Study compares treatments in prostate cancer

Men with prostate cancer have a slightly better long-term side effects profile with radiation seed implants than they do with surgery, according to a study released today in the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of American Society for Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO; Fairfax, Virginia).

Doctors in France conducted what was described as the "first-ever" multi-institutional, comparative study of men with early stage prostate cancer to evaluate a man's quality of life, treatment-related side effects and cost of the treatment based on the type of treatment the patient received: surgery or seed implants, both widely accepted modes of treatment for early-stage prostate cancer. With prostate surgery, called a radical prostatectomy, a surgeon removes the prostate. During prostate brachytherapy, a radiation oncologist places radioactive seeds, similar to the size of a grain of rice, into the prostate to kill the cancer.

In this study, 435 men with prostate cancer were surveyed before treatment, immediately after treatment and subsequently at follow-up exams to gauge their quality of life and treatment-related side effects against predefined materials given to them by the doctors. Doctors found that brachytherapy is a more expensive procedure at the outset, but that follow-up costs related to surgery cause both treatments to cost about the same.

With regard to side effects, surgery had more significant side effects immediately following treatment, but those side effects improved steadily over two years. Brachytherapy, however, showed moderate, but persistent side effects over the two years. Urinary incontinence was more common after surgery; however, urinary irritation was a more common complaint from those who received brachytherapy. Impairment of sexual function was found to be consistently higher among those who received surgery than those who received brachytherapy.

Irvine Analytical now Irvine Pharmaceutical

Irvine Analytical laboratories (Irvine, California) reported that it will change its name to Irvine Pharmaceutical Services to reflect the firm's expanded business.

"We have expanded our scope of business services to encompass analytical-through-formulation support for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries," explains Irvine founder and president Assad Kazeminy, PhD. "Irvine now requires a corporate identity more reflective of our comprehensive development capabilities, scientific insight and dedicated service."

Founded in 1988 as an independent cGMP contract testing lab, Irvine evolved into a pharmaceutical development organization. Occupying more than 42,000 square feet of cGMP-compliant laboratory space, the organization has plans to purchase an additional facility. Irvine's clients include many of the nation's leading pharmaceutical and medical device firms as well as emerging biopharma companies whose leadership relies on Irvine's strict regulatory compliance, high quality systems and innovative approach to project management to meet their development demands, according to Irvine.

Irvine will offer increased capacity to bolster its transition into a fully integrated pharmaceutical development company, Kazeminy said. Services will include method development and validation, analytical quality control, stability storage and testing, comprehensive microbiological support, pre-formulation and formulation, drug delivery testing, inhalation and nasal product testing and biopharmaceutical support.

Irvine Pharmaceutical Services, a division of IAL Corporation, is a fully integrated contract services provider, working with pharmaceutical, biopharma, biotechnology and medical device companies through all phases of research and development.

Study recommends correctly coded meters

When persons with diabetes use miscoded blood glucose meters to determine how much insulin to take, significant errors in insulin dose can result that may potentially lead to short- and long-term health complications, according to findings of a new study just published in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.

According to Bayer HealthCare, Diabetes Care (Tarrytown, New York), the study findings also showed that meters with its No Coding technology (meters that automatically set the correct code anytime a test strip is inserted) gave superior performance over meters used in this study that had been correctly coded manually. This also translated into a lower probability of insulin dose error.

In this study, using the low dose insulin algorithm, for certain miscoded blood glucose meters, the probability of insulin error of plus or minus 2 units of insulin could be as high as 50% as compared to 7.1% for correctly, manually coded meters. The probability of insulin dose error of plus or minus 3 units of insulin could be as high as 22.3% for the miscoded meters but only 0.49% for the correctly, manually coded meters.

For the meters that do not require manual coding, the probability of plus or minus 1 unit and plus or minus 2 units of insulin could be as high as 35.4% and 1.4% respectively. There were no calculated insulin dose errors above plus or minus 2 units with the meters that do not require manual coding.

Coding is the process by which a blood glucose meter is matched to each new box of test strips being used.

The authors concluded that to avoid insulin dosing errors, people should be carefully instructed how to correctly code their meters or use a blood glucose meter that does not require manual coding, Bayer said.

ATC not in AMEX compliance

ATC Healthcare (Lake Success, New York), which focuses on staffing, reported that it has received a notice from the staff of The American Stock Exchange (AMEX), indicating that it had failed to fully comply with its listing standards.

That resulted from the company's issuance, on Jan. 16 of 2,000,000 shares of its Class A Common Stock to an accredited investor without first obtaining the AMEX's approval for that issuance.

To remedy its omission, the company is filing an application today to list on the AMEX the shares of Class A Common Stock and related warrants issued on Jan. 16.

As a result of the noncompliance warning letter, the company will be included in a list of issuers, which is posted daily on the AMEX website, that are not in compliance with the listing standards. In addition, "BC" (below compliance) will be appended to the company's symbol "AHN" on the Consolidated Tape Association's Consolidated Tape System and Consolidated Quote Systems Low Speed and High Speed tapes whenever the Company's trading symbol is transmitted with a quotation or trade to identify the Company as noncompliant with the continued listing standards.