| Alimta® or with Platinol® Benefits Patients with Recurrent Mesothelioma
According to results recently published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, treatment with the chemotherapy agent Alimta® (pemetrexed) with or without the chemotherapy agent Platinol® (cisplatin) provides benefit for patients with malignant mesothelioma who have received prior therapies. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare cancer that develops in the tissue that covers the lungs and lines the interior of the chest. It is often caused by chronic exposure to asbestos. The majority of patients are not diagnosed until the disease has progressed to an advanced stage and treatment with surgery or radiation is not an option. Patients with this disease often experience symptoms, such as shortness of breath, cough, pain, fatigue, and an inability to eat, which lessen their quality of life.
Economist Louis Winnick Dies at 85
Louis Winnick, an economist who helped guide the investments of the Ford Foundation and promoted low-income home ownership, has died. He was 85. Winnick died Saturday at a hospice in Manhasset, on Long Island. The cause of death was mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer that his daughter Pamela Winnick attributed to exposure to asbestos when he worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II. Winnick was born in Romania and came to Brooklyn when he was 1. He graduated from Brooklyn College and earned a graduate degree in economics at Columbia University. He worked for the New York City Planning Commission and the Housing and Redevelopment Board before joining the Ford Foundation in 1962. He served as deputy vice president in the national affairs division from 1968 to 1986.
Statins May Help Treat Mesothelioma
NEW YORK JUL 12, 2006 (Reuters Health) - Statins reverse doxorubicin resistance in human malignant mesothelioma cells in culture, a finding that may lead to new clinical strategies to improve doxorubicin efficacy in this hard to treat cancer. "The mechanism of statin-mediated inhibition of small G-protein function is the molecular basis of the drug-elicited reversion of doxorubicin resistance in human malignant mesothelioma cells," Dr. Amalia Bosia from University of Torino, Italy told Reuters Health. Dr. Bosia and colleagues investigated the ability of statins to reverse resistance to doxorubicin in drug-resistant primary human malignant mesothelioma cells and the molecular mechanism behind the reversion, according to their report in the July 1st issue of the International Journal of Cance Mevastatin and simvastatin significantly increased the intracellular accumulation of doxorubicin in the mesothelioma cells and increased the cytotoxicity of doxorubicin, the authors report.
CuraGen Reports Second Quarter 2006 Financial Results
BRANFORD, Conn., July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CuraGen Corporation CRGN today reported its consolidated financial results for the second quarter 2006. For the quarter ended June 30, 2006, CuraGen's consolidated net loss was $14.3 million, or $0.26 per share, compared to a net loss of $15.7 million, or $0.31 per share, for the same period in 2005. As of June 30, 2006, CuraGen had available cash and investments of $193.6 million, as compared to $211.3 million at March 31, 2006, and had outstanding 6% convertible debt of $66.2 million, due February 2007, and 4% convertible debt of $110 million, due February 2011. CuraGen also announced today it has formally engaged Goldman Sachs to examine strategic options for CuraGen's investment in 454 Life Sciences. In the second quarter of 2006, 454 Life Sciences, CuraGen's majority-owned subsidiary, recognized a total of $9.8 million in revenue, a 188% increase compared to the same period in 2005.
|
