Charlotte Parker, Author at Oral Cancer News

Swedish Match Announces Market Expansion for General Snus

Swedish Match today announced it has expanded into 7 additional US markets with its General brand Swedish snus. General is the number #1 selling snus in the world and the flagship brand for Swedish Match. Now General will be available in convenience stores and tobacco outlets in the metropolitan areas of New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Denver, Nashville and throughout the state of Ohio with its two new flavors in the product assortment, Nordic Mint and Classic Blend. Those flavors were launched in Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia in mid-2011. "These particular markets were chosen because they meet a number of important criteria to maximize the success of the General brand - from local smoking restrictions to the number of adult tobacco consumers and the potential opportunity for the snus category as a whole," according to Clark Darrah, Vice President Next Generation Products. General is authentic Swedish snus crafted from a sophisticated blend of premium tobaccos using a unique GothiaTek® production process ensuring the highest measure of quality. Snus is sold in pouches that are placed inconspicuously under the user's upper lip, and is a form of smokefree and spit free tobacco that is popular among white-collar professionals throughout Scandinavia, where it first originated in the early 19th century. While the category is still young in the United States, snus has enjoyed tremendous growth of over 225% since its first introduction domestically in 2006 and is now about 6% of the smokeless tobacco category. Darrah adds, "Adult tobacco consumers are [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-06T09:44:02-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

The Gardasil Problem: How The U.S. Lost Faith In A Promising Vaccine

Source: Forbes Magazine, written by Matthew Herper Neal Fowler, 50, the chief executive officer of a tiny biotech called Liquidia, was assuming a position common to road-warrior entrepreneurs: leaning his elbows on the seat-back tray in an airplane so he could gaze at the screen of his laptop. That’s when he felt the lump in his neck. Fowler, a pharmacist, figured his lymph node was swollen by a recent cold, but the oncologist seated next to him—his chairman of the board—thought they’d better keep an eye on it. The chairman was right. Over the next week the lymph node got bigger and harder. It was not sore to the touch, as happens during a cold. Fowler went to the doctor, then a specialist who knew exactly what he was seeing: a new form of throat cancer that ear, nose and throat specialists across the U.S. now say dominates their practices. Some 8,000 of these tonsil tumors turn up each year nationwide, courtesy of strain 16 of the human papilloma virus—the same sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. Usually transmitted when men perform oral sex on women, it can also spread through other forms of contact, perhaps even just kissing. His prognosis was good—80% of those with this new tumor survive. His status as a drug industry veteran and chief executive of a biotechnology company didn’t hurt, either. He went from diagnosis to having the primary tumor removed from his tonsil in just a day. His first team of doctors [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-05T21:25:34-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Declines in Smoking and Lung Cancer Mortality in the U.S.: 1975–2000

Source: Oxford Journals Although changing smoking behaviors have had a major impact on lung cancer mortality in the U.S., the numbers of lung cancer deaths averted are only a small fraction of deaths that could have been avoided had all smoking ceased following the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report. Further efforts to control tobacco use are needed to decrease the impact of the disease, according to a study published March 14 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The restrictions on smoking in public places, escalations in cigarette taxes, reduced access to cigarettes, and an increased public awareness on the health issues related to smoking have all helped steadily decrease the number of smokers in the U.S. since the mid 1950’s; however, little measurable information exists in regards to the amount lung cancer deaths have diminished in association with the decline in smoking. In order to determine the effect that reduced tobacco smoking has had on lung cancer mortality in the U.S., Suresh H. Moolgavkar, M.D., Ph.D., of the Program in Biostatistics and Biomathematics at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington and colleagues built independent models based on cohort, case-control, or registry data and adjusted to overall mortality to estimate the number of lung cancer deaths prevented between 1975–2000. The data were distinguished by sex and birth decade (1890–1970), and the prevalence of smoking and lung cancer deaths were considered based on actual tobacco control (ATC), historical changes in smoking rates, no tobacco control (NTC), predicted smoking [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-04T09:10:41-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

