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A new law, introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania), will require prescription drug manufacturers to give the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) early warning of anything that will likely result in a drug shortage.

The FDA has approved Rituxan for first-line maintenance treatment of patients with advanced follicular lymphoma who responded to initial treatment with Rituxan plus chemotherapy.

The FDA has just officially released rough guidelines for use by industry for the development of two or more novel investigational drugs, for use in combination.

The GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) drug Avodart (dutasteride), already approved for treatment in men with enlarged prostate glands, has been rejected by the FDA for the additional indication of reducing the risk of prostate cancer.

A recent analysis in the Cancer Journal outlines the various effects of last year's landmark health care reform bill on cancer research. Some positive changes will be in the pipeline as will some potentially negative unanticipated consequences.

Recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) shows that an increasing number of primary care physicians have already adopted a basic EHR, but most physicians would need to further upgrade their EHR systems or their use of the systems in order to qualify for “meaningful use” incentive payments.

ASCO’s QOPI analysis recently found that less than half of all cancer patients are enrolled in hospice care before their death and of those who are enrolled, one-third are not enrolled until the last week of their lives. In response to this and other findings, ASCO published a new policy and guidelines this week, intended to encourage physicians to initiate open dialogue about palliative care and treatment with patients as soon as they are identified as having incurable cancer.

Everyone’s talking about Republicans’ initial effort to thwart healthcare reform through the repeal vote, but will it come to anything?

Dong quai is a perennial herb native to China, Japan and Korea; its root has been used for thousands of years as medicine.

To provide quality healthcare, communication is vital. Using an EHR, physicians can more easily communicate regarding current and past medical conditions with other providers in their practice, with referring or co-managing physicians, and with patients themselves.

Genentech, owner of Roche, submitted its response yesterday to the FDA’s proposal to withdraw approval for Avastin (bevacizumab) for the treatment of HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

According to a recent analysis by researchers at the National Cancer Institute, in 2020, medical expenditures for cancer should reach at least $158 billion (in 2010 dollars). This represents an increase of 27 percent over 2010.

A new study finds that cancer cells, conventionally thought to develop only over long periods of time can begin in a single event, accounting for the development of 2% to 3% of all cancers, and up to 25% of bone cancers.

"Kinome" is the word to know this year in oncology, because it has begun to reveal molecules that some tumors are relying on to survive, which until now we had no idea were involved in cancer or which we hardly knew at all.

European regulators have approved rituximab(MabThera or Rituxan) as a first-linemaintenance treatment for patients withfollicular lymphoma (FL) whose disease hasresponded to initial induction therapy.

Patients with myelofibrosis experienced relief from pain, fatigue, and other symptoms associated with enlarged spleens after treatment with a JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor, according to study results from Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The Duke Comprehensive Cancer Centerin Durham, N.C., has received a five-year,$30 million core grant renewal from NCIto support its clinical, research, and educationalprograms.

Jeff Kranau’s story is a moving one but, during this economic downturn, not necessarily a unique one. The former South Florida salesman was successfully treated for squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx in 2009 and declared cancerfree. But what should have been a reason for celebration has, over time, sent Mr. Kranau’s life into a tailspin.

The John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey opened its new $130-million comprehensive care facility.

Like the protective plastic cap at the ends of shoelaces that prevent them from unraveling, telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes. These small strips of DNA prevent chromosome tips from fraying during cell division. But as the cells divide, the telomeres shorten and the cells age. Shortened telomeres have been linked to an increased risk of cancer development. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., wanted to see if telomere shortening was linked to colon cancer development at a younger age.

After resection for cancer or peptic ulcer disease, the mucosa of the gastric stump is considered prone to the development of gastric cancer precursor lesions (see Fact box), most likely because of exposure to Helicobacter pylori infection. Italian researchers set out to determine if the risk of gastric cancer recurrence was greater in the stump in the presence of HP infection.

Enlivening the public discussion about cancer biobanking will speed up the collection of specimens for research supporting the goal of personalized medicine. Biobanking is particularly important in minority populations, who experience a disproportionally greater burden of cancer incidence and mortality. But rather than unilaterally creating and launching a public education program, community medicine specialists in Florida first solicited public input.

One of the world's largest providers of medical services and information technologies sees strong growth in oncology services in the coming years, growth that can be leveraged into profits with the right blend of productivity and cost efficiency tools. With this in mind, McKesson plans to spend more than $2 billion to purchase the largest community-based cancer treatment and research network in America.

A program initiated at the Dan. L. Duncan Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, raised the participation of African-American and Hispanic patients in clinical trials to levels that approached that of the general population of the center's catchment area.

Finding an effective treatment for all the complex iterations of cancer is akin to chasing an outlaw through a treacherous mountain range, in the estimation of Louis M. Weiner, MD, director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC.

NEW YORK-Turkey tail, healing touch, and liquidambar stryraciflua are areas in complementary medicine that are worth keeping an eye on, according to integrative oncology experts. The Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) named five abstracts as its best during its 2010 meeting.

In the era of evidence-based medicine, clinical guidelines, and personalized medicine, one would think that convincing clinical trial data would influence clinical practice if disseminated in an appropriate manner. However, it has been estimated that only 50% of current medical practice is evidence-based, clearly demonstrating a compelling need to collect and analyze additional data to better inform practice. Current data are usually gathered from a variety of sources, including clinical trials, observational studies, and meta-analyses. Yet according to Jeff Forringer, CEO of IntrinsiQ, data from oncology practices provide real-world outcomes that give better insight into the efficacy of cancer therapeutics.