Medicare HMO Costs May Prevent Cancer Patients From Enrolling In Clinical Trials, UPCI Study Finds

Newly diagnosed cancer patients who are enrolled in Medicare's Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans may be unlikely to participate in clinical trials because of prohibitive costs, according to a study by the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). Under these HMO plans, covering people age 65 and older, patients are required to pay both a deductible and 20 percent of the treatment cost. Complete news at...

A Wistar Institute researcher's novel approach to understanding genetic causes of human disease has earned him an NIH Director's New Innovator Award and grant from the National Institutes of Health. Ken-ichi Noma, Ph.D., an assistant professor in Wistar's Gene Expression and Regulation Program, is working to develop a new method of mapping the three-dimensional structure of the human genome. Complete news at...

The use of a short one week course of radiation before surgery for rectal cancer leads to a reduced risk of recurrence but with some impairment in quality of life for sexual and bowel function, according to an international study presented September 22, 2008, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 50th Annual Meeting in Boston. The primary treatment for rectal cancer is surgery. Complete news at...

Genmab A/S (OMX: GEN) announced it has completed recruitment of 56 previously untreated follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients in the Phase II study of ofatumumab (HuMax-CD20(R)) in combination with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (CHOP). "We are happy to finish enrolment in this first study with ofatumumab in front line follicular NHL patients," said Lisa N. Drakeman, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Genmab. Complete news at...

Quality assurance programs like the one at the Quality Assurance Review Center (QARC) in Worcester, Mass., strengthen the quality of clinical trials, including cooperative groups conducting National Cancer Institute-supported clinical trials, thereby improving the standard of care in cancer patients, according to a study presented at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 50th Annual Meeting in Boston. Complete news at...

Trius Therapeutics, Inc. announced the initiation of Phase 2 testing of the oral form of its second-generation oxazolidinone antibacterial drug TR- 701. The multicenter trial will test the efficacy, safety and tolerability of once- daily doses of 200, 300 and 400 milligrams of TR-701 in complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI) for five to seven days of treatment. Complete news at...

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Hong Kong Department of Health followed up a human case of myiasis involving an 84-year-old man and urged people to take measures to guard against the disease caused by fly maggots.

The patient, living in Kwun Tong, attended the Accident and Emergency Department of United Christian Hospital for right thigh pain on September 11. Maggots were found from a wound over his right ankle. He is now hospitalized in stable condition.

CHP's investigations revealed that he had no record of recent travel history.

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Cancer patients who receive stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) for the treatment of metastatic brain tumors have more than twice the risk of developing learning and memory problems than those treated with SRS alone, according to new research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Complete news at...