| Nexavar in patients with advanced melanoma does not meet primary ... | | Posted Wednesday, December 13, 2006 1:22:57 PM by Blog57 Team | | A Phase III trial administering Nexavar ( Sorafenib ) or placebo in combination with the chemotherapeutic agents Carboplatin and Paclitaxel in patients with advanced melanoma did not meet its primary endpoint of improving progression-free survival. The treatment effect was comparable in each arm. Two hundred seventy patients progressing after one previous systemic chemotherapeutic treatment ( with either Dacarbazine or Temozolomide ) were enrolled into the study. Nexavar is an oral multi-kinase inhibitor that targets both the tumor cell and tumor vasculature. In preclinical models, Nexavar targeted members of two classes of kinases known to be involved in both cell proliferation and angiogenesis. These kinases included RAF kinase, VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, VEGFR-3, PDGFR-B, KIT, and FLT-3.... | |
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| | | Volunteers sought for melanoma awareness video | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 11:10:19 AM by Blog57 Team | | A Queensland research team is hoping to combat melanoma, a major killer amongst men. Men are twice as likely as women to die from the skin cancer. The Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation is calling for male volunteers to help make a video to get across the important message of self skin checks. The project's senior researcher, Doctor Monika Janda, says men are ignoring sun damage from their younger years. "I think that could be one of the reasons why men at this age group are actually presenting at later stages," Dr Janda said. "That maybe they're not taking it seriously enough and not looking at their skin with regards to that. "Of course you can't always think the worst and you shouldn't, we want to encourage men to be aware." .... | |
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| | | Scientists Probe Radiotherapy-Linked Brain Changes | | Posted Wednesday, November 08, 2006 11:23:19 AM by Blog57 Team | | TUESDAY, Nov. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers believe certain brain changes may be linked to the dementia experienced by many cancer patients after whole-brain radiation treatment. Each year, about 200,000 people in the United States receive whole-brain radiation, which is used to treat recurrent brain tumors as well as to prevent breast cancer, lung cancer, and malignant melanoma from spreading to the brain. About a year after whole-brain radiation treatment, up to 50 percent of patients develop progressive learning and memory problems. In their research with rats, a team at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., found that whole-brain radiation caused compositional changes in brain cell receptors for the neurotransmitter glutamate.... | |
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| | | Viragen Announces Closing of Secondary Unit Offering | | Posted Saturday, November 04, 2006 7:40:18 PM by Blog57 Team | | PLANTATION, Fla., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Viragen, Inc. (Amex: VRA; VRA.U) today announced the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 72,004,951 Units at a price to the public of $.26 per Unit, which includes 5,004,951 Units purchased to cover over-allotments. The Units trade on the American Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "VRA.U", and each Unit consists of one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock, exercisable at a price of $.31 per share. This offering raised gross proceeds of approximately $18.7 million, and after fees and expenses, Viragen received approximately $17.0 million. The Company intends to use the net proceeds for the following: redemption of preferred stock inclusive of payment of dividends for both the Company and its materially-owned subsidiary, Viragen International, Inc.... | |
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| | | Point Therapeutics Shares Up on Study | | Posted Wednesday, November 01, 2006 3:14:40 AM by Blog57 Team | | Shares of fledgling biopharmaceutical company Point Therapeutics Inc. surged Monday on news of positive preclinical results from its drug candidate talabostat. The studies, conducted on mice, focused on results in treating osteosarcoma, the most common cause of pediatric bone cancer in the United States. The stock gained 17 cents, or 13.6 percent, to reach $1.42 on the Nasdaq in afternoon trading as volume surged to more than 150 times its average. Shares have traded between $1.14 and $4.15 over the last 52 weeks. In the first study, the company said, mice treated with the drug had a fourfold decrease in the number of primary tumors compared with those treated with saline treatment. Another experiment showed that mice injected with talabostat showed a 20-fold decrease in the number of gross metastatic lung nodules.... | |
