All News

ROCKVILLE, Md—An old agency has a new name. On orders from Congress, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) is now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), pronounced “arc.”

PHILADELPHIA—SmithKline Beecham has announced that labeling for Engerix-B (hepatitis B vaccine recombinant) now includes a statement recognizing the hepatitis B vaccine as “the first anti-cancer vaccine because it can prevent primary liver cancer. A clear link has been demonstrated between chronic hepatitis B infection and the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma.”

Better Symmetry With Tissue Reconstruction vs Implants

WASHINGTON-President Clinton will ask Congress to appropriate an additional $100 million to battle AIDS outside the United States in his budget request for fiscal year 2001. This would raise to $325 million the amount of funding pledged by the United States that year to help foreign nations prevent and treat the disease.

ROCKVILLE, Md-The monoclonal antibody rituximab (Rituxan), which is directed against the CD20 antigen expressed in most B-cell malignancies, can be given repeatedly to patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and may produce longer responses with retreatment. This unusual increase in response duration is in contrast to the ever-diminishing efficacy seen with repeated rounds of chemotherapy, researchers reported at the 41st annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).

WASHINGTON-The American Federation of Clinical Oncologic Societies (AFCOS) has developed a 15-item list of basic standards for consumers to consider in selecting a health insurance plan. The aim is to ensure that patients will obtain high-quality cancer care, should they need it. AFCOS, a coalition of nine professional medical societies, released the list at a Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA).

The National Cancer Institute has compressed 45 years of cancer mortality data into a single atlas. The new publication contains 254 color-coded maps showing variations in cancer deaths over two time periods, across various

BUFFALO, New York-Gerald P. Murphy, MD, DSc, seventh director of Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), died suddenly, January 21, 2000, in Tel Aviv, Israel, while attending an International Union Against Cancer meeting in his role as secretary-general. Dr. Murphy was 65. He began his career at RPCI in 1967 when he was appointed associate director for clinical affairs and chief of the Departments of Urology and Experimental Surgery. He served as director of RPCI from 1970 to 1985.

SEATTLE-A phase III study of 168 patients with hematologic malignancies found that those receiving peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) had fewer relapses, fewer deaths, and faster engraftment than those receiving bone marrow, without a greater risk of acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD). Both the PBSC and bone marrow transplants were from HLA identical sibling donors. William Bensinger, MD, a researcher in the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center reported the study at the ASH meeting.

BETHESDA, Md-The National Cancer Institute (NCI) plans to increase both the number of research grants it awards in fiscal year 2000 and the size of the average grant, but it also expects to fund a smaller percentage of grant requests because of the increasing number of proposals it is receiving.

WASHINGTON-Rep. Rick Lazio (R-NY) is a vocal advocate within Congress for cancer research and cancer patients. The fourth-term representative from Long Island is founder of the House Cancer Awareness Working Group. He has been a leader in efforts to increase the National Cancer Institute (NCI) budget and has sponsored or co-sponsored major pieces of cancer legislation.

BETHESDA, Md-J. Paul Van Nevel ended a 26-year career at the National Cancer Institute on Dec. 31, when he retired as associate director for cancer communications. He immediately began a new career as a communications consultant, with NCI as a client.

NEW ORLEANS-The radioactive monoclonal antibody ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin, IDEC-Y2B8) may be a useful therapy in patients with rituximab-refractory follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). In addition, Y2B8 can be used safely in patients with mild thrombocytopenia, researchers reported at the ASH meeting.

NEW ORLEANS-Epratuzumab (LymphoCide), a monoclonal antibody directed against the CD22 antigen, was safe and produced some objective tumor responses in indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) in a Phase I/II study. Data from the study were reported in a poster presentation at the ASH meeting by John P. Leonard, MD, of Weill Medical College of Cornell University and New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York. He said that the data suggested that the antibody is a potential new therapy for NHL that may be effective in cases where rituximab (Rituxan) is not.

NEW ORLEANS-Two forms of arsenic are effective for inducing remissions in people with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), according to data presented at the ASH meeting.