The 795 Thousand and Ending a Century of Tobacco

Source: Oxford Journals Tonight, a grandfather will read his grandson a soothing bedtime story. Yesterday, a mother saw her son perform a brilliant violin solo. Tomorrow, a grandfather will see his granddaughter complete the first unassisted triple play in their community's t-ball league history. What do these vignettes have in common? They represent just three of the 795 851 people––the 795 thousand––whose premature deaths from lung cancer were averted in the United States through aggressive tobacco control policies and interventions between 1975 and 2000, as determined by a series of consortium-based sophisticated modeling techniques and reported by Moolgavkar et al. (1) in this issue of the Journal. Sometimes, we become inured to the sheer number of deaths caused by tobacco—for example, a predicted 1 billion tobacco-caused deaths this century, 100 million people killed by tobacco in the 20th century, 6 million deaths per year globally, 443 000 deaths per year in the United States, etc. But, despite these enormous, and even numbing, numbers, we need to remember that every one of these 1 billion, 100 million, 6 million, or 443 000, was a father, mother, brother, sister, son, or daughter who, if tobacco had not intervened, would have enjoyed, and shared, a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life. How did this happen? How did we allow tobacco, over the past 100 years, to kill and cause disease with such abandon? And, more important, how have we begun to turn the tide against the tobacco tsunami and how can we continue to learn from [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-04T08:27:45-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Head And Neck Cancer Chemotherapy Efficacy Boosted By Human Virus

Source: MedicalNewsToday.com Preliminary data from a trial published in Clinical Cancer Research shows that a harmless human virus that occurs naturally could potentially boost the effects of two standard chemotherapy drugs in some cancer patients. Oncolytics Biotech Inc. developed a new drug, RT3D that will be marketed under the trade name of Reolysin. The drug is based on a virus, i.e. reovirus type 3 Dearing that is commonly found in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts of almost every adult without causing any symptoms. RT3D can grow and kill certain types of cancer cells, but it does not grow in normal cells. Earlier trials whereby patients were injected with only the virus displayed limited effectiveness, however, the team discovered that the effects of platin and taxane-based chemotherapy on tumor cells seemed to be magnified by RT3D. Dr Kevin Harrington and his team decided to start a clinical trial in which they examined intravenous RT3D in combination with chemotherapeutics carboplatin and paclitaxel in 31 patients with advanced cancers that had become unresponsive to standard treatments. They conducted an initial Phase I study in patients with a variety of advanced cancers, which demonstrated that the drug combination was safe, with generally mild side effects that were consistent with chemotherapy alone. The best responses were observed in patients with head and neck cancers, including tumors of the nasal cavity, eye, tongue, gums, lip, cheeks, voice box and esophagus. Worldwide, each year about 650,000 people are diagnosed with squamous cell cancer of the head and [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-03T10:50:41-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Strong Oral Carcinogen Identified in Smokeless Tobacco

Source: ScienceDaily.com Although smokeless tobacco products have long been linked with certain cancers, including oral cavity cancers and esophageal cancers, this is the first study to identify a specific chemical present in smokeless tobacco products that induces oral cancer in animals, according to Silvia Balbo, Ph.D., research associate at the Masonic Cancer Center of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn. "(S)-NNN is the only chemical in smokeless tobacco known to cause oral cancer," Balbo said. "This finding provides mechanistic underpinning for the epidemiologic observations that smokeless tobacco products cause oral cancer." Balbo and colleagues administered two forms of NNN called (S)-NNN and (R)-NNN to four groups of 24 rats. The rats were given either (S)-NNN alone, (R)-NNN alone, a combination of both or tap water. The total dose was approximately equivalent to the amount of (S)-NNN to which a smokeless tobacco user would be exposed from chronic use of these products. All rats assigned to (S)-NNN alone or the combination began losing weight after one year of exposure and died by 17 months. Rats assigned to (R)-NNN or tap water were terminated at 20 months. All rats assigned to (S)-NNN had esophageal tumors and demonstrated 100 percent incidence of oral tumors including tumors of the tongue, buccal mucosa, soft palate and pharynx. In contrast, researchers found oral tumors in only five of 24 rats given (R)-NNN and esophageal tumors in three of 24 rats assigned to (R)-NNN. Twelve rats given the combination of (S)-NNN and (R)-NNN had 153 esophageal [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-02T16:22:05-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Tobacco Makers Must List Ingredients, Prove Safety Claims

Source: Businessweek.com Tobacco companies will have to begin reporting the amount of unsafe chemicals in their products and prove their so-called lower-risk alternatives to smoking such as snuff are actually safer, U.S. regulators said. The Food and Drug Administration moved today to implement pieces of a 2009 law giving the agency the authority to regulate tobacco products. The FDA released preliminary guidelines for the industry that it says can educate consumers on exactly what is in cigarettes, such as ammonia and formaldehyde, and police claims that certain tobacco products may be safer than others. The agency will share information on chemical amounts with the public within a year, Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a telephone call with reporters. On the issue of less-risky tobacco items, the draft guidelines set up two categories: one with a higher evidence standard that lets companies claim less harm than cigarettes; and another with a lower standard that permits companies to market products as reducing exposure to unsafe ingredients. “We are forging new territory to ensure that tobacco companies provide accurate information and do not mislead American consumers,” FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in a statement. “We are committed to stopping such practices that may cause people to start or continue using tobacco products that could lead to preventable disease and death.” 93 Chemicals The FDA released a list of 93 chemicals that tobacco makers would have to report the quantity of in their products. The FDA is studying [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-02T09:56:47-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

