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HOUSTON-Long-term follow-up of the rituximab (Rituxan) pivotal trial in relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) shows a median response duration of almost a year. The anti-CD20 chimeric monoclonal antibody was approved last year for use in relapsed or refractory low-grade or follicular NHL.

HOPKINTON, Mass-A new breast mapping system under development by Assurance Medical is designed to provide physicians with an objective, quantitative approach to the clinical breast examination. In essence, it allows the physician to visualize what is felt on the manual exam.

HOUSTON-There is some feeling among oncologists that treatment of relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) may have gone about as far as it can go. Variations on standard CHOP have produced little improvement, and new approaches are clearly needed.

GAITHERSBURG, Md-ODAC has declined to recommend that the FDA approve Prograf (tacrolimus, Fujisawa Healthcare) for the prophylaxis of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in patients receiving allogeneic bone marrow transplants (BMT).

BETHESDA, Md-Few people on Capitol Hill-or off-were aware of a brief provision written into an appropriations act in the waning days of last fall’s budget battles. Now the research community, including the National Cancer Institute and the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB), is assessing the legislation’s potential damage and how best to soften its blow.

BETHESDA, Md-Molecular complete remissions of follicular lymphoma have been achieved with use of a patient-specific vaccine, Maurizio Bendandi, MD, reported at the plenary session of the American Society of Hematology annual meeting.

BETHESDA, Md-Low-grade lymphomas usually respond to initial chemotherapy but almost inevitably relapse. Each subsequent chemotherapy regimen produces a shorter response. Research presented at the American Society of Hematology meeting suggests that this may not be the case with the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab (Rituxan).

In managing cancer pain, an alternative to the oral route of opioid administration may be considered under several circumstances. For example, the oral route may not be feasible due to impaired swallowing, gastrointestinal obstruction, poor

The practicing medical oncologist is faced with several options when selecting opioid analgesics. As Drs. Mercadante and Fulfaro underscore, when all routes of administration are available, the oral route is preferred.

WASHINGTON-Just when the tobacco companies thought they had put major litigation woes behind them, they now face the threat of a potentially far more devastating legal action than the state-initiated lawsuits that they settled last year. President Clinton announced during his State of the Union address that the Justice Department is preparing “a litigation plan to take the tobacco companies to court” to recover money the federal government has spent to treat tobacco-related illnesses.

PITTSBURGH-To accommodate the growth of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute’s (UPCI’s) treatment and research activities, the UPMC Health System will build a 295,000 square-foot integrated facility on the UPMC Shadyside campus. This $104 million building will serve as the hub for UPCI’s clinical programs and scientific investigations.

BETHESDA, Md-The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will jointly fund a 5-year, $72 million project to create a series of Transdisciplinary Tobacco Research Centers to study tobacco use initiation, addiction, and cessation, and tobacco-related cancers. The NCI, in a separate initiative, will spend $72 million over 4 years for research to improve state and community tobacco-control efforts.

Varian has created a new patient education Internet web site containing information on cancer radiotherapy treatments.

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have received funding to investigate the long-term effects of chemotherapy on men surviving testicular cancer.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) tests that can be taken at home are good options for individuals who want to know whether they have been infected with the acquired immune deficiency (AIDS) virus but shy away from clinics and doctors’

SAN DIEGO-Hospitals must adopt environmental policies to help prevent the spread of invasive aspergillosis in high-risk patients, including immunosuppressed cancer patients, Elias Anaissie, MD, of the University of Arkansas, said at a seminar at the 38th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

NEW YORK-Cancer patients have more treatment options then ever before. But in order to make informed choices, they must have complete information. Patients who are assertive and know their rights are more likely to get that information, said Carol A. Sheridan, RN, MSN, AOCN, a clinical support specialist for Amgen.

The FDA uses a complex series of procedures to get needed drugs to patients as quickly as possible while ensuring safety. Patricia Keegan, md, oncology staff director in the FDA’s Clinical Trial Design and Analysis Division, walked the audience

WASHINGTON-President Clinton has named six new members to the National Cancer Advisory Board, which advises the president, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the director of the National Cancer Institute on policies and activities at NCI.

BETHESDA, Md-Studies in end-of-life care must be introduced into the standard medical school curriculum, David E. Weissman, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, said at the First International Conference on Research in Palliative Care, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Cancer Pain Relief Committee. “They don’t know what they don’t know,” Dr. Weissman said in his presentation on the need to change palliative care practice in academic medical centers.

WASHINGTON-The relation between tumor cell proliferation and angiogenesis is well known: Tumors need a supply of blood in order to grow beyond a depth of 1 mm. Discovering how angiogenesis works has been the focus of research by Harold Dvorak, MD, Mallinckrodt Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School.

SAN DIEGO-“When do you start HIV therapy and what do you start with?” Michael S. Saag, MD, asked to open a seminar on retroviral therapy at the 38th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC). As simplistic as it sounds, he said, it is a question that initiates the process of strategic thinking on the use of antiretroviral therapy.

HOUSTON-The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has unveiled its new 13-story Albert B. and Margaret M. Alkek Hospital (Figure 1). At the dedication ceremony, the Center’s president John Mendelsohn, MD, called Alkek “an incredible modern facility.” It is, he said, a hospital for the future, one that can help bring into reality Dr. Mendelsohn’s vision of cancer care in the 21st century. “We’re optimistic that we will be able to turn cancer into a chronic disease that we can control,” he said.

OMAHA, Nebraska-The Lied Transplant Center, located on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus, recently had its grand opening and is expected to begin admitting patients this month for solid organ or bone marrow transplants. Its 14 levels include clinics and treatment rooms, 44 cooperative care suites, 44 Nebraska House guest suites, and four floors devoted to research. The Center takes its name from the Lied Foundation Trust, which donated $15 million toward construction.

WASHINGTON-Daily cigarette smoking among high school seniors declined in 1998, down to 22.4% from 24.6% in 1997. However, the 1998 rate remains significantly higher than the 17.2% recorded in 1992 and not far removed from the 25.4% found in 1979, according to a survey conducted for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

WASHINGTON-The growth in health care spending in the United States hit a nearly 40-year low in 1997, but the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) predicts a strong growth spurt in the coming decade. Health care spending reached $1.1 trillion in 1997, the agency reported, an average per person of just under $4,000, and will nearly double by 2007, reaching a total of $2.1 trillion.

ROCKVILLE, Md-The explosive overall growth of enrollees in Medicaid managed care is not occurring in rural America, according to a study conducted for the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR).

NEW YORK-The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has established the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award Program, a $12 million initiative to fund the research teams of four eminent scientists studying cancer, AIDS, heart disease, and sickle cell anemia and related blood disorders. Recipients of the first awards are expected to be named in late 1999.

WASHINGTON-Whether you call it the Year 2000 Problem (Y2K) or the Millennium Bug, it could bite the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) quite badly, a congressional report warns. The Y2K problem stems from the fact that most computers still use only two digits to represent the year. Come the year 2000, unless this flaw is corrected, these computers will read 00 as the year 1900, and chaos will occur in their calculations.

SAN DIEGO-With a survival rate of only 5%, invasive aspergillosis remains a devastating problem that is difficult to prevent, tricky to diagnose, and complicated to treat, according to presenters at a symposium aptly named “Uncertainties in Invasive Aspergillosis,” held at the 38th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.