New Program to Educate Late-Stage Patients About Pain Management

NEW YORK--Medical leaders and prostate cancer patient advocacy groupshave joined with Immunex Corporation to launch Empowered Patients in Control(EPIC), an education program designed to help men with late-stage prostatecancer confront the physical and emotional issues related to their disease.

Said spokesman Harry Belafonte, the noted singer/actor, "it isonly when we stare these problems in the face that we can truly seek tosolve them." Mr. Belafonte was diagnosed with prostate cancer aftera routine checkup and underwent prostatectomy last year.

The goal of the new program is to provide patients, their families,and their physicians with access to the latest information and tools necessaryto improve the management of pain commonly associated with advanced prostatecancer.

The components of EPIC are:

• The Epic panel comprised of distinguished medical experts, prostatecancer patients, and representatives from leading third-party organizationsadvocating improved treatment of prostate cancer.
• The EPIC Manual for Patients and Physicians, developed by theEPIC professional panelists, which will include treatment guidelines, therapygoals, patient support materials, and other information. A video for patientsand their families is also being developed.