Doctors will soon begin the first clinical trials of a homegrown, cutting-edge cancer medicine in Greater Lafayette.

The human drug trials — the first ever in Lafayette — could offer hope to advanced lung and ovarian cancer patients with tumors that have resisted the usual treatment. The new drug was developed by Endocyte, Inc. in Purdue’s Research Park.
“It’s a difficult situation where the standard treatments don’t work very well. So we’re always looking for something novel, something that would offer patients a chance,” said Dr. Wael Harb at Horizon Oncology Center.
Harb, who will run the local trial, said the clinical trials are a great opportunity for the Lafayette community to play a larger role in the global fight against cancer. Plus, local patients have access to the latest medicine.
David Johnson, president and CEO of BioCrossroads of Indianapolis, which works to grow Indiana’s life sciences sector, said the local clinical trials give the whole community a stake in the drug’s outcome.
“Everything about the success of this product has to do with the success of the clinical trials,” he said.
The Endocyte drug has already been tested in animals and was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for human trials.
The drug uses a “Trojan horse” technique to attach potent cancer medicine to folic acid. The lung and ovarian cancer cells specifically seek and consume the folic acid — “thereby triggering (their) own death,” explained Dr. Philip Low, chief science officer and a founder of Endocyte.
Low and the other Endocyte scientists hope the drug produces fewer side effects and quicker treatment. The company is testing the drug in more than 20 medical centers across the country.
“The group here in Lafayette is the smallest group we’re working with, but by no means the least capable,” Low said.
Harb and Dr. Shahid Shekhani, also of Horizon Oncology, are recruiting 10 lung cancer and 10 ovarian cancer patients for the trial. Earlier this year Harb was instrumental in forming the Cancer Research Clinical Partnership, which links local doctors and Purdue scientists for joint projects.
“This is just an example of how collaboration between physicians and Purdue University researchers can have a very positive impact in cancer research,” he said.
Drug trials are typically done in major medical centers, not smaller communities like Lafayette. But Low said Harb’s initiative secured the first trial and could lead to more.
“If things work out well,” Low said, “I would hope that we here in Lafayette and also other drug companies would bring their newest and best drugs here for testing.”

The United Health Foundation notes in its latest snapshot of the U.S. health care system that Hispanics continue to suffer from a lack of access to medical care.

According to the report entitled “America’s Health Rankings: A Call to Action for People & Their Communities,” Hispanics are far behind non-Hispanic whites regarding access to health care in the United States, due primarily to the former’s lack of money.

“Hispanics are the group that has less access to preventive care and two of the main indicators of this are regular access to dental care and to tests for detecting colon cancer,” Dr. Manuel Selva, an adviser to United Health Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit outfit funded solely by managed health care giant UnitedHealth Group, told Efe.

“The cause of this is just as much lack of education as lack of money. Of the 47 million people without (health) insurance in the United States, many are Latinos,” Selva added.

Selva said that the National Healthcare Disparities Report shows that Latinos receive worse health care than non-Hispanic whites and that this minority’s view of their own state of health is much worse than that of non-Hispanic whites.

“If you ask Hispanics how they feel, only 38 percent say they enjoy very good or excellent health, while in the case of (non-Hispanic) whites, the rate increases to 60 percent” who say this, he said.

The report emphasizes that, despite the modest achievements in reducing the mortality rates due to cancer and cardiovascular diseases, general health in the United States declines this year by 0.3 percent.

“These improvements continue to be dwarfed by increasing obesity, increasing numbers of uninsured people, children in poverty and the persistence of risky health behaviors, such as tobacco use and violent crime - all of which have a significant impact on the overall healthiness of the nation,” the foundation said.

“We have a new epidemic in this country, obesity,” Selva said.

In 1990, only 11 percent of the U.S. population was obese, while today the figure is 25 percent.

“If we add to this group the people who are overweight, the rate goes up to 66 percent. It’s a formula for disaster,” said the doctor.

Selva said that obesity is one of the main causes of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and strokes, and it also fosters the development of some cancers.

“The first thing to do is to educate the population and encourage them on their visits to the doctor to have their body-mass index measured,” said Selva, who added that this indicator should be below 30.

In cases where the index value is higher, Selva said, we have to teach those families that the key to reducing it is in eating healthier and exercising more.

“Many people now don’t understand that food with fat, and within this group many typical Latino dishes are pure calories, … leads to the development of obesity,” said the doctor.

According to the American Heart Association, 74 percent of Mexican-American men and 73 percent of the women are overweight or obese.

The study emphasized that despite spending twice as much per capita on health care as other countries, the United States is in 44th place regarding life expectancy, with an average of 79.9 years.

In addition, according to the information in the report, the United States trails Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Britain in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency of health care when measured against per capita spending.

