Law Offers Drug Companies Vouchers in Exchange for New Cancer

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By Enjoli Jul 9, 2012 9:38pm Francis Law Offers Drug Companies Vouchers in Exchange for New Cancer Drugs for Kids About Richard Besser Medical analysis and commentary from ABC News' chief Like 343 59 1 Text 6 | health and medical editor, Dr. Richard Besser.

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Image credit: Nancy Goodman/Kids v. Cancer

President Obama signed a bill today that will provide incentives to drug companies to research and develop drugs for rare diseases.

The Creating Hope Act grants pharmaceutical companies that create drugs for diseases like childhood cancers a voucher giving speedier review of any other drug they submit for approval. The Oval Office signature was a hard-fought victory for children like Mollie HIV Infections Rising in Young Gay Men in Urban US Ward (http://abcnews.go.com/WN/person-week-mollie-ward-cancer- (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/07/24/hiv- infections-rising-in-young-gay-men-in-urban-us/) crusader/story?id=11665006#.T_tFn8h1KVo), 11, who survived a rare form of pancreatic cancer thanks to an experimental drug, and for other families Largest Food-Poisoning Outbreak in Homeless Shelter in who have fought childhood cancers. 10 Years (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/07/23/homeless- Nancy Goodman, founder of Kids v. Cancer (http://www.kidsvcancer.org/), shelter-serves-contaminated-food-sends-60-people-to- which is devoted to pediatric cancer research, lost her son Jacob Froman, 10, hospital/) to a rare form of brain cancer nearly four years ago. He’d been diagnosed at James Holmes Gave No Indication of Violent Delusions the age of 8. (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/07/23/james- holmes-gave-no-indication-of-violent-delusions/) She was instrumental in getting the bill passed. She and others said that drug companies had little financial incentive to develop new treatments because Panel Urges Expanded Use of Antiretrovirals for HIV childhood cancers are so rare. (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/07/23/panel- urges-expanded-use-of-antiretrovirals-for-hiv/) “The reason I started working on the Creating Hope Act was that I found very End to AIDS Epidemic: Is It Near? early on that there are just very few drugs to treat kids with cancer,” she told (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/07/22/end-to- ABC News. “We created a big, fat carrot. The carrot is a voucher.” aids-epidemic-is-it-near/)

While 50 new drugs for adult cancer have been released in the last 20 years, just one expressly for pediatric cancer has gotten initial Food and Drug Administration approval, doctors say. Top Stories on ABC News The track record for drugs for other pediatric rare diseases is even worse. (http://abcnews.go.com/xmldata/rss? id=26) “The reason that companies don’t make pediatric drugs is all market force driven,” said Dr. Henry Friedman, an neuro-oncologist at Duke University Medical Center. “Companies have an obligation to their shareholders to make money. The pediatric diseases by and large are such low numbers. … The incentive to make pediatric drugs is very small.”

Goodman said the measure was smart legislation and an attempt to ensure that more families don’t experience what she has.

“I don’t think the American public realizes how devastating pediatric cancer is,” she said. “It’s far worse than any other adult cancer. There’s something unfair and unjust about the death of a child.”

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So what. Who’s going to be the one to get em to market the cure? (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/video/place-trailer- 16815001) POSTED BY: KELLY SANDERLIN | JULY 9, 2012 JULY 9, 2012, 10:22 PM Watch: 'In One Place': Trailer (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/video/place- It’s extremely difficult to conduct clinical studies for oncology patients, doubly so for pediatric patients. Finding an trailer-16815001) appropriate candidate to simply test the medicine is not easy. Vetting a trial candidate is complex…how advanced is the disease, has the patient tried prior therapy, are they well enough to try a new therapy, how well is the oncology patient to survive through the next week- all relevance to the scientific process. It’s not about the bottom line, but conducting studies in a manner that yields an outcome that can be interpreted as being an actual benefit to the patient. The ability Subscribe to study patients on an experimental drug is overwhelmingly difficult and not every experiment shows positive results. Hopefully this brings an incentive to conduct new studies which lead to cures for these devastating diseases.

POSTED BY: MICHAEL FRIEND | JULY 9, 2012 JULY 9, 2012, 10:58 PM RSS Twitter Facebook (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/richard-(http://twitter.com/ABC)(https://www.facebook.com/abcnews) I think the American public does realize how devastating pediatric cancer is. For Ms. Goodman to say that it is far worse besser/feed/) than any adult cancer is really insensitive, though. Perhaps she didn’t mean it to sound that way, but it’s still hurtful to others who have lost loved ones of any age to this horrible monster known as cancer. My mom also died as a result of brain cancer and I don’t think the hell she went through or the profound loss our family feels is any less terrible or painful than that of Ms. Goodman’s family. More needs to be done to put a stop to ALL cancer for people of all ages. To paraphrase Ms. Goodman, there is something unfair and unjust about the death of anyone due to cancer.

POSTED BY: SUSANNE | JULY 10, 2012 JULY 10, 2012, 12:32 AM

I’ve lost my mother, father and brother (at age 10) to cancer, All of them had rare cancers that are poorly funded compared to breast or prostate cancer. I applaud Ms.Goodman for her efforts in getting this bill passed. This money is very important. My brother passed away from a brain tumor in the early 80′s that was a death sentence back then but is highly curable today because of clinical trials.

POSTED BY: ALLIE | JULY 10, 2012 JULY 10, 2012, 12:55 AM google “burzynski video” and learn how the american cancer society had a medical doctor jailed and in court for years on end for developing an alternative to the lucrative business of developing chemo drugs. 5 Foods for a Flat Belly: Surprising foods that help to burn abdominal fat. TruthAboutStomachFat.com POSTED BY: JOE | JULY 10, 2012 JULY 10, 2012, 1:28 AM 5 Foods you must not eat Cut down a bit of stomach fat every day by never Might want to check your facts, Joe. Dr. Burzynski is a well-known quack and snake oil salesman preying on people eating these 5 foods during some of the worst times of their lives. He is just out to make a buck and a name for himself. Beyonddiet.com Heart Disease Symptoms Unexpected New Signs Have Been Discovered, POSTED BY: SUSANNE | JULY 10, 2012 JULY 10, 2012, 8:52 AM Learn More Today HeartHealthPros.com Diagnose Yourself Now Know the Signs and Symptoms of Coronary Heart Disease Now! Top Leave a Reply http://summitcardiology.com/ Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mailform?id=14106679) to contact the editors of ABC News.

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