Friday, December 12, 2014

A cure for Cancer...yes...but only for the rich!

Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pharmacyclics and Janssen Announce Clinical Collaboration to Evaluate OPDIVO® (nivolumab) and IMBRUVICA®(ibrutinib) in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Monday, October 13, 2014 8:00 am EDT
"We look forward to working with Pharmacyclics and Janssen to evaluate the potential of these two therapies as options for patients with lymphomas."
NEW YORK & SUNNYVALE, Calif. & RARITAN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY),Pharmacyclics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCYC), and Janssen Research & Development, LLC announced today they have entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s investigational PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor OPDIVO®(nivolumab) in combination with IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib), an oral Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor co-developed and co-marketed by Pharmacyclics and Janssen. The Phase 1/2 study will focus on evaluating the safety and anti-tumor activity of combining OPDIVO and IMBRUVICA as a potential treatment option for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma (FL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Bristol-Myers Squibb has proposed the name OPDIVO (pronounced op-dee-voh), which if approved by health authorities, will serve as the trademark for the investigational drug, nivolumab.
OPDIVO is part of a new class of cancer treatments known as immunotherapies, which are designed to harness the body’s own immune system in fighting cancer by targeting distinct regulatory components of the immune system. Each agent has individually shown activity against hematologic malignancies in clinical trials; pre-clinical evidence suggests OPDIVO and IMBRUVICA may have the potential for additive treatment effects in patients with hematologic malignancies.
“Our collaboration to study OPDIVO in combination with IMBRUVICA is an innovative approach to accelerating Bristol-Myers Squibb’s progress in the study of immuno-oncology and hematologic malignancies, gaining further insight into promising areas of drug development and research,” stated Michael Giordano, senior vice president, Head of Development, Oncology, Bristol-Myers Squibb. “We look forward to working with Pharmacyclics and Janssen to evaluate the potential of these two therapies as options for patients with lymphomas.”
“We are excited about the opportunity to understand and evaluate the potential activity of IMBRUVICA and OPDIVO together, and the benefits this combination may offer patients,” said Peter F. Lebowitz, M.D., Ph.D., Global Oncology Head, Janssen. “We look forward to working with Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pharmacyclics on this study as we continue to grow the body of knowledge about IMBRUVICA in different settings and patient populations.”
“This collaboration underscores our interest in exploring the use of IMBRUVICA in combination with other therapies to address a variety of histologies in which we believe IMBRUVICA can make a meaningful clinical difference,” said Bob Duggan, Chairman and CEO, Pharmacyclics. “We value our strategic collaboration with Janssen and look forward to extending our relationship to Bristol-Myers Squibb for this project as our companies collectively seek to advance treatment options for patients.”
The study will be conducted by Janssen. Additional details of the collaboration were not disclosed.
About OPDIVO (nivolumab)
Cancer cells may exploit “regulatory” pathways, such as checkpoint pathways, to hide from the immune system and shield the tumor from immune attack. OPDIVO is an investigational, fully-human PD-1 (programmed death-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor that binds to the checkpoint receptor PD-1 expressed on activated T-cells.
Bristol-Myers Squibb has a broad, global development program to study OPDIVO in multiple tumor types consisting of more than 35 trials – as monotherapy or in combination with other therapies – in which more than 7,000 patients have been enrolled worldwide. Among these are several potentially registrational trials in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma, renal cell carcinoma (RCC), head and neck cancer, glioblastoma and NHL.
In 2013, the FDA granted Fast Track designation for OPDIVO in NSCLC, melanoma and RCC. In April 2014, the company initiated a rolling submission with the FDA for OPDIVO in third-line pre-treated squamous cell NSCLC and expects to complete the submission by year-end. The FDA granted its first Breakthrough Therapy Designation for OPDIVO in May 2014 for the treatment of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma after failure of autologous stem cell transplant and brentuximab. On July 4, Ono Pharmaceutical Co. announced that OPDIVO received manufacturing and marketing approval in Japan for the treatment of patients with unresectable melanoma, making OPDIVO the first PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor to receive regulatory approval anywhere in the world. On September 26, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that the FDA accepted for priority review the Biologics License Application for previously treated advanced melanoma, and the Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date for a decision is March 30, 2015. The FDA also granted OPDIVO Breakthrough Therapy status for this indication. In the European Union, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has validated for review the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for OPDIVO in advanced melanoma. The application has also been granted accelerated assessment by the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use. The EMA also validated for review the MAA for nivolumab in NSCLC.
