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If you are diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, you will probably receive about six months of treatment with FOLFOX after surgery. Research shows that this treatment regimen helps prevent recurrence for some – but not all – patients with stage III colon cancer.  A clinical trial has been launched to answer two questions about this current standard of care:

1. Will recurrence rates go down if both FOLFOX and celecoxib (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug similar to aspirin) are used for treatment?

2.  Will recurrence rates stay the same and long term side effects decrease if FOLFOX is used for three months?

Read the rest of this entry »

45,000 women were diagnosed with endometrial cancer in the United States in 2010 — and for nearly 900, cancer was due to Lynch syndrome.

Women who have Lynch syndrome have an increased risk of getting endometrial cancer during their lifetime that is as high as 60 percent. Often endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the uterus) is the first Lynch-related cancer diagnosed, earlier than colon or rectal cancer.

Identifying a mutation in these women can prevent future colorectal cancers and discover ovarian, gastric, and other Lynch cancers early when they can be treated successfully.

And not only does this help the woman with endometrial cancer, it helps her family as well if they are tested for the inherited mutation and take steps to reduce their risk of future cancers. Read the rest of this entry »

Although US federal law requires a valid prescription to purchase prescription medicine over the Internet, at least 8,000 rogue sites break that law every day.

And, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have found Internet searching results are being manipulated to send searchers to web sites with links to those illegal pharmacies.

Following results for 218 drug-related searches over a nine month period in 2010 and 2011, the Carnegie Mellon team found one-third of the searches directed to infected sites with links to illicit online pharmacies. Read the rest of this entry »

Leucovorin is available — but at over 3000 percent markup on the gray market.

And there is no guarantee that the drug has been handled safely, is not counterfeit or stolen, or is even leucovorin.

The gray market is taking huge advantage of  struggling health care pharmacists trying meet pressures causes by drug shortages. Read the rest of this entry »