Dec 11, 2005

New Lung Cancer Drug

Novelos Therapeutics Inc. has recently announced that its lead chemotherapy drug to treat non-small cell lung cancer had gained FDA approval to advance into late-stage, or phase III, clinical testing.

The drug trial will test the drug, designated NOV-002, in combination with currently used chemotherapy to treat patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer who have not undergone any previous treatment. The company hopes to begin enrolling patients in the phase III study by the third quarter of 2006.

Novelos Therapeutics, Inc., is a Boston-based biotechnology company focused on the development of therapeutics to treat cancer and hepatitis. Today's announcement marks the first time the company has been given FDA approval for a large clinical trial that often forms the final testing in humans before submission to the FDA for approval to sell the drug.

NOV-002, is approved and marketed in the Russian Federation by Pharma BAM under the trade name Glutoxim. It has been administered to over 5,000 patients, and been found to be effective and safe.

The drug is designed to provide patients with protection from highly toxic chemotherapy agents, and to enhance the body's immune response to cancer. The result is that patients are better able to tolerate chemotherapy allowing them to undergo more treatment cycles.

Determining whether that translates into longer survival will be the research objective of the phase III trial. Novelos will seek approval of the final study design under a FDA's Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) during the first half of 2006.

Scott      

Do You Read All Of Our Cancer Blogs?

Do you read all of the blogs published by medicineworld.org? Many of our bloggers are busy keeping you updated on the various health related topics. We publish the following blogs at this time.

Cancer blog: I manage the cancer blog with lots of help and support form other bloggers. Through this cancer blog my friends and I try to bring stories of hope for patients with cancer. The cancer blog often republishes important blog posts from other cancer related blogs at Medicineworld.org. If you are searching for a blog that covers wide variety of cancer topics, this may be the one for you.

Breast cancer blog: Breast cancer blog is run by Emily and other bloggers and they bring you the latest stories, news and events that are related to breast cancer. Increasing awareness about breast cancer among women and in the general population is the main goal of this breast cancer blog.

Lung cancer blog: Lung cancer blog is managed by Scott with the help of other bloggers. Through this blog Scott and his friends constantly remind the readers about the dangers of smoking. It's a never-ending struggle against this miserable disease with which a social stigma of smoking is associated.

Colon cancer blog: Colon cancer blog is run by Sue and other bloggers. Sue brings a personal touch to the colon cancer blog since her mother died of colon cancer few years ago. She writes about stories, research news and advances in treatment related to colon cancer.

Prostate cancer blog: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men. American Cancer Society estimates that over 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer occur in the United state every year. This important blog about prostate cancer is run by Mark and other bloggers. This blog brings news, stories, and other personal observations related to prostate cancer.

Medicineworld.org publishes a diabetes watch blog and this blog is run by JoAnn other bloggers. This diabetes watch blog brings you the latest in the field of diabetes. This includes personal stories, advances in diagnosis and treatment, and other observations about diabetes. Improving awareness about diabetes is an important mission of this group.

Janet      

Lung cancer
We engage a never-ending daily struggle to understand and defeat the hidden mysteries of cancer. This is a long and laborious fight, but some moments stand out as grim reminders of the severity of the problem and ruthlessness of the enemy. We recently heard about the sad demise of Peter Jennings, who was the news anchor of ABC News for a long time.