UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Doctors debate new cancer treatment

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The development of a new computerized robotic device to combat early prostate cancer is triggering intense debate among experts over its use.

The CyberKnife, as the $4 million high-tech machine is called, originally was used to treat hard to reach brain and spinal tumors with radiation. The device also is seen by some doctors as an important advancement in the fight against prostate cancer, the No. 2 cancer killer of men.

Others see it as widening acceptance of a costly technology before researchers have thoroughly evaluated its risks and benefits.

Georgetown University Hospital, which began using the machine in 2001, and other advocates around the country say the CyberKnife offers prostate cancer patients a safe and effective, and much more convenient, alternative to traditional radiation treatment, The Washington Post says.

Northwestern U. opens obesity clinic

EVANSTON, Ill., Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Illinois has opened a center to study the causes of obesity and find new ways to treat it.

In a major initiative aimed at addressing a local and national health epidemic, the Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity will aim at treatment, research, education and advocacy, officials said.

"This is the major epidemic of our time," said Dr. Lewis Landsberg, founder and director of the center told The Chicago Tribune. "Obesity and its complications threaten to replace smoking-related diseases as the pre-eminent health problem that we face."

Gene flap delays babies' epilepsy care

SYDNEY, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Australian infants with a severe form of epilepsy risk having their diagnoses delayed because of a company's patent on a key gene, a hospital official says.

It is the first reported evidence that private property rights over human DNA are adversely affecting medical care, the Sydney Morning Herald said.

Dr. Deepak Gill, head of neurology at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, said if he could test in-house for the SCNIA gene, which would diagnose the disabling Dravet syndrome, he would test at least 50 per cent more infants. Instead, specialists are sending blood samples to Scotland.

Rights to the gene are controlled by Genetic Technologies, based in Melbourne, which has already threatened to stop public hospitals testing for breast cancer gene mutations, the report said.

EU says drug firms blocked generics

BRUSSELS, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The European Commission has accused drug companies of blocking the entry of cheaper generic drugs into Europe, adding billions to the cost of medicine.

In a report from Brussels, the EU said anti-competitive practices ranged from initiating lawsuits to hold up competing products to filing multiple patent applications for the same medicine.

In one case of "patent clustering," the report cited 1,300 patents filed for a single medicine, the Financial Times said.

Although the report does not name individual companies, Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner, said there likely would be follow-up action against those that had breached EU laws.