Oral Cancer News

This Is Why Your Drug Prescriptions Cost So Damn Much

Source: www.motherjones.com Author: Stuart Silverstein When the Republican-controlled Congress approved a landmark program in 2003 to help seniors buy prescription drugs, it slapped on an unusual restriction: The federal government was barred from negotiating cheaper prices for those medicines. Instead, the job of holding down costs was outsourced to the insurance companies delivering the subsidized new coverage, known as Medicare Part D. The ban on government price bargaining, justified by supporters on free-market grounds, has been derided by critics as a giant gift to the drug industry. Democratic lawmakers began introducing bills to free the government to use its vast purchasing power to negotiate better deals even before former President George W. Bush signed the Part D law, known as the Medicare Modernization Act. All those measures over the last 13 years have failed, almost always without ever even getting a hearing, much less being brought up for a vote. That's happened even though surveys have shown broad public support for the idea. For example, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll found last year that 93 percent of Democrats and 74 percent of Republicans favor letting the government negotiate Part D prescription drug prices. "I mean, how in the world can one explain that the government actually passed a law saying that you can't negotiate prices?" It seems an anomaly in a democracy that an idea that is immensely popular—and calculated to save money for seniors, people with disabilities, and taxpayers—gets no traction. But critics say it's no mystery, given the [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-10-21T11:17:17-07:00October, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Pre-Teens need just two doses of HPV vaccine, not three: Feds

Source: www.nbcnews.com/health Author: Maggie Fox There's good news for kids who haven't received all their HPV vaccines yet - they only need two doses of the vaccine instead of three, federal government advisers said Wednesday. The new recommendations should make it easier to get more children vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes a range of cancers including cervical cancer, throat cancer and mouth cancer, officials said. "It's not often you get a recommendation simplifying vaccine schedules," said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC immediately accepted the recommendations from its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. "Safe, effective, and long-lasting protection against HPV cancers with two visits instead of three means more Americans will be protected from cancer," said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. "This recommendation will make it simpler for parents to get their children protected in time." The CDC says every pre-teen boy and girl should get the vaccine, but fewer than a third have received all three doses. Messonnier says the three-dose schedule was based on the earliest studies of the vaccine. New studies show that two doses protect people for decades from the cancer-causing virus. And studies also suggest that spacing the two doses a year apart is at least as effective, if not more effective than giving them more closely together - something that could also make it easier to get kids fully vaccinated. Older teens who have [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-10-20T11:10:26-07:00October, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Mouth, throat cancers caused by HPV on the rise, especially among Canadian men

Source: www.ctvnews.ca Author: Sonja Puzic, CTVNews.ca Staff Mouth and throat cancers caused by the human papilloma virus have been rising steadily over the past two decades, with a “dramatic” increase among Canadian men, according to a new report from the Canadian Cancer Society. The special report on HPV-associated cancers, released Wednesday as part of the 2016 Canadian Cancer Statistics breakdown, says the rate of mouth and throat cancers in men is poised to surpass the rate of cervical cancer diagnoses in women. Researchers and doctors have known for decades that certain strains of HPV – the most commonly sexually transmitted disease in Canada and the world -- cause cervical cancer. But the latest Canadian cancer statistics show that only 35 per cent of HPV cancers are cervical, and that about 33 per cent of HPV cancers occur in males. The latest data show that about one-third of all HPV cancers in Canada are found in the mouth and throat. Between 1992 and 2012, the incidence of HPV-related mouth and throat cancers increased 56 per cent in males and 17 per cent in females. In 1992, the age-standardized incidence rate (or ASIR) of those cancers was 4.1 per 100,000 Canadian males. In 2012, it was 6.4 per 100,000 males. In females, the rate was 1.2 in 1992 and 1.4 in 2012. ‘I thought I was done’ Three years ago, Dan Antoniuk noticed a lump on his neck and initially thought that it was just a swollen gland. But when the Edmonton [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-10-19T09:25:21-07:00October, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Oral cancer in the crosshairs at San Antonio Dental School

