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USAID Programs Used Biblical Lessons To Teach Abstinence In Africa, Audit Finds
The U.S. Agency for International Development funded programs that used biblical lessons to promote sexual abstinence in Africa, despite a prohibition on the use of taxpayer funds to support "inherently religious activities," according to a recent audit by the agency"s inspector general, the Washington Post reports.The audit focused on projects initiated from 2006 to 2007 during the administration of President George W. Bush. According to the audit, the use of Christian stories in HIV/AIDS prevention programs in Africa could be seen as showing a "USAID-funded preference for Christianity." The audit also found that officials in one faith-based abstinence program in Africa urged youth to memorize and recite a passage from the Bible"s book of Psalms. Participants were then instructed to recite the passage"s "key concept": "God has a plan for sex and this plan will help you and protect you from harm."USAID challenged the findings in a written response that said its African programs" main goals are secular in nature. It acknowledged that some of its abstinence programs included "religiously infused materials" but said that the materials showed no preference for Christian groups.According to the Post, the issue has been complicated by legal ambiguities over whether the separation of church and state applies to programs for promoting U.S. foreign policy abroad. The inspector general"s report said the Department of Justice is considering a request from USAID to determine the legality of its practices (Lynch, Washington Post, 7/23).
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Philips Expands Home Healthcare Commitment With Portable Life-support Ventilator
Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) introduced the Trilogy100 portable at-home life-support ventilator. The highly versatile, lightweight (11 lb / 5 kg) device marks a milestone in home ventilation from a recognized leader in respiratory care. Respironics first introduced bi-level positive airway pressure for noninvasive ventilation nearly 20 years ago.
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Scientists Identify Gene Vital To Early Embryonic Cells Forming A Normal Heart And Skull
New research from Cincinnati Children"s Hospital Medical Center highlights the critical role a certain gene and its protein play during early embryonic development on formation of a normal heart and skull.
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Merck Serono Initiates Phase III Study Of Stimuvax In Breast Cancer

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced the initiation of its global Phase III clinical study of the therapeutic cancer vaccine Stimuvax® (BLP25 liposome vaccine, L-BLP25) in patients with advanced, inoperable breast cancer. The STRIDEa study will determine if Stimuvax can extend progression-free survival in patients treated with hormonal therapy who have hormone receptor-positive, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. Overall survival, quality of life, tumor response and safety will also be assessed in this study. The STRIDE study will be supervised by an expert Steering Committee and is sponsored by Merck Serono, which is leading the development of Stimuvax. STRIDE will enroll more than 900 patients with advanced breast cancer at an estimated 180 sites in over 30 countries - within North America, Europe, Asia and Australia; the Principal Investigator is Dr Lawrence Shulman, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA. "Advanced-stage breast cancer remains an ultimately fatal and challenging disease and we urgently need new treatment options," said Dr Shulman. "If the results from the Phase III STRIDE study prove positive, this could make a difference for patients with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer." Stimuvax is an investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine designed to stimulate the body"s immune system to identify and target cancer cells that express MUC1, an antigen commonly expressed in breast cancer as well as in other common cancer types such as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), multiple myeloma, and colorectal, prostate and ovarian cancers.1 "The initiation of the STRIDE study is an enormous step forward in clinical breast cancer research and represents our continued commitment to developing Stimuvax within a robust clinical trial program across several cancer types. We are very excited that Stimuvax will now be tested in two different cancer types in Phase III," said Dr Oliver Kisker, Senior Vice-President, Global Clinical Development Unit Oncology, Merck Serono. The Phase III program for Stimuvax was initiated following results from a randomized Phase IIb study* of 171 patients with inoperable stage IIIb NSCLC, in which Stimuvax showed a trend towards extending median overall survival from 13.3 months for patients receiving best supportive care (BSC) to 30.6 months for patients receiving Stimuvax plus BSC.2,3 Reported side effects included mild-to-moderate flu-like symptoms, gastrointestinal disturbances and mild injection-site reactions. A further long-term safety analysis in 16 patients receiving prolonged treatment with Stimuvax from 2.0 to 8.2 years showed the most common treatment-related adverse events were injection-site reactions (ISRs) with no evidence of autoimmune reactions. These data also show that the occurrence of ISRs decreased with long-term therapy (>1 year).4 Stimuvax was the first investigational cancer vaccine to enter Phase III clinical testing in NSCLC with the February 2007 launch of the START study, which will involve more than 1,300 patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC, who were stable or responding after chemoradiotherapy. Breast Cancer Facts - Worldwide, more than a million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, including 430,000 women in Europe and 212,920 in the U.S.5 - Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide, resulting in approximately 519,000 deaths per year, globally6 - Despite improved breast cancer survival rates, it is currently estimated that 28% of women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in Europe and the U.S. will not live longer than 10 years7,8 - On average, 30% of patients with early-stage breast cancer suffer a recurrence and in most cases, the cancer will have spread beyond the breast9 - Approximately 70% of breast cancer patients are hormone receptor-positive and hormone therapy is a widely accepted treatment modality for these patients10 aSTRIDE: STimulating immune Response In aDvanced brEast cancer bSTART: Stimulating Targeted Antigenic Responses To NSCLC *The study was initially conducted by Oncothyreon Inc. The long-term follow-up was done by Merck Serono. References 1. Ho SB, et al. Cancer Res 1993;53(3):641-51. 2. Butts C, et al. J Clin Oncol 2005;23:6674-81. 3. Butts C, et al. J Thorac Oncol 2007;2(Suppl. 4):S332-3. Abstract No: B1-01. 4. Butts C, et al. ASCO Congress 2009; Abstract No: 3055. 5. Cancer Research UK. Breast cancer incidence statistics. http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/breast/incidence. 6. World Health Organization. Factsheet No 297. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/ 7. Peto R, et al. Lancet 2000;355:1822. 8. Cancer research UK. Predicted improvements in breast cancer survival. http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=15070. 9. Gonzalez-Angulo AM, et al. Adv Exp Med Biol 2007;608:1-22. 10. Anderson WF, et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2002;76:27-36. For more information on Stimuvax, please visit: http://www.globalcancernews.com. About Stimuvax Merck is investigating the use of Stimuvax® (BLP25 Liposome Vaccine) in the treatment of NSCLC. The vaccine was granted fast-track status in September 2004 by the FDA. Merck obtained the exclusive worldwide licensing rights from Oncothyreon Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA. Stimuvax is being developed in Europe by Merck KGaA and in the United States by its affiliate, EMD Serono Inc. START is a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that will evaluate patients with documented unresectable stage IIIA or IIIB NSCLC who have had a response or stable disease after at least two cycles of platinum-based chemo-radiotherapy. The study will involve more than 1,300 patients in approximately 30 countries. STRIDE is a randomized, double-blind, controlled, multi-center Phase III study designed to determine if Stimuvax® can extend progression free survival in patients treated with hormonal therapy who have inoperable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. Overall survival, quality of life, tumor response and safety will also be assessed in this study. Merck Serono Merck


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