 1999.

WASHINGTON--A survey of an industry trade group finds that US research-based pharmaceutical companies plan to spend $20.6 billion for research and development in 1998, an amount equal to 19.6% of the industry’s projected annual revenues. This represents an increase of 10.7% over last year’s R&D funding by the companies, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

DALLAS--The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, producer of the country’s largest series 5K runs known as Race for the Cure, today announced nine new race sites for the 1998 series, bringing the total number of run/fitness walks to 86. Sites added include Austin, Texas; Evansville, Indiana; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Greeley, Colorado; Madison, Wisconsin; Richmond, Virginia; San Antonio, Texas; Thibodaux, Louisiana; and Tupelo, Mississippi.

SAN BRUNO, Calif--Practice guidelines and outcomes measurement are increasingly viewed as the keys to lowering medical costs while maintaining quality. Once guidelines are devised, the next step is implementation, and this may best be achieved by making guidelines readily accessible via computer programs.

WASHINGTON--One key element to increasing survivorship among lung cancer patients lies in finding ways to detect the disease early, and recent results in the quest for a preclinical biomarker for the malignancy offer great promise, a National Cancer Institute scientist told a Capital Hill briefing.

A steroid drug enhances the ability of a vitamin D analog to kill cancer while reducing a potentially serious side effect of vitamin D therapy, according to investigators at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). Their findings on dexamethasone and the vitamin D derivative, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D³ (1,25-D³), in an animal model were reported in the January 21, 1998, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

CHICAGO--A new recipe for the "cocktail" of drugs used to suppress HIV calls for a doubling of the protease inhibitor component, researchers reported at the Fifth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. Joseph P. Eron, MD, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, described a phase II open-label study comparing four regimens.

College students who smoke not only are endangering their health but also are likely to have adopted other risky behaviors. A new study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Harvard School of Public Health has found that college students who smoke are more likely to use marijuana and other illegal drugs, to be sexually promiscuous, and to be uninvolved in sports and athletic activities.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--A federal panel has recommended to the National Toxicology Program (NTP) that it review and possibly test a group of products, including three herbs, for their potential to cause cancer or to lead to reproductive and developmental problems.

New research has found the gene responsible for Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, a rare inherited disorder that can lead to cancer in many different organs. Unexpectedly, the work may also have uncovered a new category of tumor-suppressor genes.

ORLANDO--For the first time, the keynote address at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) meeting was delivered by a psychiatrist--Dr. David Spiegel, of Stanford University School of Medicine--who advised the group on how to help their cancer patients cope with their diagnosis.

Approximately 10% of all epithelial ovarian carcinoma cases are associated with inheritance of an autosomal-dominant genetic mutation conferring a predisposition to cancer with variable penetrance. Two such manifestations

Pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research are two new sciences that are beginning to affect the practice of oncology. As cost awareness in cancer care becomes acute, practicing oncologists must understand how to apply these sciences to their practices. This publication represents the proceedings of the symposium, Economics and Quality of Life in Oncology Clinical Practice, which was held on November 19, 1997, on the occasion of the EORTC meeting during The First European Conference on the Economics of Cancer. The presentations at the symposium provided an overview of some studies that have begun to explore the variety of activities comprising outcomes assessment, and how such data can be used to help deliver high quality patient care in a cost-conscious environment.

Cancer researchers and clinicians need to adopt a new attitude toward race classifications as interracial parentage in the United States continues to increase. “I want to uncouple race and genetics,” stated Edison Liu, MD, at the 1997 Biennial Symposium on Minorities, the Medically Underserved, and Cancer held in Washington, DC.