via:packrati.us 14

TwitterFacebook
Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
NYCF

“If you’re so busy, why do you spend so much time on Twitter ?” So asks a member of my household who shall go unnamed here. Well, here’s why. Twitter has become my primary source for news, my point of contact with the important people in my life, and my connection to a rich and growing professional network. I no longer bother to collect the morning paper from the driveway. Instead, I open my Twitter app to find out what went on during my all-too-short night of sleep.

How I’ve Discovered Twitter Can Be a Resource, Not a Waste of Time | Xconomy

http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2010/11/01/how-ive-discovered-twitter-can-be-a-resource-not-a-waste-of-time/
http://www.propublica.org/article/profiles-of-the-top-earners-in-dollar-for-docs Pictured, from left to right, top: Amir Sharafkhaneh, Samuel Dagogo-Jack, Stephen Landy. Bottom: Farhad Zangeneh, David Rizzieri, Eliot Brinton. The list includes a big-name cancer specialist with a thick resume of peer-reviewed research, but also doctors whose qualifications as experts remain a mystery.

Dollars for Docs: Who’s On Pharma’s Top-Paid List? - ProPublica

Best Of All Possible Worlds | Sam Harrelson

Ever since @h0zae killed his Twitter account last week (and before that), I’ve been trying to figure out a way to use this site as my primary place of content output (rather than Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, Posterous etc) and I think I figured out the magic bullet tonight. I’ve re-enabled Canvas by WooThemes and noticed that they have a new iPhone app that allows for tumblelog style posting on a WordPress installed site. Bingo. I’m using it to write this and can’t wait to see how well it handles tweet-like messages or photos. http://www.samharrelson.com/2010/10/31/best-of-all-possible-worlds/
http://www.biotechblog.com/2010/10/31/drug-patent-expirations-for-oct-31-2010/

Drug Patent Expirations for Oct 31 2010 | Biotech Blog

Surfin’ ain’t easy, and right now, you’re lost at sea. But don’t worry; simply pick an option from the list below, and you’ll be back out riding the waves of the Internet in no time.
The Importance of Identifying Molecular Markers in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer To understand the importance of molecular markers in the current and future treatment of lung cancer, one should first understand how lung cancer was classified up until the beginning of this decade. Pathologists would look at a sample of a patient’s lung tumor under a microscope, and then make a judgment of whether the cells represented small cell lung cancer ( SCLC ) or non-small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC ). Although that is an oversimplification, for all practical purposes, that is what oncologists cared about when it came to choosing treatment. If the diagnosis was NSCLC , then oncologists treated the patient with platinum doublet chemotherapy using one of many standard regimens that were felt to be equally effective. http://cancergrace.org/lung/2010/10/31/integration-of-molecular-markers-in-practice-for-nsclc-ref-lib-np/

The Evolving Role of Molecular Markers in the Management of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer | GRACE :: Lung Cancer

@DivaBiotech http://www.nci.edu.eg/cancer_egypt.htm and more at http://www.nci.edu.eg/Statistics.htm

There is a male predominance in cancer incidence with a ratio of 1.4:1. Thus although males constitute only 51.1% of the Egyptian population, yet they contribute 58.3% of the cancer population. This denotes that males in general are at a higher risk than females to develop cancer. Conversely, in developed countries, this male predominance is less striking, with a ratio of only 1.1:1 in USA. The anatomical site distribution of cancer in Egyptian patients is analyzed in two pathology series, a private practice series of more than 13,000 patients (El Bolkainy) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) series of 11,614 patients during the years 1990 -1997 http://www.nci.edu.eg/cancer_egypt.htm
http://www.biorunup.com/articles/20101030?amp;utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mikehavrx+(BioRunUp+%2F+mikehavRx)&utm_content=Twitter

A Method to Profit From FDA Approvals - BioRunUp.com

The Run-Up method involves locating and buying shares of these companies well before their decision date, riding the share price up, and selling BEFORE the FDA announces their decision. But what about after an FDA decision? Specifically a positive one. There is a proven method to consistently profit from FDA approvals, lets take a look.