Source: tpr.org Author: Wendy Rigby San Antonio researchers are working on a new therapy for a stealthy killer: oral cancer. Visits to the dentist are your number one protection against the disease. In a lab at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, dental researcher Cara Gonzales, DDS, Ph.D., shared promising news on a new approach to healing. "It was very exciting," Gonzales said. "These patients have not had any new therapeutic options in 40 years." The discovery of a new gene that’s turned on in oral cancers gave Gonzales and her colleagues a new target at which to aim. It’s a gene that’s also found in lung cancers. So-called nude mice are used in the oral cancer experiments. Wendy Rigby / Texas Public Radio Gonzales works in a sprawling space filled with lab equipment and cell lines used in many molecular biology projects. One of her research assistants brought in a cage of lab animals with some strange lumps on their backs. "These are called nude mice because they don’t have a complete immune system," Gonzales explained. These mice are at the center of a successful experiment. First, scientists used human oral cancer cells to grow large tumors on the animals. They tried one oral cancer drug already on the market. Not much action. Then, they tried a lung cancer drug, also already approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Not that effective on its own. Finally, they used a combination of two drugs. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-10-14T11:59:11-07:00October, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Merck KGaA, Pfizer and Transgene team up on cancer vaccine

Source: www.biopharmadive.com Author: Joe Cantlupe Dive Brief: Transgene announced Tuesday it is teaming up with Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer to evaluate the possibilities of the combination of its human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive head and neck cancer vaccine TG40001 with big pharma’s avalumab in a Phase 1/2 study. The incidence of HPV-related head and neck cancers has increased significantly, with one variation, HPV-16 accounting for 90% of all HPV-related head and neck cancers. HPV-16 is a subset of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a group of cancers that can affect the mouth and throat. Global spending on head and neck cancer indications amounted to $1 billion in 2010, according to the companies’ recent estimates. Current treatments for the disease include surgical resection with radiotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy; the companies say they are exploring better options for advanced and metastatic HPV and HNSCC. Dive Insight: The current deal between the big pharma partners and Transgene highlights the industry's efforts to create combination therapies to treat cancer. Virtually every company in the space has embraced the idea that using multiple modes of attack could be the only way to eventually find cures for the many forms of cancer; companies have been teaming up in hopes of finding that crucial pairing. In previous clinical trials, TG4001 has demonstrated promising activity in terms of HPV viral clearance and was well tolerated, according to Transgene. TG4001 is one of the few drugs targeting HPV-associated cancers that can be combined with an immune checkpoint [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-10-13T07:41:07-07:00October, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Recognizing oral carcinoma

Source: nurse-practitioners-and-physician-assistants.advanceweb.com Author: Amber Crossley, MSN, ARNP, FNP-BC Oral carcinoma is identified as one of the top ten cancers worldwide, accounting for nearly 2% to 5% of all cancer cases.1, 2 In 2014, there were an estimated 42,440 new cases of oral and pharyngeal carcinoma. Males have a greater risk of developing the disease compared to females.2 Black males in particular are amongst the highest at-risk group for developing oral carcinoma.2 Oral carcinoma typically develops after the age of 50, with the majority of cases occurring between the ages of 60 and 70.2 When initially diagnosed with oral carcinoma, more than 50% of people will have metastases.3 The most common causes of oral carcinoma are related to tobacco use and alcohol consumption.4 In fact, 75% of all cases of oral carcinoma may be caused by the combination of tobacco and alcohol use.4 However, it has also been extrapolated that chronic trauma to the oral mucosa, such as in the case of ill-fitting dentures or the consumption of high-temperature foods, is a leading modifiable risk factor for oral carcinoma.1,5 Dietary deficiencies of vitamins A, C, E, selenium, and folates may also contribute to the development of malignant cancerous lesions in the oral cavity.6 While cases of oral carcinoma have decreased over the last few years in the United States, oropharyngeal cancer is increasing in incidence.4 The rise in cases of oropharyngeal cancer may be related to viral and infectious diseases; however, the mechanisms are largely unclear. Some of these infections and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-10-10T09:18:47-07:00October, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Immunotherapy drug a ‘gamechanger’ for head and neck cancer

Source: www.theguardian.com Author: staff An immunotherapy drug hailed as a potential gamechanger in the treatment of cancer could soon offer new hope to patients with currently untreatable forms of the disease. Nivolumab outperformed chemotherapy significantly in keeping relapsed head and neck cancer patients alive. Photograph: Alamy Nivolumab was found to extend the lives of relapsed patients diagnosed with head and neck cancers who had run out of therapy options. After a year of treatment, 36% of trial patients treated with the drug were still alive compared with 17% of those given standard chemotherapy. Trial participants treated with nivolumab typically survived for 7.5 months, and some for longer. Middle-range survival for patients on chemotherapy was 5.1 months. The phase-three study, the last stage in the testing process before a new treatment is licensed, provided the first evidence of a drug improving survival in this group of patients. Prof Kevin Harrington, from the Institute of Cancer Research, London, who led the British arm of the international trial, said: “Nivolumab could be a real gamechanger for patients with advanced head and neck cancer. This trial found that it can greatly extend life among a group of patients who have no existing treatment options, without worsening quality of life. “Once it has relapsed or spread, head and neck cancer is extremely difficult to treat. So it’s great news that these results indicate we now have a new treatment that can significantly extend life, and I’m keen to see it enter the clinic [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-10-09T14:08:46-07:00October, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Particular HPV strain linked to improved prognosis for throat cancer

