Target $151
Friday, June 7, 2019
Proton center set to open in New York
New York’s first proton-therapy center will open today in East Harlem, more than a decade after some of the city’s largest healthcare institutions began planning it.
The New York Proton Center, which cost $300 million to build, will start patient consultations later this month, with cancer treatments expected to begin in July, said Dr. Charles Simone, the center’s chief medical officer.
The 140,000-square-foot facility on East 126th Street between Third and Second avenues is the result of a partnership between Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Montefiore Health System and Mount Sinai Health System. ProHealth Proton Management, an affiliate of Lake Success–based medical group ProHealth, will manage the site.
“With proton therapy, the normal tissue gets a lot less radiation, and patients are less likely to experience side effects and complications from radiation,” Simone said. He noted that all forms of radiation can cause fatigue, and patients could experience side effects related to the part of the body part being treated, such as nausea in patients with stomach cancer.
What’s still unclear is how the center will affect treatment costs. While Simone couldn’t say what prices would be agreed to at the East Harlem center, he noted that other facilities typically charge insurers more than for traditional radiation therapy.
The center is working to reach contracts with private insurers, while Medicare has approved coverage for all cancer types, Simone said. It is also in discussions with the state Medicaid program.
“We’re starting to talk with medical directors of several major private insurance companies in the region to get contracts in place and determine which types of patients will be approved for proton therapy,” he said.
Midlife Diabetes Hikes Odds for Stroke Years Later
In a finding that further confirms the link between type 2 diabetes and stroke, a new study shows that having the blood sugar disease during middle age may boost your risk of having the most common type of stroke later in life.
In addition to a 30% greater chance of an ischemic stroke, the researchers also found that people who had type 2 diabetes in their 40s or 50s were twice as likely to have narrower blood vessels in their brain in their 60s and beyond.
“Our findings highlight the need for controlling midlife type 2 diabetes mellitus to help prevent [ischemic stroke and narrowing of the blood vessels in the brain],” said study author Rongrong Yang. Yang is a Ph.D. candidate at Tianjin Medical University in China.
An ischemic stroke, which is the more common type of stroke, is caused by a blockage in a blood vessel in the brain. This damages the area of the brain that’s no longer receiving enough blood. The less common type of stroke is known as a hemorrhagic stroke. That type of stroke occurs when a blood vessel bursts, causing blood to leak into the brain and cause swelling and tissue damage, the National Stroke Association says.
Type 2 diabetes has long been associated with the risk of stroke, but it’s been hard to know if an increased risk of stroke comes from the diabetes or from other genetic and environmental factors, according to background information in the study.
To better tease out if diabetes itself was a likely culprit, the researchers reviewed data from the Swedish Twin Registry. More than 33,000 twin individuals met the criteria for the study.
The study participants were all born before 1958. None had evidence of narrowed brain blood vessels or stroke before age 60.
Just under 4% of the group had diabetes in midlife. More than 9% had late-life (after 60) strokes or narrowed blood vessels in their brain, the study authors said.
After adjusting the data to account for other stroke risk factors, such as smoking and obesity, the researchers noted the increased risk of ischemic stroke, but didn’t find an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke.
Yang said that genetic and environmental factors didn’t appear to account for the increased risk of ischemic stroke, but noted that more research needs to be done. This study wasn’t designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
So why might diabetes lead to more ischemic strokes?
“The mechanisms underlying the association of type 2 diabetes mellitus with stroke are complex and not completely understood,” Yang said. But, people with type 2 diabetes have abnormal cholesterol levels and that might contribute to the narrowed blood vessels in the brain.
Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the clinical diabetes center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, said the Swedish population has significantly less type 2 diabetes than would be found in the United States.
Zonszein was not, however, surprised to see a higher risk of stroke and narrowed blood vessels in people with diabetes.
“We need to be much more alert to getting the proper diagnosis of diabetes and controlling risk factors. Focus on the things we can change to try to improve risk factors,” Zonszein said.
“Smoking cessation is important, and we have to treat high blood pressure. High blood pressure puts people at high risk of stroke. People with diabetes should be on a statin to control cholesterol levels, and they should be on the proper medications to control their diabetes,” he added.
Study author Yang agreed that controlling risk factors is key.
“Diabetic patients need to maintain a healthy lifestyle, such as doing regular exercise, eating a healthy diet, keeping a healthy weight, no smoking, as well as [blood sugar] control, in order to reduce the risk of [stroke] in late life,” Yang said.
The findings were published June 5 in Diabetologia.
More information
To learn more about diabetes and stroke, visit the American Diabetes Association.
SOURCES: Rongrong Yang, Ph.D. candidate, department of epidemiology and biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, China; Joel Zonszein, M.D., director, clinical diabetes center, Montefiore Medical Center, New York City; June 5, 2019, Diabetologia
Teva Launches Generic of Ranexa ranolazine Angina Tablets US
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) announced the launch of a generic version of Ranexa®1 (ranolazine) Extended-Release Tablets, 500 mg and 1000 mg, in the U.S.
Ranolazine Extended-Release Tablets are indicated for the treatment of chronic angina.
With nearly 500 generic medicines available, Teva has the largest portfolio of FDA-approved generic products on the market and holds the leading position in first-to-file opportunities, with over 100 pending first-to-files in the U.S. Currently, one in eight generic prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. is filled with a Teva generic product.
Ranolazine Extended-Release Tablets has annual sales of nearly $938 million in the U.S., according to IQVIA data as of February 2019. About Ranolazine Extended-Release Tablets Ranolazine Extended-Release Tablets are indicated for the treatment of chronic angina. Ranolazine Extended-Release Tablets may be used with beta-blockers, nitrates, calcium channel blockers, anti-platelet therapy, lipid-lowering therapy, ACE inhibitors, and angiotensin receptor blockers. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION Ranolazine Extended-Release Tablets are contraindicated in patients taking strong inhibitors of CYP3A; patients taking inducers of CYP3A; and patients with liver cirrhosis.
bluebird bio : To Webcast Data Review, ZYNTEGLO Approval
bluebird bio (Nasdaq: BLUE) announced that the company will host a live webcast to review new data presented at the European Hematology Association (EHA) Annual Meeting, and to discuss the approval of ZYNTEGLO® (autologous CD34+ cells encoding βA-T87Q-globin gene) on Friday, June 14 at 8:00 a.m. ET.
Investors may listen to the call by dialing (844) 825-4408 from locations in the United States or +1 (315) 625-3227 from outside the United States. Please refer to conference ID number 2189283.
To access the live webcast of bluebird bio’s presentation, please visit the “Events & Presentations” page within the Investors & Media section of the bluebird bio website at http://investor.bluebirdbio.com. Replays of the webcast will be available on the bluebird bio website for 90 days following the event.
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