Putting Our Heads Together
Posted in Legislation, News, Stories on Mar 29th, 2009
The nuclear bombs Charlie Wolf built helped win the Cold War. But his toughest battles came afterward, when he applied to a troubled federal compensation program intended for those whose top-secret work made them sick.
Posted in News on Mar 27th, 2009
Source: AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health regulators said Friday it’s unclear whether Genentech’s blockbuster cancer drug Avastin significantly shrinks the deadliest type of brain tumor.
The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the company’s drug for patients with recurring glioblastoma multiforme, a form of brain cancer that is generally fatal within six months.
South San Francisco, Calif.-based [...]
Physicians decide how to treat brain cancer in part based on what a patient’s tumor looks like under the microscope. But while the microscope can help classify a tumor, it cannot always reveal the molecular changes that drive the disease. And in an era of molecularly targeted therapies, this is what physicians and patients increasingly want to know.
At the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, and specifically at the Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment (CABTT), raw processing power is required to analyse the genes in cancer patients and determine their genetic makeup. At that point, doctors can diagnose a treatment that is geared specifically to that patient. The more data collected, the better the treatment plan.
Join brain cancer survivors, family members, friends and health care professionals at the 2009 UCLA Brain Tumor Conference, hosted by the UCLA Neuro-Oncology Program.
Posted in Action Alerts, News on Mar 17th, 2009
On March 31st, the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) will be meeting to consider FDA approval of Avastin (bevacizumab) as a single-agent treatment for the treatment of previously treated glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
Al Musella will be attending the meeting to argue for FDA approval of Avastin and is asking for permission to speak on behalf [...]
Posted in Action Alerts, Legislation on Mar 16th, 2009
On January 22, 2009 Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced HR 653 (formerly HR 7153), The National Childhood Brain Tumor Prevention Network Act of 2009, to the House of Representatives.
Also on January 22, Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and David Vitter (R-LA) introduced S.305, the companion bill to HR 653, to the U.S. Senate.