April: Oral Cancer Awareness Month

Source: Aspen Dental April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month. According to Brian Hill, founder and executive director of the Oral Cancer Foundation, as many as 40,000 people in the United States will be told they have oral or pharyngeal cancer in 2012. Some of them may be sitting in your dental chair today. With one person dying of oral cancer every hour of every day, and more than 50% of those diagnosed not living more than 5 years, this is a reminder to screen every patient yourself, and encourage your dental hygiene staff to do the same. The Statistics About 100 people are diagnosed with oral cancer every day in the United States. Few people are aware that the death rate for oral cancer is higher than for many other types of cancers, which is because oral cancer often is not discovered until it has reached later stages. This is particularly true for human papilloma virus number 16 (HPV16)-related oral cancer, which occurs most frequently in the posterior areas of the mouth—at the base of the tongue, around the tonsils, and in the oropharynx—where it’s harder to spot without a very thorough exam. To further complicate things, HPV16-related cancer does not always present the tell-tale physical characteristics, including lesions, that are easily distinguished from healthy oral tissues. This is not good news, because HPV16 has reached epidemic levels in the United States: of the 37,000 incidences of oral cancer, about 20,000 (up to 60%) can be linked to HPV, according [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-02T09:47:20-07:00April, 2012|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

HPV Vaccine Reduces All Subtypes of HPV Disease

Source: Medscape.com Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination substantially reduced the risk for subsequent HPV disease in women who already had 1 bout of HPV-related disease, according to a study published online today in BMJ. "These are, to our knowledge, the first results in vaccinated women who have undergone treatment for HPV-related disease," write the authors, headed by Elmar Joura, MD, from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria. The data come from a subgroup of women who participated in trials of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine Gardasil (Merck & Co). Women who had HPV infection at the time of vaccination and who developed cervical, vulvar, or vaginal HPV disease had a substantially reduced risk of developing subsequent HPV-related disease after the first definitive treatment. HPV vaccination substantially reduced the risk for subsequent HPV disease — not only that caused by the 4 viral strains in the quadrivalent vaccine (HPV subtypes 6, 11, 16, and 18), but also that caused by other strains of HPV-related disease. This study "reinforces much of what we already know about the protective properties of the quadrivalent vaccine, including cross-protection against nonvaccine HPV types and vaccine benefit despite HPV exposure," writes Jane Kim, assistant professor of health decision science at Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, in an accompanying editorial. Subgroup of Women The study analyzed data collected from 2 large company-sponsored placebo-controlled trials of Gardasil, known as FUTURE I and FUTURE II. Together, they involved 17,622 women 15 to 26 years of age who were randomized to receive [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-02T09:21:38-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Prevalidation of Salivary Biomarkers for Oral Cancer Detection

Source: AACRJournals.org Abstract Background: Oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 60%. Presently, there are no scientifically credible early detection techniques beyond conventional clinical oral examination. The goal of this study is to validate whether the seven mRNAs and three proteins previously reported as biomarkers are capable of discriminating patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) from healthy subjects in independent cohorts and by a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Early Detection Research Network (EDRN)-Biomarker Reference Laboratory (BRL). Methods: Three hundred and ninety-five subjects from five independent cohorts based on case controlled design were investigated by two independent laboratories, University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA) discovery laboratory and NCI-EDRN-BRL. Results: Expression of all seven mRNA and three protein markers was increased in OSCC versus controls in all five cohorts. With respect to individual marker performance across the five cohorts, the increase in interleukin (IL)-8 and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) was statistically significant and they remained top performers across different cohorts in terms of sensitivity and specificity. A previously identified multiple marker model showed an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for prediction of OSCC status ranging from 0.74 to 0.86 across the cohorts. Conclusions: The validation of these biomarkers showed their feasibility in the discrimination of OSCCs from healthy controls. Established assay technologies are robust enough to perform independently. Individual cutoff values for each of these markers and for the combined predictive model need to be further defined in large [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-29T16:06:49-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

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