On Tuesday, Texas voters approved Proposition 15, an amendment authorizing the state to spend 3 billion dollars on cancer research over the next 10 years. The proposition received strong backing from Governor Rick Perry, former state comptroller John Sharp, bi-partisan legislators, numerous healthcare professionals, the American Cancer Society, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and other cancer [...]

The Iron Range Resources Board has voted to spend $250,000 for medical testing on miners to support a University of Minnesota School of Public Health study on mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that disproportionately strikes mine workers. Tom Rukavina (DFL) from the Minnesota House of Representatives proposed the funding after the Minnesota Department of [...]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Ixempra (ixabepilone) for patients with metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer which hasn’t responded to other cancer drugs. In a priority review, the FDA approved Ixempra for use in combination with capecitabine in patients who no longer benefit from chemotherapy treatments including an anthracycline and a taxane. [...]

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is establishing two new centers to study the important ethical, legal and social implications faced by individuals involved in human genetics and genomics research. The multi-million dollar centers will be launched at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The [...]

Growing concerns about patient privacy rights have led the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to tighten controls on cancer data collected at their hospitals. While privacy advocates are applauding the move, leaders in the scientific community are worried about the impact the new measures will have on cancer research. Until recently, VA hospitals voluntarily [...]

Representative Jo Ann Davis (Republican-Virginia) died of breast cancer in her home on October 6th, 2007. She was 57 years old. Congresswoman Davis was first diagnosed with cancer in 2005 and suffered a recurrence earlier this year. Her treatments at Duke University appeared to be progressing well until her condition took a sudden turn for [...]

Groundbreaking research and novel ideas have earned 41 scientists $105 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health. The researchers recognized with the 2007 NIH Director’s Pioneer Awards and New Innovator Awards will each receive $1.5 to $2.5 million to explore promising concepts and technologies that may lead to important advances in medicine. The [...]

Getting current information about the medicines you’re taking–or administering–just got a little easier. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has started publishing a new quarterly newsletter full of important information pertaining to drug safety. The Drug Safety Newsletter contains reviews of pharmaceutical products, data on adverse effects reported, updates on recently approved new molecular [...]

Thanks to earlier detection and better treatments, millions of people can now call themselves cancer survivors. But once the strict regimen of blood tests, chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery is over and the patient leaves the cancer center, what do they need to do to keep that precious title? The stark reality is that many survivors [...]

Cancer patients living in rural areas around the world often experience significant challenges when trying to obtain treatment for their disease. Two Australian groups are now working together to try to make things a little easier for patients in their country. The Clinical Oncological Society of Australia and Cancer Council Australia are calling on government [...]