Brain cancer drugs

England's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has removed a ban on two drugs that may help patients with rare life-threatening brain cancer.

Temodal and Gliadel may now be obtained through the National Health Service. The 2005 ban was based on cost-effectiveness.

The Times of London says the ban caused anger because Temodal was actually invented by British scientists with funding from Cancer Research UK.

Gliadel is a wafer that, when placed at the site where a brain tumor was removed, clears remaining cancer cells and keeps the tumor from recurring, the newspaper said.

Both drugs have been available in the United States and Canada.

Ella Pybus, spokeswoman for a consortium of cancer charities, said, "Everyone is relieved."

She said there is "solid evidence" the drugs help patients.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Zyloprim

A compassionate plea trial was conducted from 1977 through 1989 in which 718 evaluable patients with malignancies requiring treatment with cytotoxic chemotherapy, but who were unable to ingest or retain oral medication, received i.v. ALOPRIM (allopurinol sodium) for Injection in the U.S. Of these patients, 411 had established hyperuricemia and 307 had normal serum urate levels at the time that treatment was initiated. Normal serum uric acid levels were achieved in 68% (reduction of serum uric acid was documented in 93%) of the former, and were maintained throughout chemotherapy in 97% of the latter. Because of the study design, it was not possible to assess the impact of the treatment upon the clinical outcome of the patient groups.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy drugs, are sometimes feared because of a patient's concern about toxic effects. Their role is to slow and hopefully halt the growth and spread of a cancer. There are three goals associated with the use of the most commonly-used anticancer agents.

1. Damage the DNA of the affected cancer cells.

2. Inhibit the synthesis of new DNA strands to stop the cell from replicating, because the replication of the cell is what allows the tumor to grow.

3. Stop mitosis or the actual splitting of the original cell into two new cells. Stopping mitosis stops cell division (replication) of the cancer and may ultimately halt the progression of the cancer.

Unfortunately, the majority of drugs currently on the market are not specific, which leads to the many common side effects associated with cancer chemotherapy. Because the common approach of all chemotherapy is to decrease the growth rate (cell division) of the cancer cells, the side effects are seen in bodily systems that naturally have a rapid turnover of cells iincluding skin, hair, gastrointestinal, and bone marrow. These healthy, normal cells, also end up damaged by the chemotherapy program.