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European healthcare professionals perceive drug-related morbidity to affect 50% of all patients, according to 2 new studies conducted at the Nordic School of Public Health NHV.

In the studies, drug-related morbidity included adverse drug reactions, drug dependence, intoxication by overdose, inadequate effect of medicines, and untreated indications. Two panels of experienced physicians and pharmacists estimated the following:

An Institute of Medicine committee report, Ethical and Scientific Issues in Studying the Safety of Approved Drugs, recommends that the FDA monitor a drug’s safety after initial approval and throughout its time on the market.

A new study finds that 40% of the discrepancy in colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and nearly 20% difference in CRC mortality between blacks and whites is a result of screening inconsistencies between the two races. According to the study, an additional 35% of the black-white disparity in CRC mortality rates is attributed to differences in stage-specific survival, which likely reflects differences in treatment. The study, appearing online in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, determines that equal access to care could reduce the racial disparities in CRC rates.

Breast cancer survivors who are able to let go of old goals and set new ones experience an improvement in overall well-being, according to a new collaborative study published in Psycho-Oncology. Read More ›

Details of a novel protein purifier that could help pharmaceutical companies save time and money appear in a recent issue of the journal Langmuir. The high-performance membranes, developed by Michigan State University chemists Merlin Bruening and Greg Baker, are appropriate for protein purification, a central step in the development of various new drugs.

Last week, Votrient (pazopanib), a drug used to treat patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma who have previously received chemotherapy, was approved by the FDA. Pazopanib is a pill that works by interfering with angiogenesis.

Soft tissue sarcoma is a rare cancer with many subtypes; it occurs in about 10,000 cases annually in the United States. More than 20 subtypes of sarcoma were included in the clinical trial leading to approval of pazopanib, however, the drug is not approved for patients with adipocytic soft tissue sarcoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

The American Cancer Society recently reported that maintaining a healthy weight, getting adequate physical activity, and eating a healthy diet can decrease the chance of recurrence and increase the chance of disease-free survival after a cancer diagnosis. The new recommendations are published early online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

Increasing evidence shows that for many cancers, excess weight, lack of exercise, and poor nutrition increase the risk of cancer recurrence and reduce the likelihood of disease-free and overall survival for cancer patients.

In a survey of 1500 people, participants were asked to list the potential warning signs of lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer death. Poor survey results left the study authors astonished.

Results included the following statistics:

As many as 1 in 5 cancer patients may experience obstacles in their care, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These obstacles include communication issues between patients and their healthcare providers, along with traditional medical errors.

Independent of hepatitis markers, a family history of liver cancer increases the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), according to study results published in the May issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Researchers also discovered a 70-fold increase in risk of HCC for those patients with family history of liver cancer and markers for hepatitis B (HBV) or hepatitis C (HCV).