Posts Tagged: "breast cancer"

In a research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), evidence emerged that a higher expression of the GIRK1 protein in malignant tissue samples was linked to higher relapse and mortality rates in breast cancer patients who have gone through surgery. The novel use of the GIRK1 protein as a biomarker could have a great impact on breast cancer diagnostics and treatments and further research could yield more discovery on the interdependence of GIRK1 with other important biological pathways critical to cancer management… Unfortunately, discovery of GIRK1 as a biomarker for breast cancer diagnostics would run into 35 U.S.C. § 101, the basic threshold statute for determining patentability of subject matter, under the Supreme Court’s March 2012 ruling in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. In that case, the Court held that processes involving correlations between blood test results and patient health is not patent-eligible subject matter because the process incorporates laws of nature. This would seemingly render any processes involving the application of GIRK1 as a biomarker for breast cancer prognoses unpatentable as well as the expression of GIRK1 occurs naturally.

Earlier this week the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, announced a Blue Ribbon Panel of scientific experts, cancer leaders, and patient advocates that will work to inform the scientific direction and goals for Vice President Joe Biden’s National Cancer Moonshot Initiative. “Thanks to advances in science, we are now in a historically unique position to make profound improvements in the way we treat, detect, and prevent cancer,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. He is correct, and here is why.

February 4 is World Cancer Day… There has been steady progress made in the history of treating cancers of many types since the administration of former U.S President Richard Nixon, according to Dr. Boris Pasche, the Director of the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. “In my opinion, government should embark on bold new initiatives in cancer treatment,” Pasche said. He did note that, while what President Obama says as a statesman doesn’t change the humbling reality that many cancers have so far stumped medical scientists. Nevertheless, increased investments into cancer research have dramatically impacted survival rates. Over the past decade, most cancers show a better outcome than they did ten years ago. “Bolder initiatives with disruptive approaches to cancer are in order if we want to make leaps forward more quickly,” Pasche said.

To hear Ars Technica say it is ”a terrible idea” to devote increased funding in order to eradicate cancer is astonishing on many levels. As part of the reason why he believes increased funding for cancer research is a terrible idea he explains that great strides have been made with respect to treatments and cures, which is true. Of course, it is also true that people are dying and they are dying horrible deaths. With the victories and advances that have been made over the last generation it is no longer fanciful to dream of a day when cancer can become eradicated. So why is it a terrible idea to devote more resources on a so-called cancer moonshot to attempt to once and for all put an end to this scourge? For anyone to call President Obama’s cancer moonshot a terrible idea is nothing short of cruel, and is frankly incredibly stupid.

Medical and healthcare technologies were again prevalent when taking a survey of GE patent applications recently published by the USPTO. Techniques for determining a better course of treatment when dealing with cancer are described within U.S. Patent Application No. 20150198599, filed under the title TLE3 as a Marker for Chemotherapy. The patent application would protect a method of identifying a breast cancer that will not respond favorably to a chemotherapy treatment that includes either taxane or a taxane derivative; the method involves performing immunohistochemical staining for TLE3 polypeptide on a cancer sample. This technology enables a more effective process of selecting chemotherapies to administer to a patient, especially when the therapy in question is paclitaxel, which carries adverse side effects.

Research and development of cancer treatments seemed to be a particularly strong focus area for Morehouse School of Medicine. A pharmaceutical composition designed to modulate receptors within a cancer patient which play an important role in the progression of cancers is disclosed and protected by U.S. Patent No. 8796422, which is titled Chemokine-Immunoglobulin Fusion Polypeptides, Compositions, Method of Making and Use Thereof.

Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK), which is headquartered in Whitehouse Station, NJ, and also does business under the name Merck Sharp & Dohme MSD, is one of the world’s largest and most renowned pharmaceutical development companies. The company just made a major acquisition in the middle of December, investing $8.4 billion in the purchase of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, a deal which…