A new non-invasive DNA test for colorectal cancer from Mayo Clinic and Exact Sciences | Pharma Strategy Blog

http://pharmastrategyblog.com/2010/10/a-new-non-invasive-dna-test-for-colorectal-cancer.html/ The Holy Grail of colorectal cancer prevention – a reliable screening test that users don’t dread and avoid – appears to be getting close. A novel test that detects telltale DNA markers in stool samples correctly identified 85 percent of colon cancers, 64 percent of significant precancerous polyps, and 90 percent of healthy samples, researchers announced Thursday in Philadelphia at a conference held by the American Association for Cancer Research. “There is no other noninvasive screening test for colon cancer that comes close” to that accuracy rate, said David Ahlquist, a Mayo Clinic researcher who invented part of the technology and who is working with the commercial developer, Exact Sciences of Madison, Wis. The DNA test is still experimental, hasn’t been validated under real-life conditions, and will take at least another year of development, he said. via Researchers at Philadelphia conference announce progress toward noninvasive colon cancer test | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/29/2010 .
http://thebigredbiotechblog.typepad.com/the-big-red-biotech-blog/2010/10/sanofis-latest-move-lets-have-a-campath-working-group.html Sanofi used its earnings call as a forum to restate that it has no interest at this time in upping its $69 per share bid for Genzyme. They say they need more information from a due diligence process to justify and bid change. Genzyme still refuses to engage in such talks at a bid price of $69 per share - rumors indicate that it will take at least $75 per share to get them to engage in discussions.

Sanofi's Latest Move - Let's Have a Campath Working Group - The Big Red Biotech Blog

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303443904575578283872728188.html

Most Human Gene Variations Identified, Scientists Report - WSJ.com

An international consortium of scientists says it has identified and catalogued the vast majority of genetic variations among people, a huge step toward the ultimate goal of mapping nearly all such differences in humans' biological blueprints. The project, which will cost $120 million over five years, is expected to speed efforts to study the roles genes play in many diseases, including diabetes and coronary ailments. The 1000 Genomes Project Consortium, as it is known, used the latest technology to sequence the entire genome of 179 people and the protein-coding genes on 697 others. By studying populations of European, West African, and East Asian ancestry, the researchers are able to compare genetic information between individuals and also across different populations. Its findings were published in related papers in Nature and Science on Wednesday.

Things I like: EORTC-NCI-AACR symposium embargo policy, Lancet apology « Embargo Watch

There are lots of examples of embargo policies I dislike here on Embargo Watch. But I’ve been finding things to like lately , so much so that a loyal Embargo Watch reader told me my friends are worried about me. Well, friends, I’ve found two more.
The race to bring a biosimilar version of Sanofi-Aventis’ low molecular weight heparin, Lovenox® (enoxaparin sodium), to market had three players, Momenta Pharmaceuticals in partnership with Sandoz, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and Teva. The winner was Momenta/Sandoz who (as mentioned in a previous post ) recorded $292 million of sales in 69 days post launch. As reported by the Wall Street Journal , Amphastar are now suing the FDA alleging the agency acted arbitrarily in delaying its imports of raw heparin. There certainly seems to be no love lost between Amphastar and the FDA, who earlier this year alleged a conflict of interest between Janet Woodcock, the Director for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and Momenta as a result of the collaboration that identified the contaminant in chinese heparin that killed patients in 2008.

Amphastar sues FDA | Biotech Strategy Blog

AACR Colorectal Cancer Meeting: Biology to Therapy | Pharma Strategy Blog

Later today I’m heading off to Philadelphia to attend a special conference at the American Society of Cancer Research (AACR) meeting on colorectal cancer entitled Biology to Therapy. There’s still time to pack a back and head on down as the main meeting doesn’t start until tomorrow.

Kudos to Lilly for Straight Talk About Value in Medicine | Common Sense

In 10 years, there will only be two kinds of communicators in the health care industry: those that can talk seriously and knowledgeably about the issues of cost and value in our health care system, and those that are out of work. The intense health care battles of the past 2 years are only prologue to what is likely to become an even more incendiary — and more difficult — conversation about how we tame medical costs. It’s not a conversation that can be avoided. Medical treatment — everything from pills to diagnostics to a stay in a cramped hospital bed — is getting more expensive, and there is no single, obvious silver bullet.