Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Prostate Cancer Vaccine May Be Very Beneficial

A new vaccine by Dendreon Corporation has shown increased living time for men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. This would be the first vaccine to specifically help treat the disease that over 186,000 men get each year.

Unlike most vaccines (like MMR or rabies), the prostate cancer vaccine does not prevent disease; it actually trains the immune system to recognize tumor cells and attack them, which is a very useful strategy. To test the vaccine, Dendreon Corp. performed a study using 127 men.

In this study, men with advanced prostate cancer who took the vaccine lived a median of 26 months, or 4.5 months longer than men without it. Even better, 34% of men who got the vaccine were alive 3 years afterward, compared to only 11% of men who didn't get the vaccine. The study was not large enough for FDA approval, but Dendreon Corp. recently ran a study with 512 men involved. The results seen in this study were found to be very similar and should get more attention from the FDA.

This vaccine appears to be a great step forward, but I don't believe the effects are worth the cost for most people. It is a very expensive vaccine because each vaccine is customized for the patients own cells. USA Today predicts that the cost for the vaccine will be around $10,000 per month. Most families will not be able to afford this option, especially with the current recession.

This vaccine is a giant leap forward in the medical field, but until prices become substantially lower, it will be out of reach for most patients. Currently, the best and cheapest way to prevent prostate cancer is to get routine screenings so surgery/chemo can be performed before the disease gets out of hand. This way, advanced prostate cancer medications like the vaccine will not be necessary.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Pirate Problems

This pirate problem is getting out of hand. Today it was announced that the American captain that was captured by the Somali pirates was just rescued. Now Pentagon officials are deciding a course of action. With Obama saying that he will “halt the rise of piracy”, what exactly needs to be debated?

These pirates are not the long bearded English drunks with hook hands; they are teenagers on speed boats with guns. They are the mafia of the Indian Ocean. Right now there are about 270 crew members of different ships from around the world that are being held captive by these Somali pirates. One of the fears of letting the navy blast the pirates off the globe is that the shipping lanes will be disrupted - this is a problem. Disrupting the shipping lanes means that all trades that go through the Suez Canal would have to stop until the dispute was resolved. This could happen… or we could approach the issue globally. Yes, shipping would be slowed, but with global help and understanding, the canal could be monitored and watched carefully.

Why does America have to be the only one to address and resolve this issue? This is almost the text book example of why the United Nations was created. The only way these organized teens can be stopped is if we can come together - globally - in understanding of the goal. Then, after the Suez Canal gets cleaned up, these pirates need to be attacked and wiped out at their source: Somalia.