We're moving

We are looking forward to moving our office just 1 mile down Northfield to the Atkin's Building at 1500 Pleasant Valley Way in West Orange. The office will be ready for occupancy in early 2012!!

IMMUNOTHERAPY for prostate cancer

A number of articles in the NYT and WSJ have addressed the treatment of prostate cancer using immunotherapy. Provenge (Dendreon Corp) has recently received the most publicity particularly in reference to Medicare's decision to cover this costly drug.


How does immunotherapy work?

Certain immune cells are collected from a patient's blood in a procedure known as leukapheresis. The immune cells are processed to combine with a protein found in most prostate cancers and another compound that stimulates the immune system to make Provenge. When given intravenously, the drug is believed to activate other immune cells to see the cancer as a threat and attack it.

Several companies are exploring this modality for the treatment of other solid tumors. More to come.

AVODART warning

As with Proscar (finasteride), new warnings have been released regarding the incidence of high grade prostate cancers in men taking Avodart and the combination drug Jalyn (avodart +flomax). The incidence is 1% with avodart versus placebo of 0.5%. This data was presented in the 4 year REDUCE (reduction by dutasteride of prostate cancer events study). The data for for proscar was slightly higher at 1.8% versus placebo of 1.1%).

Therefore, close monitoring of PSA is important in this group of patients taking Avodart as well as Proscar in those patients who require these medications for the treatment of symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

DIET, HEALTH AND FITNESS

I was saddened to hear of the death of Jack LaLanne at the age of 96. I vividly remember his black and white television shows during my childhood. Although, he was fanatical and regimental in his daily exercise routines and obviously had a good genetic make-up, there is a lot to learn from his habits. In his obituary in the New York Times 1/24/2011, he outlined his eating habits..."he ate two meals a day and shunned snacks. Breakfast, following his morning workout, usually included several hard-boiled egg whites, a cup of broth, oatmeal with soy milk and seasonal fruit. For dinner he took his wife, Elaine, to restaurants that knew what he wanted: a salad with raw vegetables and egg whites along with fish-often salmon-and a mixture of red and white wine. He sometimes allowed himself a roast turkey sandwich, but never a cup of coffee." He was definitely a forward thinker way ahead of his time.
He would famously like to say. "I can't die, it would ruin my image."
He was a true icon.