It is in the normal course of events that as our advanced prostate cancer progresses we will eventually end up dying from the disease. There will come a time when our doctors will no longer have any additional treatments or tricks up their sleeve, or we will just decide that we are done and wish [...]
An AP medical writer, Mike Stobb, wrote an interesting and unusual article about a survey that was conducted asking if people would be willing to spend everything they have on aggressive treatments that might prolong their life. The survey concluded that blacks and other minorities with cancer are more likely than whites to say they [...]
The battle to make sure that Provenge is available nationally (in the United States) to all men who meet the FDA approval requirements is continuing. We have made great steps through the “noise” that the community has made to date. We have successfully reached, what I believe is, the final step in insuring that Provenge [...]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CME) decided to review their policies pertaining to paying for Provenge, which costs $93,000 per man. Since the hearings which were held a number of months ago, we have not heard any feedback. Despite this, most of the regions have been paying for the treatment, however there have [...]
Increasingly it has become obvious to me and to many other individuals that our current drug approval and development process has a basic flaw. If you go to research conferences you quickly learn that there is probably no magic bullet to stop any type of cancer, including advanced prostate cancer. Current drug development focuses on [...]
Posted: March 18, 2011 10:24 AM : The Huffington Post "At last week's Innovative Minds in Prostate Cancer meeting, the speakers included not only doctors, but patients. We patients also help review the grant applications of the scientists. We seek innovative proposals to cure or slow prostate cancer, or reduce its notorious pain, and the [...]
If you read my previous post ,you will see Senator McCain’s plan to eliminate the Prostate Cancer Research Program within the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP). The loss of this program could shorten many of our lives and add significantly to our pain and suffering. Now is the time to work with the rest of [...]
There is some good budgetary news as it now appears that the CDMRP (the Department of Defense) programs, including the Peer Reviewed Prostate Cancer Program, are funded at the omnibus level (last year’s level). The bill has not yet passed and is still vulnerable to changes. As of today, this is how the budget looks: [...]
Should treatments offered to older men with high risk prostate cancer be different than for younger men? Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco found that older men were denied more aggressive treatments because of their age. Men older than 75 years of age with high-risk prostate cancer often are under-treated when compared to [...]
The House Appropriations Committee released revised subcommittee allocations yesterday for FY 2011. The new FY 2011 Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee allocation is $157.02 billion, which is nearly $6.6 billion (4 percent) below the subcommittee’s FY10 allocation. The House is scheduled to vote on a FY11 appropriations bill during the week of February 14. Specific funding levels and [...]
