| QLT's move to auction block lifts shares
Shares in QLT Inc. shot up almost 25 per cent Wednesday after the company put itself on the auction block with the announcement it is exploring strategic alternatives that could include the sale of some or all of its assets. The move pushed QLT shares up to $4.80 on the Toronto Stock Exchange by Wednesday's close, bolstering a flagging performance that saw them down at $3.88 on Tuesday, close to the 52-week low of $3.44 and far below highs in February of $11.67. The Vancouver biotechnology pioneer and University of B.C. spinoff, which rocketed to success with its anti-blindness treatment Visudyne, has been struggling as competition for the drug eroded revenues and new initiatives in its pipeline have failed to fill the gap. It has also faced costly court challenges related to Visudyne and to its prostate cancer drug Eligard.
A New Computational Technique Predicts Side-Effects Of A Major Cancer ...
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a novel computer technique to search for the side effects of major pharmaceuticals. The study, reported November 30 in PLoS Computational Biology relates to a class of drugs known as Select Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs), which includes tamoxifen, the most prescribed drug in the treatment of breast cancer.
Unexpected side effects account for one-third of all drug development failures and result in drugs being pulled from the market. Typically drugs are tested using an experimental method which aims to identify off-target proteins that cause side effects. The team in this study, led by Drs. Philip Bourne and Lei Xie, propose a computational modeling approach. If broadly successful the approach could shorten the drug development process and reduce costly recalls.
Towards a comprehensive package of preventive and palliative care
“Rushing to the people with ARVs just because ART is available is not a good idea. Having the holistic and palliative care model in place helps for compliance and helps people to have success in treatment," said Collette Cunningham, the Senior Technical Manager for Palliative Care with Catholic Relief Services in Zambia, speaking at this year's HIV Implementer's meeting in Kigali, Rwanda. A number of studies presented at the meeting underscored the value of supporting the delivery of antiretroviral therapy (ART) within a package of preventive and palliative care services. For instance, the findings of one very large study (with close to 1100 subjects), which was actually designed to evaluate different methods of monitoring responses among people receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) within the context of the pioneering Home-Based AIDS Care (HBAC) project in Uganda, seemed to demonstrate, more than anything else, the benefits of the model of care and the basic package of services offered by the programme.
Woman Slammed With $43,000 Hospital Bill
This wife and mother endured surgery and seven weeks of radiation only to get slammed with a $43,000 dollar bill. "I don't feel it's my fault," she said. "I had proper insurance. My coverage booklet says it includes 100 percent of radiation." .
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