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| | | AVAX begins trial of melanoma vaccine | | Posted Monday, October 30, 2006 1:30:22 PM by Blog57 Team | | PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- AVAX Technologies said Thursday it has been cleared to start a Phase 3 trial of its M-Vax vaccine for metastatic melanoma. The company said it has reached a written agreement with the Food and Drug Administration on the study's design and surrogate endpoints, which will allow AVAX to rely on data from an earlier point in the study to show the vaccine's safety and efficacy. The trial will enroll up to 387 patients with stage IV melanoma, who will receive either the vaccine or placebo at a 2:1 ratio. Treated patients will be given an initial dose of M-Vax, consisting of autologous DNP-modified tumor cells, followed by cyclophosphamide. AVAX said it would apply for accelerated FDA review of the treatment. "We are pleased with the successful conclusion of our discussions with the FDA related to this SPA," said David Berd, AVAX's chief medical officer and the vaccine's inventor.... | |
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| | | DR. DONOHUE: FOR YOUR GOOD HEALTH: Check, protect to prevent melanoma | | Posted Tuesday, October 24, 2006 11:09:55 AM by Blog57 Team | | Q: My mother died at age 43 of a melanoma. I was only 10 then. I live in fear of melanoma. I have two moles on my back, and I watch them like a hawk. Can you supply some facts about melanoma that might ease my mind? A: Inspecting your skin and watching for any changes in your moles are all you need to do to stay clear of missing an early melanoma. Caught early, most melanomas are treatable and curable. Melanoma is, however, the most dangerous kind of skin cancer. Everyone should periodically do a full search of the skin to look for any suspicious dark spots. Such a search requires a full-length mirror. You ought to be careful about sun exposure. Intermittent sunburns predispose a person to melanoma more than does tanning, but all extended sun exposure is dangerous.... | |
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| | | Listening To The Sound Of Skin Cancer: New Technique Detects Signature Of Metastasizing Melanoma | | Posted Friday, October 20, 2006 11:09:13 PM by Blog57 Team | | Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia can now detect the spread of skin cancer cells through the blood by literally listening to their sound. The unprecedented, minimally invasive technique causes melanoma cells to emit noise, and could let oncologists spot early signs of metastases -- as few as 10 cancer cells in a blood sample -- before they even settle in other organs. The results of the successful experimental tests appear in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Optics Letters, published by the Optical Society of America. .... | |
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| | | New technique detects signature of metastasizing melanoma with as few as 10 cancer cells present in blood sample | | Posted Tuesday, October 17, 2006 3:14:13 PM by Blog57 Team | | Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia can now detect the spread of skin cancer cells through the blood by literally listening to their sound. The unprecedented, minimally invasive technique causes melanoma cells to emit noise, and could let oncologists spot early signs of metastases -- as few as 10 cancer cells in a blood sample -- before they even settle in other organs. The results of the successful experimental tests appear in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Optics Letters, published by the Optical Society of America. The team's method, called photoacoustic detection, combines laser techniques from optics and ultrasound techniques from acoustics, using a laser to make cells vibrate and then picking up the characteristic sound of melanoma cells. In a clinical test, doctors would take a patient's blood sample and separate the red blood cells and the plasma.... | |
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| | | Avax Gets OK to Proceed With Melanoma Trial | | Posted Saturday, October 14, 2006 3:15:51 AM by Blog57 Team | | Avax Technologies has received authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to initiate a phase III trial for M-Vax, the company's vaccine technology used in patients with metastatic melanoma. The approval is a special protocol agreement between Avax and the FDA regarding the trial design and surrogate endpoints to be used as a basis of filing for accelerated approval of M-Vax. "We plan on submitting the data we have generated in support of our production and release assays to the FDA and will look forward to beginning patient accrual shortly thereafter," noted David Berd, Chief Medical Officer of Avax. .... | |
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