Source: medicalxpress.com Author: provided by University of North Carolina Health Care When it comes to cancer-causing viruses like human papillomavirus, or HPV, researchers are continuing to find that infection with one strain may be better than another. In an analysis of survival data for patients with a particular type of head and neck cancer, researchers from the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center confirmed findings that a particular strain of HPV, a virus linked to a number of cancers, resulted in better overall survival for patients with oropharyngeal cancer than patients with other strains of the virus in their tumors. They believe their findings, reported in the journal Oral Oncology, are particularly important as physicians move to lessen treatment intensity for patients with HPV-linked oropharyngeal cancer in clinical trials to try to spare them negative side effects of radiation or drugs. They also found that a test used widely to determine patients' HPV status may not be sensitive enough to select patients for de-intensification. "What we demonstrate in this study is that the type of HPV can help us to better determine a patient's prognosis," said the study's senior author Jose P. Zevallos, MD, MPH, an associate member of UNC Lineberger and an associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine. "We think this is important because HPV positive patients do so well generally, and there's been a huge move nationally to take treatment down a couple notches to limit morbidity and side effects. The risk is that [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-09-29T08:04:03-07:00September, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Men with throat cancer will soon outnumber women with cervical cancer In The US

Source: www.houstonpublicmedia.org Author: Carrie Feibel The national increase in cases of oropharyngeal cancer related to the human papilloma virus is troubling, because there is no screening test to catch it early, like the Pap test for cervical cancer. The oropharynx is the area of the throat behind the mouth, and includes the tonsils and the base of the tongue. Oropharyngeal cancer is increasing in both men and women, but for reasons that aren’t well understood, male patients are outnumbering female patients by five to one, according to Dr. Erich Sturgis, a head and neck surgeon at MD Anderson Cancer Center. “It’s usually a man, and he notices it when he’s shaving. He notices a lump there,” Sturgis said. “That lump is actually the spread of the cancer from the tonsil or the base of the tongue to a lymph node. That means it’s already stage three at least.” In the U.S., the number of oropharyngeal cancers caused by HPV are predicted to exceed the number of cervical cancers by 2020, Stugis said. “With cervical cancer, we’ve seen declining numbers well before we had vaccination, and that’s due to the Pap smear being introduced back in the late 50s,” he said. “But we don’t have a screening mechanism for pharynx cancer.” Research on an effective screening test for early-stage pharynx cancer is still underway. The reasons for the disproportionate effect on men are unknown. One theory is that people are engaging in more oral sex, but that doesn’t explain why men [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-09-28T07:20:10-07:00September, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer-Preventing Vaccines Given To Less Than Half Of US Kids

Source: www.houstonpublicmedia.org Author: Carrie Feibel U.S. regulators approved a vaccine to protect against the human papilloma virus (HPV) in 2006, but cancer experts say misconceptions and stigma continue to hamper acceptance by both doctors and parents. Eighty percent of Americans are exposed to the human papilloma virus in their lifetimes. Some strains of HPV can cause genital warts, but most people experience no symptoms and clear the virus from their systems within a year or two. But for an unlucky minority, the virus causes damage that, years later, leads to cervical cancer, throat cancer, and other types. Researchers at MD Anderson are frustrated that ten years after the first vaccine arrived on the market, only 42 percent of U.S. girls, and 28 percent of boys, are getting the three-shot series. The series can be given to girls and boys between the ages of 9 and 26, but the immune response is strongest at younger ages, before sexual activity begins. n 2007, then-Texas governor Rick Perry proposed making the HPV vaccine mandatory for all preteen girls. At the time, the vaccine was only approved and marketed for girls. Dr. Lois Ramondetta, a cervical cancer specialist at MD Anderson, remembers the outcry. “A lot of people felt that was the right idea, but the wrong way to go about it. Nobody really likes being told what to do, especially in Texas,” Ramondetta said. “I think there was a lot of backlash.” Eventually, the legislature rejected Perry’s plan, even though it included an opt-out [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-09-27T11:19:43-07:00September, 2016|Oral Cancer News|