04/06/2010
Radient Pharmaceuticals To Present Onko-SureTM Cancer Test At Prestigious ASCO Annual Oncology Conference
Radient Pharmaceuticals Corporation (RPC) (NYSE Amex: RPC) announced it is attending and presenting at the 46th Annual
ASCO is the world's leading professional organization representing physicians who care for people with cancer. With more than 27,000 oncology practitioners as members, ASCO is committed to improving cancer care through scientific meetings, educational programs and peer-reviewed journals. More than 30,000 cancer specialists from around the world are expected to gather at the meeting to discuss the latest innovations in cancer research, product and testing quality, practice and technology.
According to Douglas MacLellan, Chairman and CEO of Radient Pharmaceuticals, "RPC is excited to be an active participant at ASCO, an event that represents the largest gathering of physicians, scientists and oncology experts. This year's event serves as an ideal venue for RPC to share its latest scientific and product developments, company progress and market developments."
In addition to Douglas MacLellan, RPC's Director of Oncology, Dr. Motamed-Khorasani and Christopher Gee, Director of International Sales and Marketing will be on hand at Booth 13148, to speak with event attendees about RPC's proprietary Onko-Sureâ„¢ in vitro diagnostic (IVD) cancer test and the Company's worldwide commercialization strategy.
Those interested in pre-scheduling a meeting with RPC at ASCO may contact cgee@radient-pharma.com or call 310-562-6783. Additional information regarding RPC's Onko-Sure IVD cancer test is available here. Radient Pharmaceuticals' subsidiary AMDL Diagnostics Inc. will provide additional updates regarding their participation at ASCO
Onko-Sureâ„¢ is a simple, non-invasive, patent-pending and regulatory-approved in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test used for the detection, screening, and monitoring of various types of cancer. The test enables physicians and healthcare professionals to effectively monitor and/or detect certain types of cancers by measuring the accumulation of Fibrin and Fibrinogen Degradation Products (FDP) in the blood. FDP levels rise dramatically with the progression of cancer. Onko-Sureâ„¢ is approved by the US FDA for the monitoring of colorectal cancer and by Health Canada as a lung cancer detection and monitoring test.
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More Than A Quarter Of Stroke Patients Arrive At 'Get With The Guidelines' Hospitals Within 'Golden Hour'
More than a quarter of ischemic stroke patients with documented symptom start time arrived at Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke
"The 'golden hour' refers to the first 60 minutes after stroke onset, when there is the greatest chance to restore blood flow and save threatened tissue," said Jeffrey L. Saver, M.D., study lead author and professor of neurology at the UCLA Stroke Center in Los Angeles, Calif. "With this study, we have characterized, for the first time, the frequency with which acute stroke patients present in this first hour, when the opportunity to save threatened brain tissue by reperfusion is greatest."
He said people who arrive within the first hour are more likely to receive tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) - a clot-busting drug that's the only proven treatment for acute ischemic stroke - than are those who arrive between one and three hours after onset. Researchers studied data on 106,924 acute ischemic stroke patients with a known stroke onset time presenting to 905 hospitals participating in the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines-Stroke quality improvement program between April 2003 and December 2007.
Besides determining how often patients reached the hospital within the first hour, researchers identified features that distinguish "golden hour" patients from patients who present later. They also examined the treatments those patients receive.
The researchers, who presented preliminary study findings at the International Stroke Conference 2009, found that:
- 28.3 percent of patients arrived in less than 60 minutes from stroke onset.
- 31.7 percent arrived between one to three hours after stroke onset.
- 40.1 percent arrived more than three hours after stroke onset.
People arriving within the "golden hour" tended to have more severe stroke deficits and more frequently arrived by ambulances than those arriving later. Once they got to the hospital, these patients more frequently received tPA.
More than one in four patients arriving in the "golden hour" were treated with tPA, compared with only one in eight patients arriving one to three hours after onset and virtually no patients arriving later, Saver said.
However, hospitals did not treat early arriving patients as promptly as would be ideal, the researchers said.
"The national guideline goal is to treat patients with intravenous tPA within 60 minutes of their arriving at the emergency department, also called 'door-to-needle' time," Saver said. "Only about one in five of the 'golden hour' patients were treated within this target timeframe."
