W5 Report on the high cost of cancer drugs (Canada)

Canada - The CTV investigative journalism program W5 will have a feature on the high cost of cancer drugs in Canada. The show airs tonight, Saturday, March 27th (check your listings) and there will be mention of Revlimid and multiple myeloma. I will post a link to the video once if appears on their website. For now, you can access the W5 website by clicking here.

UPDATE:
All 4 parts of Pills, Patients and Profits can be seen here. Two MM patients needing access to thalidomide and Revlimid are featured. 

More on nanoparticles

See that photo? It may represent the future of cancer treatment. What you see are nanoparticles both within and entering a cancerous tumour cell carrying a dangerous payload. The particles deliver RNA interfering material that essentially attacks genetic material in malignant cells and kills them. This treatment is delivered through the bloodstream and the nanoparticles seek out the cancerous cells. According to to an article from Gizmodo:

"The 70-nanometer attack bots—made with two polymers and a protein that attaches to the cancerous cell's surface—carry a piece of RNA called small-interfering RNA (siRNA), which deactivates the production of a protein, starving the malign cell to death. Once it has delivered its lethal blow, the nanoparticle breaks down into tiny pieces that get eliminated by the body in the urine. The most amazing thing is that you can send as many of these soldiers as you want, and they will keep attaching to the bad guys, killing them left, right, and center, and stopping tumors. According to Davis, "the more [they] put in, the more ends up where they are supposed to be, in tumour cells." While they will have to finish the trials to make sure that there are no side-effects whatsoever, the team is very happy with the successful results and it's excited about what's coming."

This therapy has the potential to rid the body of cancer without the devastating side effects of chemo and other treatments. You can read more about the subject here.


Ah yes, the pop culture moment. I've been rediscovering Joy Division, and came across a video of a band called Steel Harmony doing a cover of their song, Transmission. The cool part? The cover band is a Caribbean steel drum band. Enjoy.

Personalized Cancer Vaccines

This story is very encouraging.  CNN.com ran a story about brain cancer vaccines. Unlike traditional vaccines, these are not given to people prior to developing a disease, but after patients have developed brain cancer. In a nutshell, doctors create a personalized vaccine based on the DNA fingerprint of an individual's cells. This allows the immune system to differentiate between healthy and "intruder" cells, and causes them to attack. Much like a smart bomb, the body can deliver a very precise assault on the cancer cells.  Although this therapy is only effective in 40% of cancer patients whose cancer cells produce a certain protein, it is very promising therapy. The article does state these trials are ongoing and the long-term effectiveness of the vaccine is still being studied. Similar vaccines are also being studied for use with prostate cancer patients. For more information, check the following link for the article and video.

Since myeloma cells also produce a specific protein, perhaps this type of therapy could also be developed for MM patients, not to mention for just about every cancer. This is a very promising and encouraging therapy. Hell, I might just make it to my retirement after all.

Hairpiece

One of those Internet treasures. Check out the hair and the lip synching.