Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Study: 'Smart bomb' drug attacks breast cancer
Posted by Linda H on 8:02:00 AM
CHICAGO — Doctors have successfully dropped the first "smart bomb" on breast cancer, using a drug to deliver a toxic payload to tumor cells while leaving healthy ones alone.
In a key test involving nearly 1,000 women with very advanced disease, the experimental treatment extended by several months the time women lived without their cancer getting worse, doctors planned to report Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago.
More importantly, the treatment seems likely to improve survival; it will take more time to know for sure. After two years, 65 percent of women who received it were still alive versus 47 percent of those in a comparison group given two standard cancer drugs.
"The absolute difference is greater than one year in how long these people live," said the study's leader, Dr. Kimberly Blackwell of Duke University. "This is a major step forward."
This double weapon, called T-DM1, is the "smart bomb," although it's actually not all that smart — Herceptin isn't a homing device, just a substance that binds to breast cancer cells once it encounters them.Researchers combined Herceptin with a chemotherapy so toxic that it can't be given by itself, plus a chemical to keep the two linked until they reach a cancer cell where the poison can be released to kill it.
A warning to hopeful patients: the drug is still experimental, so not available yet. Its backers hope it can reach the market within a year.
More Companies Hiring Veterans
Posted by Linda H on 7:54:00 AM
NEAR PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — A company in Pennsylvania is on a mission to hire Veterans. A construction equipment company called Modern Group wants to hire men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces.There’s a huge push to hire more Veterans with men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming some.
Apple Needs to Make it in America