He said patients and families should know the warning signs of a possible acute stroke and to call 9-1-1 immediately if any of these symptoms appear:
- sudden weakness on one side of the body
- sudden loss of vision
- sudden speech problems
- sudden severe dizziness
- sudden severe headache
Furthermore, nurses and physicians must be prepared when patients arrive, in part by setting up stroke teams that can respond to acute stroke patients rapidly and reliably, Saver said.
"Results of the study confirm that stroke providers need to do more to ensure rapid delivery of intravenous tPA to all eligible patients - especially those arriving in the first hour of their stroke symptoms when the benefits of early treatment are even greater," said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., study coauthor, chair of the Get With The Guidelines National Steering Committee and professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. "Based on this data, we at the AHA/ASA recognized that we needed to do more to help hospitals shorten their door-to-needle times."
Ralph L. Sacco, M.S., M.D., president-elect of the American Heart Association, said quality improvement efforts such as Get With The Guidelines merge the best science with how providers treat stroke in the community.
"They are the cornerstone of how we are making huge strides in the way we research, diagnose and treat stroke," said Sacco, professor and chairman of the department of neurology at Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami in Florida. "But we're only just beginning to improve stroke care at the nation's hospitals."
He said the next-step quality performance initiative by the American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association is the newly launched Target: Stroke quality improvement program, which will equip providers with tools and strategies to improve the time and rate in which patients get life-saving drugs.
"This is a highly focused initiative with an explicit goal of doubling the percentage of acute stroke patients who receive their tPA with a door-to-needle time of less than 60 minutes," Sacco said. "It can make a difference in markedly improving outcomes for our patients."
Other co-authors are Eric E. Smith, M.D., M.P.H.; Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D.; Mathew J. Reeves, Ph.D.; Xin Zhao, M.S.; and DaiWai M. Olson, Ph.D., R.N.
Statements and conclusions of study authors published in American Heart Association scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association's policy or position. The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events.
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Federal Lawsuit And Injunction Filed Challenging Limitations On Physician Owned Hospitals In Healthcare Reform
Physician Hospitals of America (PHA) and Texas Spine & Joint Hospital (TSJH) jointly filed suit in U.S. Federal Court,
Section 6001 applies only to hospitals owned by physicians and does not impact any other type of hospital. PHA and TSJH believe Section 6001 is exclusionary and unconstitutional, eliminates competition for non-physician owned hospitals, and will ultimately have a negative impact on patient choice and medical care affordability. Section 6001 is retroactive, arbitrary, vague, contradictory, and fails to provide due process and equal protection.
Accompanying the lawsuit is a motion for a preliminary injunction that would allow TSJH to proceed with plans to expand its facility, which has already won local zoning approval for an additional 20 Medicare beds.
"There is no justifiable reason for physician-owned hospitals to be singled out in this federal legislation. We are providing a valued service to our patients and the community," said Dr. Michael E. Russell, II, an orthopedic spine surgeon at TSJH. "If we are prevented from expanding patients will have fewer choices and costs will ultimately go up."
TSJH is a top-rated medical facility that has provided valuable jobs and tax revenues to Tyler. Across the country, there are approximately 265 physician-owned hospitals in 34 states. Physician-owned hospitals currently employ over 75,000 full and part time employees and have an average annual payroll of $13,000,000 per hospital, with $3.4 billion in cumulative annual payroll nationally.
"It is truly illogical and unfortunate that at a time the government is supposedly attempting to increase access to care, it has chosen to stop the growth of many of the best hospitals in the country," Molly Sandvig, executive director of PHA adds, "The American people need more access, not less. We need high quality, efficient, patient-centered care, not more of the same high cost, inefficient, bureaucratic-minded care."
Of the approximately 265 existing physician-owned hospitals, 29 are scheduled to open and receive their Medicare certification by December 31, 2010. An additional 45 hospitals are currently under development and are not expected to be open or Medicare-certified by December 31, 2010. Furthermore, there are 39 hospitals that were previously under development and are currently not continuing the development process due to Section 6001. Failure to overturn Section 6001 would jeopardize these economic development projects, and the more than 25,000 quality jobs they create.
About TSJH
Texas Spine & Joint Hospital is a privately owned hospital specializing in orthopedic and spine surgery, procedures, and tests. TSJH includes a twenty bed, acute care hospital, an outpatient surgery center and ancillary imaging center. With a total medical staff of over 196, TSJH employs 220 full and part time employees and performed over 30,000 procedures and tests in 2009. With a focus on patient-centered care in a specialized environment, TSJH ranks in the 99th percentile nationally for patient satisfaction according to Press Ganey Associates survey data.
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