The Bunting - Blaustein Building stands across the street from the new Weinberg Building that houses Hopkins’ comprehensive clinical cancer services [see ONI Dec. 1999, page 11].

A phase II open-label multicenter trial of an injectable cisplatin-based gel preparation may improve treatment of primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma). Philip J. Johnson, MD, chairman, Department of Clinical Oncology,

WASHINGTON—When David Satcher, MD, was 6 years old, he told everyone he wanted to be a doctor. Now 58, Dr. Satcher presides as the nation’s top physician, the US Surgeon General.

VIENNA, Austria-Even cancer patients whose pain is well controlled with regular daily opioids sometimes need rescue doses for breakthrough pain. For inpatients, this is often done with injected doses. Hakan Samuelsson, MD, has tested an injector pen that patients can use for self-administration of rescue doses. A pilot study suggests that this approach may be a useful option for most patients who need rescue opioid doses, he reported at the 9th World Congress on Pain.

NEW YORK–A favorable long-term prognosis makes sentinel lymph node biopsy unnecessary for the vast majority of patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), New York investigators have concluded from a 15-year follow-up of more than 300 patients.

NEW ORLEANS-Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) has the highest reported surface expression of CD20 of leukemias studied to date, according to research reviewed at the ASH meeting. In a symposium presentation, Deborah A. Thomas, MD, and colleagues from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, reported that the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab (Rituxan) is active against HCL. Response appears to correlate with a decrease in serum interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor levels. In a poster presentation, Robert J. Kreitman, MD, and colleagues from the National Cancer Institute reported that recombinant immunotoxins containing truncated Pseudomonas exotoxin and targeting either CD25 or CD22 can induce some major responses in patients with refractory HCL.

Former US surgeon general C. Everett Koop, MD, and Quintiles Transnational Corp. have launched an interactive, consumer Internet resource to enable interested individuals to sign up online for possible participation in clinical drug trials via the

NEW ORLEANS-Patients undergoing staged breast reconstruction with saline-filled implants and subsequent radiation therapy experienced more complications and required more replacement procedures than patients who underwent reconstruction without radiation therapy, according to a retrospective study presented at the 68th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (now the American Society of Plastic Surgeons).

In a significant advance in the treatment of acute childhood lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), researchers from the Pediatric Oncology Group have found that the use of drugs known to cross into the central nervous system results in high survival rates

VIENNA, Austria-A new oral inhalation system for morphine is almost as efficient as IV dosing, Aradigm Corp and SmithKline Beecham researchers reported at the 9th World Congress on Pain. B. A. Otulana, MD, said that the dose-corrected bioavailability of morphine with the new device was 75% of that with intravenous morphine, a major increase over the 5% bioavailability achieved with other nebulizers. This approach might provide a useful, noninvasive alternative to parenteral morphine administration.

SAN DIEGO-Patients with relapsed or refractory low-grade or follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) may respond to rituximab (Rituxan) up to 4 months after completion of therapy. Salvage therapy should therefore be delayed at least until that time for patients with stable disease after rituximab treatment, Antonio J. Grillo-Lopez, MD, of IDEC Pharmaceutical Corp., advised in a poster presentation at the ASH meeting.

BETHESDA, Md-The Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group (AACTG) will continue its research activities for another 5 years under a new grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. NIAID will provide the group $80 million in the first year of renewed funding.

Just deciding to go out for an evening can be a big decision for someone taking care of a sick family member. The caregiver can feel guilty or may not have anyone to take care of the sick relative, or may simply feel too depressed to go

BALTIMORE-The monoclonal antibody rituximab (Rituxan) may be effective in purging in vivo autografts for indolent lymphoma, and post-transplant may serve as adjuvant immunotherapy, according to research presented at the ASH meeting.

HERSHEY, Pennsylvania-A phase II study is about to begin testing a novel approach to enhancing the effectiveness of chemotherapy, one that uses a new agent to deactivate a critical DNA repair mechanism in malignant cells. Shutting down this repair system appears to increase the killing power of currently available drugs that work by disrupting DNA.