February 7 2011, BUFFALO, NY — The nation’s first FDA-approved cancer treatment vaccine, Provenge (sipuleucel-T), is being offered for the first time in Western New York at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI). The vaccine is designed for men with advanced prostate cancer who have limited treatment options and who meet eligibility requirements.

Robot assisted prostate surgery, known medically as the da Vinci prostatectomy, has had a profound influence over treatment during the past decade. Robotic surgical technology was first developed by the military for use in the battlefield. However during the past decade, this technology has been rapidly applied to the general medical setting, notably in the field of prostate cancer.

Dendreon is pricing Provenge high and for the first year its availability will be low, according to a report today in Xconomy, a Seattle business website. Provenge, the first immunotherapy to win FDA approval for treatment of men with prostate cancer, will cost $93,000 per patient. Only 2,000 patients will be treated with Provenge in the first year.

SEATTLE, April 29, 2010 –Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq: DNDN) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved PROVENGE(®) (sipuleucel-T), an autologous cellular immunotherapy for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic, castrate-resistant (hormone-refractory) prostate cancer (CRPC). Provenge is designed to induce an immune response against Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (PAP), an antigen expressed in most prostate cancers, and is the first in a new therapeutic class known as autologous cellular immunotherapies.

The U.S. government’s cancer research network is in severe disarray according to a report by the Institute of Medicine. Waste and inefficiency cause 40% of all late-stage government funded cancer trials to be abandoned before completion, the report found. Shannon Pettypiece at Bloomberg.com and Liz Jones at FierceBiotech say the report paints a doomladen picture.

“The system used to conduct cancer clinical trials in the U.S. is ‘approaching a state of crisis,’ with waste and inefficiency creating difficulties for those wanting to undertake these studies,” Jones writes.

In light of favorable results from the Phase 1-2 trial of MDV 3100 for advanced prostate cancer, a Phase 3 trial is enrolling at sites in the US, Canada, South America, UK, Europe, Australia, and South Africa. Results from the earlier trial are published online by the UK medical journal The Lancet.

Regina Holliday prepares her supplies for a day of painting. Photo by Maggie Starbard, NPR.

Regina Holliday has painted a mural on the side of a gas station in Washington DC to tell the story of a day in her husband Fred’s struggle with broken healthcare. At ge 39, Fred was diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer.

Seattle Prostate Institute, an affiliate of Swedish Cancer Institute, is offering free prostate cancer screening tests on Fri., Nov. 20 between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. at their offices in the 1101 Madison Medical Tower, Suite 1101, on the Swedish/First Hill Campus.

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) will host news briefings with accompanying live webcasts on the top cancer research papers from its 51st Annual Meeting to be held this coming week in Chicago. Prostate cancer features in three of briefings. Here are the headlines:

The Obama administration has changed Federal policies on regulation of medical marijuana use under state law. During his presidential race last year, Barack Obama said that he intended to halt raids of medical marijuana facilities operating legally under state laws. Today, new Justice Department guidelines brought this change about.

The new guidelines order federal drug agents to stop arresting or charging patients, caregivers or suppliers who are dispensing, buying or using marijuana for medical purposes allowed by state law.