Today’s Wall Street Journal (8-2-07) had a front-page piece entitled Burden of Proof: Cancer Drug Fails, So Maker Tries New Pitch. Geeta Anand of the Wall Street Journal wrote it. The story is about Garo Armen and the biotech company, Antigenics Inc., which he founded 12 years ago and at a cost of 300 million [...]
Recently, there has been uproar in the prostate cancer community over the FDA's handling of the approval of Provenge. The conflict between patients looking for new treatments and the FDA's attempt to protect the public is one with a long-standing history and with complex dynamics. The new activism of the prostrate cancer community is one [...]
From clinical cancer research: Rethinking Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine Trials Ongoing therapeutic cancer vaccine trials have yet to show evidence of vaccines spurring a patient's immune system to shrink tumors -- yet patients who receive these vaccines in trials tend to live longer and respond better to subsequent treatment. In the July 1 issue of Clinical [...]
Here it is June 11 and my frustration with the Prostate Cancer Community continues to climb. On May 31, I wrote that the FDA had compromised over the issue of the approval of Provenge. At that time, it was announced that the FDA would be willing to use the interim results of Dendreon’s current, on [...]
Prostate Cancer advocates continue to press the FDA to approve Provenge by staging marches in Washington and Chicago as well as continuing to add their names to Malecare's Action Letter. The advocacy has even caught the attention of the major news services, which have been carrying many stories about the efforts of the prostate community. [...]