Researchers at the University of Louisville have developed a lung-cancer vaccine using embryonic stem cells that has proven to be effective in mice. Though a human vaccine is still far in the future, scientists are optimistic that their recent research may eventually lead to a breakthrough in cancer prevention.

Dr. John Eaton announced the findings this week at a European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) conference in Prague, Czech Republic. According to Eaton, the vaccine is 80 to 100 percent effective in preventing cancer growth in mice after they had been given transplanted tumors and 60 to 90 percent effective in mice that were later exposed to lung-cancer-causing carcinogens.
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A controversial May study of the dangers of certain rheumatoid-arthritis treatments has returned to the news in full force this week, thanks to two letters published in the November 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Most notably, one of the study’s authors, Dr. Eric Matteson of the Mayo Clinic, wrote a letter of apology to the JAMA, admitting that he neglected to inform the journal of the study’s connections to the pharmaceutical industry. In the second letter, however, Matteson and colleagues claimed that the original study overstated the risks associated with these drugs, known as TNF blockers.

In the apology letter, Matteson and colleague Tim Bongartz wrote: “We acknowledge that the disclosure statement initially prepared at the time of the original submission of our article to JAMA in May 2005 was incomplete and required correction.”
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Two officers of the Isleta Pueblo tribal police are suing Burger King Corp., claiming they were served marijuana-topped burgers in a Los Lunas, N.M., store. According to the civil suit filed on Friday in Bernalillo County, the plaintiffs are seeking punitive and compensatory damages for personal injury, negligence, battery, and violation of fair practices.

Officers Mark Landavazo and Henry Gabaldon were allegedly served the laced meals on October 8. The policemen were in uniform at the time and drove their marked patrol car to the drive-through window. The men apparently ate half of their burgers before realizing that something was amiss. A field test confirmed the presence of marijuana, after which the officers went to the hospital for a medical exam.
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Ortho-McNeil, makers of the controversial and potentially dangerous Ortho Evra birth-control patch, continues to deal with significant legal challenges. New York firm Parker & Waichman, LLP, announced it had filed suit in the Superior Court of New Jersey on behalf of a 26-year-old woman who had suffered pulmonary emboli and will be forced to remain on a regimen of anticoagulent medication. The new suit marks the 100th filed by the firm in cases related to the patch.

Last week, 43 women brought a suit against Ortho-McNeil, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, and San Francisco-based distributor McKesson Corp., alleging that use of the Ortho Evra patch has led to blood clots and other serious health problems. In a separate complaint, plaintiffs want to hold the company responsible for the death of an otherwise healthy 25-year-old woman, Kelly Bracken of Maryland, who suffered fatal blood clots in her lungs and legs after using Ortho Evra. Roughly 400 women have now filed suit against the pharmaceutical company in complaints related to the safety of the patch.
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In a press release this morning, Rochester, New York-based Bausch & Lomb calls itself “the eye health Company, dedicated to perfecting vision and enhancing life for consumers around the world.” However, regulators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration may not agree. Last week, the FDA sent a rather incriminating warning letter to the company, chastising them for neglecting to report nearly three dozen cases of severe fungal eye infections connected to its ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution.

The letter also cited numerous violations stemming from a two-month investigation of Bausch’s Greenville, South Carolina, facility this past spring. Referring to Bausch’s contact lens solutions, the FDA said that “the methods used in, or the facilities or controls used for, their manufacture, packing, storage, or installation are not in conformity with the Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) requirements.”
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Hoping to avoid further litigation, GlaxoSmithKline, the world’s second-biggest pharmaceutical company, agreed to a $63.8 million settlement in a class-action suit brought against it by users of Paxil and Paxil CR. In the lawsuit, plaintiffs claimed that Glaxo promoted and marketed the antidepressant for the treatment of children and adolescents while failing to release relevant information about the drug’s safety and value.

Not surprisingly, the company refused to accept any liability and continues to deny all of the allegations in the suit. In the suit, plaintiffs claimed that Glaxo withheld information from four separate studies that challenged the drug’s effectiveness on children and found an upsurge in suicidal thoughts and behavior in children who’d taken it. The suit also claimed that patients overpaid for the drug.
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According to an Associated Press report, two federal agencies are investigating whether the Bush administration actively worked to silence scientists and curtail research on the subject of global warming. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., told the AP that inspectors for the Commerce Department and NASA are conducting “coordinated, sweeping investigations of the Bush administration’s censorship and suppression” of global warming research.

According to Lautenberg, the investigations “will uncover internal documents and agency correspondence that may expose widespread misconduct.” He went on to tell the AP, “Taxpayers do not fund scientific research so the Bush White House can alter it.” Apparently, the investigations were spurred by 14 Democratic senators who questioned whether Bush political cronies were heading off climate change research at both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
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A new study in the British Medical Journal has questioned the overall value of annual flu-shot programs and suggested that public flu-shot policies ought to be reevaluated. Dr. Tom Jefferson, of the Cochrane Vaccines Field in Rome, analyzed a raft of existing datasets about the issue and concluded that there is a “large gap between policy and what the data tell us.”

“Each year enormous effort goes into producing influenza vaccines for that specific year and delivering them to appropriate sections of the population,” Jefferson notes, asking, “Is this effort justified?”
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Vital new research has found a connection between sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and defects in the victim’s brain stem. A new study in the November 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has found that a significant portion of SIDS cases result from deficiencies with the baby’s serotonin system. While these imbalances cannot be identified until after death, the study’s findings may be instrumental in developing a diagnostic test that could potentially identify high-risk infants.

Researchers have focused on the medulla oblongata, the portion of the brain that connects to the spinal cord and helps to regulate breathing and circulation. They found that deficiencies in an infant’s serotonin receptors may prevent the brain from identifying and responding to important “signals” related to problems with breathing and circulation. Put another way, the baby’s “defense system” may be compromised by deficiencies in the serotonin system.
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