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Re: The Junk Science That Won't Die...Marie Huber and her Merry Band of Idiots... i wonder if fredericksburg onc group knows it is being represented? this excerpted from their site. while lukewarm, it certainly doesnt say what huber said.
(more) Until recently there were no meaningful treatment options
once this happened. Some treatments helped to control symptoms, but did
not prolong life. That changed in 2004 when it was reported that
the drug Docetaxel (Taxotere) combined with prednisone had a
survival advantage. That combination has become the standard of care for
patients with hormone-resistant prostate cancer. (more) . Those receiving sipuleucel-T had a median
survival of 25.8 months compared to 21.7 months for the placebo group, for an
improvement of 4.1 months. (more) (Sipuleucel-t)
stimulates a prostate-cancer specific response on the part of the immune
system. This represents a new means of treating cancer, different from
both cytotoxic chemotherapy (drugs that poison and kill cancer cells) and
hormone therapy. Sipuleucel-T is unique, and
does prolong life, but we need to look at this
new drug realistically, as we did with ipilimumab above. Use of
sipuleucel-T can result in improved survival, but it is not a cure. And,
unlike the situation for melanoma, we already have drugs such as docetaxel that
work against prostate cancer. Three separate clinical trials tested the
efficacy of sipuleucel-T against hormone refractory prostate cancer.
Approval was based on one of these, the IMPACT trial. An independent
review of these trials was conducted by the Blue Cross and
Blue Shield Association Technology Evaluation Center Evidence-based Practice
Center. The review rated the quality of the studies as
moderate. (more) Of the three studies, two
showed overall survival results that were statistically significant. There was
some question regarding the placebo used in IMPACT. This was unusual in
that the placebo consisted of reinfusion of cells that had been leukapheresed
but not treated with prostate antigen or immune stimulants. While
unlikely to have an effect, this was not your typical “sugar pill”. The results could have been
diluted by the fact that patients were allowed to “cross over” when they showed signs of disease progression (that is, when
it was obvious that the treatment was no longer working). Those on
placebo could go on to receive sipuleucel-T. In addition, after disease
progress patients could receive Docetaxel, the chemotherapy that is know to
work with prostate cancer. More patients on the sipuleucel-T arm of the
trail went on to receive docetaxel that did patients on the placebo arm. (more) |
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Msg # | Subject | Author | Recs | Date Posted |
433451 | Re: The Junk Science That Won't Die...Marie Huber and her Merry Band of Idiots... | exnurse | 3 | 3/3/2012 4:45:34 PM |