Selva said that the report “shows the things that currently aren’t working” and that it is expected that the solution to the health dilemma will come from a combination of the government, the community and the family. EFE

Indiana’s human services chief told a state panel Tuesday that Hoosier Healthwise is delivering better psychiatric treatment to needy children since it switched to a managed care system in January.

Advocates for consumers and mental health providers, however, said it wasn’t clear from data presented to the Commission on Mental Health whether children and adolescents with depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses were better served now than under a traditional fee-for-service program that ended Dec. 31.
Secretary Mitch Roob of the Family and Social Services Administration presented the data, including statistics showing the three Hoosier Healthwise insurers had approved outpatient care for 89 percent or more of minors diagnosed with mental illnesses during the first eight months this year. That compared with about 40 percent under fee-for-service in 2006.
“I think we have made enormous strides in managing mental health care,” Roob said.
The commission last month had requested extensive data on how well Hoosier Healthwise was providing managed psychiatric care following complaints that insurers too often were rejecting requests for treatment.
Hoosier Healthwise provides medical and psychiatric care to more than 500,000 low-income Indiana children. That care is managed through three insurers: Indiana-based MDWise and Anthem and St. Louis-based Managed Health Services. Each of the three partners with managed behavioral health organizations to provide psychiatric care.
Jim Jones, the executive director of the Indiana Council of Community Mental Health Centers Inc., said the FSSA data did not measure the quality of care children were receiving. Asked if care was better now than a year ago, he said, “We don’t know those answers yet. … It’s a challenge, and it will be an ongoing one.”
Representatives of the insurers said they were taking steps to deliver better care to kids.
Michelle Brochu, vice president of operations at Comprehensive Care Corp., or CompCare, the managed behavioral health organization working with MDWise, said her company has added more staff and made other changes to better handle claims from doctors and other providers.
CompCare also has a full-time discharge planner working with parents to ensure children receive follow-up mental health care once hospital stays have ended.
“That patient still needs support and still needs services,” Brochu told the commission.
Commission members had few questions for FSSA officials and the insurers Tuesday after having grilled them extensively at a meeting last month. That “mystified” consumer advocate Joe Vanable of West Lafayette, the immediate past president of the Indiana chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

BEDFORD, Virginia A high school student who was hospitalized for more than a week with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection has died, and officials shut down 21 schools for cleaning to keep the illness from spreading.

Ashton Bonds, 17, a senior at Staunton River High School, died Monday after he was found to have Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, his mother said.

“I want people to know how sick it made my son,” Veronica Bonds said.

Staph infections, including the serious MRSA strain, have spread through schools nationwide in recent weeks, according to health and education officials.

MRSA is a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs. The infection can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or sharing an item used by an infected person, particularly one with an open wound.

Bedford Superintendent James Blevins said at a news conference Tuesday that the schools will be closed for cleaning Wednesday.

Many of the infections are being spread in gyms and locker rooms, where athletes — perhaps suffering from cuts or abrasions _ share sports equipment. Ashton Bonds played football last year but was not playing this season.

Ashton went to Bedford Memorial Hospital on October 4 after complaining of pain in his side, his mother said. He was sent home after doctors ruled out appendicitis, but was readmitted three days later and transported to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Last week doctors diagnosed an MRSA infection that had spread to Ashton’s kidneys, liver, lungs and the muscles around his heart.

Early Thursday morning, Ashton had to be sedated and put on a ventilator. He was about to undergo surgery to drain the infection from his lungs when doctors detected a blood clot near his heart. Bonds said the clot was inoperable.

Washington - Drug makers on Thursday voluntarily pulled kids’ cold medicines off the market less than two weeks after the government warned of potential health risks to infants.

Products aimed at children under the age of two are being removed from store shelves due to “rare instantances of misuse” that could lead to accidental overdose, a trade group that represents over-the-counter drug makers said.

Cold medicines being withdrawn include: Johnson & Johnson Pediacare Infant Drops and Tylenol Concentrated Infants Drops, Wyeth’s Dimetapp Decongestant Infant Drops, Novartis’ Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips and Prestige Brands Holdings’ Little Colds Decongestant Plus Cough.

CVS Caremark Corp. said Thursday morning it would remove the affected products as well as CVS-brand equivalents from store shelves.

Late last month the Food and Drug Administration tentatively recommended adding labeling to the medicines indicating they are not to be used in young children.

Current labeling directs parents to consult a doctor before administering the drugs to infants and toddlers and many doctors say they are safe to use.

FDA will formally consider revising labeling at a meeting scheduled for Oct. 18-19.

After reviewing reports of side effects over the last four decades, FDA found 54 child fatalities from over-the-counter decongestant medicines. The agency found 69 reports of children’s deaths connected with antihistamines, which are used to treat runny noses.

Shares of Johnson and Johnson rose 22 cents to $66.05 while shares of Wyeth fell 17 cents to $45.99. Shares of Novartis AG dipped one cent to $54.07 and Prestige Brands Holdings Inc. fell 7 cents to $11.09.