cancer vaccine news stories on Newser

Treatable Infections Cause 1 in 6 Cancers

Rob Quinn — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:59:43 CDT

A sixth of all cancers worldwide are the result of potentially treatable or preventable infections caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites, according to a new study. Researchers found that that almost 2 million new cancer cases in 2008 were caused by the human papilloma virus, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and...

Human Trials Next for Promising Breast Cancer Vaccine

Jane Yager — Mon, 31 May 2010 06:13:00 CDT

Breast cancer may someday go the way of polio and smallpox, stamped out by a routine vaccination. A promising new breast cancer vaccine is moving into human trials after effectively blocking the formation of the disease in mice genetically prone to it. "If it works in humans the way it...

Docs Corral Immune System to Battle Cancer

Drew Nelles — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:05:14 CDT

After decades of false starts, doctors are tapping the immune system to help stave off cancer, USA Today reports. Using proteins from patients' tumors, American researchers have created a vaccine that can put off lymphoma relapses by 14 months. In one study, a cocktail of the vaccine and two other...

Brain Cancer Vaccine Doubles Survival Time

Katherine Thompson — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:41:00 CDT

A new vaccine more than doubles the expected survival time of patients with the most common form of brain cancer, Reuters reports. Although the test group was small, patients lived an average of 33 months—"almost unheard of" compared to the average of 14 months, says one doctor. The drug...

Breast Cancer Vaccine Passes Safety Test

Colleen Barry — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 12:05:13 CDT

A breast cancer vaccine is one step closer to FDA approval after a study found it produced no harmful effects in 18 women treated, and showed some signs of slowing tumors, Reuters reports. Neuvenge is meant to treat people who already have cancer by triggering the immune system to fight...

Tobacco Used in Cancer Vaccine

Heather McPherson — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:21:45 CDT

The same researchers who developed Gardasil—the vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer—have genetically engineered tobacco plants to produce a cheaper version of the vaccine. The new drug, designed for distribution in India and other poor countries, would cost $3 for three doses, as opposed to $360 for Gardasil,...

Conservatives Wield FDA Data on HPV Vaccine

Sam Gale Rosen — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:31:12 CDT

A group of religious conservatives has marshalled unreleased FDA data as a weapon in the battle against Gardasil, the new cervical cancer vaccine. The data indicates health problems in women taking the vaccine, but drugmaker Merck and the FDA both insist that the negative effects are probably unrelated to the...

Vaccine May Not Prevent Cervical Cancer

Greg Atwan — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:43:12 CDT

Pharma behemoth Merck is defending what it touted as a miracle cervical-cancer vaccine against charges of ineffectiveness. Merck lobbied states to mandate Gardasil for young girls—Texas and Virginia did—and got a glowing endorsement from the CDC. But new studies show that it works only to prevent sexually-transmitted HPV,...

FDA Panel Passes First Cancer Vaccine

Heather McPherson — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:20:01 CDT

A cancer drug that's the first to harness the body's immune system to destroy tumors got a thumbs-up from the FDA's advisory panel, the New York Times reports. If approved, Provenge, a prostate cancer treatment, would be the first of the "cancer vaccines"—experimental therapies that commandeer a patient's own...