scout

All News

HOUSTON--With its 1998 Holiday Collection, the Children’s Art Project rings in its silver anniversary--25 years of cards and gifts designed by pediatric patients at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. New this year is a children’s book, Bunnies in my Head, by Tricia Tusa with art from the children of M.D. Anderson.

GENEVA--Protease inhibitors are central to most current regimens for suppressing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but also may cause major side effects. These increasingly serious problems may be related to effects on two cellular receptors involved in lipid metabolism, according to work presented at the 12th World Conference on AIDS. The most serious problems are a lipodystro-phy syndrome, hyperlipidemia, and increased insulin resistance, which may lead to diabetes mellitus.

BETHESDA, Md--The Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) has unanimously recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grant full approval to Camptosar (irinotecan hydrochloride injection, Pharmacia & Upjohn) for the treatment of metastatic colon or rectal cancer that recurs or progresses after fluorouracil (5-FU) therapy.

Discussed herein are selected oral fluorinated pyrimidines that are converted to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in vivo to exert antitumor activity. These agents include capecitabine (Xeloda), tegafur-uracil (UFT) plus leucovorin (Orzel), and S-1 (BMS247616). These agents offer the convenience of an orally administered therapy with potentially fewer toxic effects than conventional bolus regimens of 5-FU plus leucovorin. These oral agents provide prolonged 5-FU exposure at lower peak concentrations than observed with bolus intravenous administration of 5-FU and may confer pharmacoeconomic advantages by reducing administration costs and toxicity-related hospitalizations. These regimens also have the potential for improved therapeutic activity by achieving higher 5-FU concentrations in the tumor or by biochemically modulating 5-FU. Phase III trials in patients with advanced colorectal carcinomas are comparing the antitumor activity of these agents with that of intravenous 5-FU plus leucovorin. [ONCOLOGY 12(Suppl 7):48-51, 1998]

BETHESDA, Md--The National Cancer Institute has begun funding the Cancer Genetics Network to support collaborative investigations into the genetic basis of cancer susceptibility. The Institute will spend $6 million for the first year of operation, much of which will go to planning and establishing the complex infrastructure needed to support the project.

ORLANDO--Using certain strategies in dealing with payers can contribute significantly to building successful relationships and maximizing revenues from bone marrow transplants and peripheral stem cell procedures, said Charles J. Bruno, vice president of business development for the City of Hope Management Services Organization, which manages oncology care for nearly 1 million lives in Southern California.

SAN FRANCISCO--A thorough and accurate family history, going back at least four generations, is one of the most effective tools for establishing genetic cancer risk in a patient, Andrea Fishbach, MS, MPH, of Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco, said at the American Cancer Society’s 2nd National Conference on Cancer Genetics. But counselors should be aware that taking such a history can release strong emotions in the patient.

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ontario, Canada--A new technique is being employed in an attempt to eventually restore the reproductive potential of girls and young women receiving radiotherapy or chemotherapy for cancer. Five families in a study from the United Kingdom have chosen to have ovarian cortical tissue samples removed and frozen prior to cancer therapy.

ROCHESTER, NY--The WHO International Network for Cancer Education (INCE) is putting together a list of exchange programs in cancer education, (eg, exchange of students, residents, or faculty), involving a European or US center and a corresponding center in Asia, Africa, or Latin America.

WASHINGTON--More than 40 groups, with strong representation from women’s and girls’ organizations, have appealed to Congress to aggressively address the "global tobacco epidemic" and particularly its impact on Third World women.

SAN FRANCISCO--Groundbreak-ing ceremonies were held July 7 for a long-awaited building to house the clinical cancer programs of UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) Stanford Health Care. UCSF Chancellor J. Michael Bishop, MD, delivered the opening remarks.

BALTIMORE--"Genetic testing may soon become another routine tool of medicine," Barbara Biesecker, MS, said at a Johns Hopkins conference on genetic testing for adult onset disorders. Making genetic testing routine will require training more professionals in genetic counseling and overcoming a number of myths that have accumulated around the field, said Ms. Biesecker, co-director of the Genetic Counseling Research and Training Program of the NIH’s Medical Genetics Branch.

Data from a phase I clinical trial of CT-2584, a novel small-molecule, anticancer, antiangiogenesis drug under investigation for the treatment of chemotherapy-resistant (advanced and refractory) cancers were presented at the 34th Annual Meeting of

BOTHELL, Washington--CellPro, Incorporated has received FDA approval for label expansion of the company’s Ceprate SC Stem Cell Concentration System to include the processing of peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPCs) to obtain a CD34+ cell enriched population for use as hematopoietic support after myeloablative chemotherapy in patients with CD34-negative tumors.