Guest guest Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Thu, 4 Mar 2004 07:54:11 -0500 HSI - Jenny Thompson Currying Favor Currying Favor Health Sciences Institute e-Alert March 4, 2004 ************************************************************** Dear Reader, Last week the FDA approved a new drug called Avastin; a breakthrough therapy that fights cancer by impeding the blood supply that tumors need to survive. Apparently this remarkable drug will help some patients add months or even years to their lives. But Avastin may have some competition - not market competition from another brand, but competition for effectiveness. Because the most popular prescription drug on the market today (taken by millions of people worldwide) actually stimulates the growth of new blood vessels. Miracle drugs won't work many miracles if they simply undo one another. ----------------------------- A pretty penny ----------------------------- Cancer cells thrive and multiply when they prompt the body to create new blood vessels; a process called angiogenesis. When anti-angiogenesis therapy was first conceived of more than 40 years ago it was dismissed as a farfetched idea. Today it's considered the future of mainstream cancer therapy, and as of last week Avastin is leading the vanguard of this new class of drugs. The FDA approved Avastin specifically to treat cases of colorectal cancer where the cancer has just metastasized and spread to other areas of the body. While additional trials are underway to determine Avastin's effectiveness against other types of cancer, you can be certain that some oncologists will want to prescribe Avastin for a variety of cancer types right away. The question is: Will insurance companies cover off-label use of the drug? That could be a sticking point, because a patient who takes Avastin for a year can expect to pay more than $100 per day. Given that 150,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed each year in the U.S., it's no wonder that analysts are predicting that Avastin's sales may approach $2 billion a year for Genentech, Inc., the maker of the drug. ----------------------------- Clash of the Titans ----------------------------- As with most drugs, Avastin use comes with a formidable list of possible side effects, including high blood pressure, diarrhea, blood clots and a lowered white blood cell count, which can increase the risk of infection. Some patients have also reported internal bleeding and ruptures in the colon. And Avastin has been shown to be effective only when used with a program of traditional chemotherapy, which often subjects the body to alarming stresses. Of course, for most cancer patients, the side effects and the exorbitant cost of Avastin will be tolerable trade offs in exchange for the promise of additional months or years of life. So it would be a particular shame if they were taking another medication that actually worked against their best efforts to survive. In the e-Alert " Missing the Forest " (7/23/03), I told you about the concern that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may promote cancer. Few studies have been conducted in this area, and so far the results are conflicting. One of the primary reasons that further research needs to explore the statin/cancer question is this: Statins have been shown to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels - the very situation that Avastin is designed to reverse. It's impossible to predict which drug would win out in such a confrontation. But with the number of statin prescriptions estimated at well over 100 million worldwide, you can be sure that there will be statin-users who will also end up using Avastin. ----------------------------- Spice it up ----------------------------- Avastin is not a preventive therapy, of course. But there is a natural botanical that may provide protection against cancer in the same way that Avastin fights cancer. In 2002 I received a newsletter from well-known cancer researcher, Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., in which he noted that in Sri Lanka the cancer mortality rate per 100,000 is 26.1 for females and 29.3 for males. The comparison of these numbers to America is unsettling: Cancer mortality per 100,000 in the U.S. is 138.6 for women and an astounding 206.0 for men. He adds that this difference is probably not due to genetic or hereditary factors, for two reasons: 1) the population of Sri Lanka has a wide diversity of ethnic backgrounds, and 2) the cancer rates of emigres from Sri Lanka to North America and Europe rise considerably within just a generation or two. Researchers believe that one nutritional element might be the key to the differences of these cancer statistics. In Sri Lanka a typical diet includes large amounts of turmeric - a spice that contains curcumin, used in curry powders. In his article, Dr. Moss lists the following as the three important benefits of curcumin intake: * Rich in antioxidants * A natural anti-inflammatory * Inhibits growth of new blood vessels in tumors It seems that the people of Sri Lanka may be centuries ahead of the Western world in taking advantage of the cancer- fighting benefits of an anti-angiogenesis agent. ************************************************************** To start receiving your own copy of the HSI e-Alert, visit: http://www.hsibaltimore.com/ealert/freecopy.html Or forward this e-mail to a friend so they can sign-up to receive their own copy of the HSI e-Alert. ************************************************************** ... and another thing Here's a vicious cycle that you might be participating in without even knowing it... Over the past 10 years drug insurance benefits have increased dramatically. In the mid-90s, well under half of all health insurance policies included a break on the purchase of prescription drugs. Today, almost 90 percent of those policies carry a drug benefit. During that same decade the amount of money spent on prescription drugs increased about twice as fast as the rate of inflation. Coincidence? Hardly. With drugs available at fraction of their cost, doctors and patients alike have become more comfortable with filling prescriptions they might not otherwise consider affordable. The result? Insurance companies and employers (who shoulder some of the cost through employee insurance plans) have been paying out more and more over the past few years. But all that is changing. Many drug co-payments that once came in at $10 have jumped to two or three times that amount. And according to insurance industry analysts, this is a trend that's steadily on the rise. Is it any wonder that, more and more, people are turning to alternative healthcare? Or that busloads of seniors are streaming north to buy drugs at Canadian prices? To Your Good Health, Jenny Thompson Health Sciences Institute ************************************************************** Sources: " FDA Approves Avastin, a Targeted Therapy for First-Line Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients " Genentech, Inc. Press Release, 2/26/04, biz. " Pioneering Cancer Drug Avastin Wins FDA's OK " Justin Gillis, The Washington Post, 2/27/04, washingtonpost.com " Value of 'Cholesterol Medicines' in Diabetes Questioned " Eddie Vos, Diabetes in Control, diabetesincontrol.com " Curries and Cancer Rates " Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., Newsletter #58, 10/23/02, WeeklyCancerDecisions.com " Patients are Swallowing More of the Cost of Pills " Cyril T. Zaneski, The Baltimore Sun, 2/24/04, baltimoresun.com Copyright ©1997-2004 by www.hsibaltimore.com, L.L.C. 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