ZIOPHARM Presents Positive Data From Phase I Study Of Palifosfamide In Combination With Doxorubicin At ASCO

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZIOP) announced that it presented final data from a Phase I study of palifosfamide (ZymafosTM) in combination with doxorubicin at the 45th Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting held in Orlando, FL, May 29th to June 2nd.

The Phase I trial of palifosfamide in combination with doxorubicin was fully enrolled with 13 patients, predominantly with soft tissue sarcoma and non-small cell lung cancer, and who had received a median of two prior therapies. Of 12 evaluable patients, there were 3 partial responses. Of the 8 patients with soft tissue sarcoma (STS) 75 percent had stable disease or better, with 2 having partial responses and 4 having prolonged stable disease. The median progression free survival (PFS) was 19 weeks.

IOPHARM Presents Positive Indibulin Translational And Dose Scheduling Data At ASCO

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZIOP) announced today that it presented positive data from both a Phase Ib clinical trial and preclinical dosing studies of orally administered indibulin (ZybulinTM or ZIO-301), the Company’s novel tubulin binding agent, at the 45th Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting held in Orlando, FL, May 29th to June 2nd.

In the Phase Ib study, oral indibulin was administered with oral capecitabine (XelodaTM) in patients with advanced solid tumors. Trial results presented are for 7 patients who had received a median of three prior therapies. All 7 patients were evaluable for safety, and 4 for efficacy. Three patients had stable disease for a minimum of 6 cycles with 1 patient ongoing in their 11th cycle of treatment. There were no dose limiting toxicities and therefore no maximum tolerated dose was established. Adverse events included hand-and-foot syndrome (capecitabine), fatigue, vomiting, loss of appetite and headaches, and were easily managed. There was no reported neurotoxicity, consistent with other Phase I and preclinical data with indibulin. There was early activity seen in breast, colon, bladder and prostate cancers with this sub-optimal dose level and schedule, which is encouraging with regard to further study using mathematically-optimized dose scheduling, the subject of the preclinical data also presented.

U.S. Bill Would Establish Survey To Collect Health Data From Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders

Madeleine Bordallo, the U.S. delegate from Guam, has introduced legislation that would fund a survey to collect health data from Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, the Pacific Daily News reports. The legislation would amend the Public Health Service Act to fund the survey through HHS.

Bordallo said, “Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities are eager to move forward with their efforts to improve public health. This scientific survey would establish baseline health information to inform health policy and interventions so that individual and community health can be properly tracked and evaluated.”

U.S. Bill Would Establish Survey To Collect Health Data From Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders

Madeleine Bordallo, the U.S. delegate from Guam, has introduced legislation that would fund a survey to collect health data from Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, the Pacific Daily News reports. The legislation would amend the Public Health Service Act to fund the survey through HHS.

Bordallo said, “Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities are eager to move forward with their efforts to improve public health. This scientific survey would establish baseline health information to inform health policy and interventions so that individual and community health can be properly tracked and evaluated.”

Alzheimer’s Society Comment On New Data Observing The Cost Effectiveness Of Aricept (donepezil)

New research presented at the annual meeting of ISPOR suggests that prescribing Aricept on diagnosis of either mild or moderate Alzheimer’s disease would save the NHS money.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) currently recommends that Aricept is not prescribed to people in the mild stages of Alzheimer’s disease. This study, sponsored by Eisai, takes into account factors not considered by NICE, including cost of caregiver time. It suggests that savings to the NHS and society would be £7,100 per patient over a ten-year period if people with dementia are prescribed Aricept earlier.

New Data Demonstrate Advanced Features Of Hydrofiber(R) Technology

Researchers with ConvaTec Wound Therapeutics presented a series of in vitro studies demonstrating the advanced features and fluid handling capacity of the company’s proprietary dressings containing Hydrofiber Technology this week at the 19th Conference of the European Wound Management Association.

Developed by ConvaTec, a world-leading provider of innovative medical technologies for community and hospital care, dressings containing Hydrofiber Technology, including AQUACEL and Versiva XC™ dressing, gel on contact with wound fluid to provide a moist wound healing environment, manage exudate, protect the periwound skin5 and reduce pain in situ and on removal.6,7,8 With the inclusion of ionic silver, AQUACEL Ag dressing provides on demand antimicrobial activity, responding to increased bacteria with increased silver ion availability.9,10*

New Data From Endeavor-II Challenges Conventional Wisdom On Drug-Eluting Stents

New clinical data presented at a major international meeting of interventional cardiologists challenged the conventionalwisdom on the long-term efficacy of drug-eluting stents, medical devices used in the treatment of coronary artery disease.

In ENDEAVOR-II (n=1,197), a randomized controlled trial comparing Medtronic’s (NYSE: MDT) Endeavor drug‐eluting stent (DES) to its Driver bare‐metal stent (BMS), patients treated with the Endeavor DES required fewer repeat procedures at five years post‐implant than many observers and analysts would have expected based on the results of other trials with comparable designs.

Pixantrone Phase 3 Data To Be Presented At The 2009 American Society Of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) (Nasdaq and MTA: CTIC) announced that data from CTI’s pivotal phase III EXTEND (PIX301) trial of pixantrone in patients with advanced, relapsed aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) will be presented at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, which will be held from May 29 to June 2, 2009 in Orlando, Florida.

Ruth Pettengell, M.D. of St. George’s Hospital, University of London, an investigator on the study, is scheduled to present the data on Monday, June 1, 2009 during the Lymphoma and Plasma Cell Disorders session that will be held from 2:00 PM-6:00 PM Eastern Time. The presentation, abstract #8523, is titled, “Randomized Phase III trial of pixantrone compared with other chemotherapeutic agents for third-line single-agent treatment of relapsed aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”

Primer Examines Health Care Delivery Payment Incentives; Statehealthfacts.org Updates Data

“Health Quality, Delivery Improvements Will Lower Spiraling Costs,” U.S. Federation of State Public Interest Research Groups: The brief argues that skewed payment incentives, which increase costs and diminish the quality of care, are the core problem in the U.S. health care delivery system. The document also finds more than $299 billion in health care spending that could be saved each year if the coordinated approach used by Utah’s Intermountain Health System were implemented nationwide. The primer also includes a detailed list of policy recommendations for health care delivery problems (U.S. PIRG release, 4/16).

Okla. Senate Approves Bill Requiring Reporting Of Detailed Data On Women Seeking Abortions

The Oklahoma Senate on Wednesday passed the Statistical Reporting on Abortion Act (H.B. 1595) that would require doctors performing abortions to provide the Oklahoma State Department of Health with detailed information about women seeking the procedure, including their age, race, marital status, number of previous pregnancies and reasons for seeking an abortion, the AP/Oklahoman reports. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Todd Lamb (R), passed by a vote of 34-10, with with all “no” votes cast by Democrats. It would require abortion providers to gather information from “37 sections of questions,” which the health department would use to produce an annual report. The bill also would prohibit abortions based on the sex of the fetus.