Prostate Cancer Vaccine

BETHESDA, Md., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. (OTCBulletinBoard: NWBO) , Northwest Biotherapeutics ("NWBT") announced today that Lonza Group AG has withdrawn all claims of patent infringement involving NWBT's DCVax(R)-Brain product and other NWBT DCVax(R) products other than DCVax(R)-Prostate. Lonza had alleged that NWBT's DCVax(R) cancer vaccine products infringed certain gene expression technology patents held by Lonza. However, as could be seen from publicly available information sources -- available before the Lonza lawsuit was filed as well as since then -- NWBT does not use any gene modification or gene expression system in its DCVax(R) products.

Lonza filed suit against NWBT on July 27, 2007, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging that all of NWBT's DCVax(R) products infringed certain gene expression patents held by Lonza.

The Pill, a Rock Opera Its long-running health saga.

Last week, British researchers published decisively good news about birth control pills: They lower the risk of ovarian cancer—substantially. The longer women take the pill, the lower their odds of getting this kind of cancer. And some of the benefits seem to persist, even decades after women go off the contraception. The new analysis pooled large amounts of data. It was elegantly done. And it's worth celebrating, partly because health claims about the pill are often much harder to parse.

Consider the mental tightrope we've been asked to walk when it comes to the effect of oral contraception on sex drive, cardiovascular disease, and breast cancer: The pill may sap our libidos (say Scottish doctors)—but it may also be linked to more frequent orgasms (say Italian ones). It increases the risk of blood clots, and may slightly increase the risk of strokes (which remains very small).

Cancer Vaccine Showing Promise In Ovarian Trials

This time of year, a lot of us get flu shots to help our bodies fight off any signs of the flu. What if you could do the same for cancer? Doctors are already testing the idea in women who have ovarian cancer, and early results are promising.

After being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Christine Sable made good on a promise to travel, taking in destinations like Europe and the tropics - but nowhere as often as Buffalo, New York. It's there, at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, that Christine is taking part in an innovative trial to see if a simple vaccine can keep her cancer at bay.

"This was something that I could personally do to feel useful and to help move medicine forward. Because whether it works for me or not, someone would learn something from it," says Sable.