About IMBRUVICA®
IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) is a first-in-class, oral, once-daily therapy that inhibits a protein called Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK). BTK is a key signaling molecule in the B-cell receptor signaling complex that plays an important role in the survival and spread of malignant B cells. IMBRUVICA blocks signals that tell malignant B cells to multiply and spread uncontrollably.
IMBRUVICA is approved for the treatment of patients with CLL who have received at least one prior therapy, and for the treatment of CLL patients with del 17p, a genetic mutation that occurs when part of chromosome 17 has been lost.
IMBRUVICA is also approved for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least one prior therapy. Accelerated approval was granted for the MCL indication based on overall response rate (ORR). Improvements in survival or disease-related symptoms have not been established. Continued approval for the MCL indication may be contingent upon verification of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.
IMBRUVICA is being studied alone and in combination with other treatments in several blood cancers including CLL, MCL, Waldenström's macroglobulinemia (WM), DLBCL, FL and multiple myeloma (MM). Approximately 3,500 patients have received IMBRUVICA in clinical trials conducted in 35 countries by more than 800 investigators around the world. As of June 30, 2014, 12 Phase 3 trials have been initiated with IMBRUVICA and approximately 50 trials are registered onwww.clinicaltrials.gov. The overall clinical development program in CLL currently includes seven Phase 3 trials and covers all lines of therapy and various combinations of treatments.
IMBRUVICA was one the first medicines to receive U.S. FDA approval via the new Breakthrough Therapy Designation pathway, and is the only product to have received three Breakthrough Therapy Designations. IMBRUVICA is jointly developed and commercialized by Janssen Biotech, Inc. and Pharmacyclics.
IMBRUVICA INDICATIONS
IMBRUVICA is indicated to treat people with:
  • Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least one prior therapy
    • Accelerated approval was granted for this indication based on overall response rate. Improvements in survival or disease-related symptoms have not been established. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.
  • Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have received at least one prior therapy
  • Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with 17p deletion
IMBRUVICA - IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Warnings and Precautions include hemorrhage, infection, cyptopenias, atrial fibrillation, second primary malignancies, and embryo-fetal toxicity.
The most common adverse reactions include thrombocytopenia, diarrhea, neutropenia, anemia, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, peripheral edema, upper respiratory tract infection, nausea, bruising, dyspnea, constipation, rash, abdominal pain, pyrexia, vomiting, and decreased appetite.
For additional important safety information, please see Full Prescribing Information at www.imbruvica.com/isi/.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information, please visit www.bms.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.
About Pharmacyclics
Pharmacyclics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCYC) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and immune-mediated diseases. The Company's mission and goal is to build a viable biopharmaceutical company that designs, develops and commercializes novel therapies intended to improve quality of life, increase duration of life and resolve serious unmet medical healthcare needs; and to identify and control promising product candidates based on scientific development and administrational expertise, develop its products in a rapid, cost-efficient manner and pursue commercialization and/or development partners when and where appropriate.
Pharmacyclics markets IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) and has three product candidates in clinical development and several preclinical molecules in lead optimization. The Company is committed to high standards of ethics, scientific rigor, and operational efficiency as it moves each of these programs to viable commercialization. Pharmacyclics is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. Please visit http://www.pharmacyclics.com.
About the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson
At Janssen, we are dedicated to addressing and solving some of the most important unmet medical needs of our time in oncology, immunology, neuroscience, infectious diseases and vaccines, and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Driven by our commitment to patients, we develop innovative products, services and healthcare solutions to help people throughout the world. Janssen Research & Development is part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). Please visit www.janssenrnd.com for more information.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Among other risks, there can be no guarantee that nivolumab will receive regulatory approval in the U.S. either as a single agent or in a combination regimen, or, if approved, that it will become a commercially successful product. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Pharmacyclics Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement may contain forward-looking statements made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements, among others, relating to our future capital requirements, including our expected liquidity position and timing of the receipt of certain milestone payments, and the sufficiency of our current assets to meet these requirements, our future results of operations, our expectations for and timing of ongoing or future clinical trials and regulatory approvals for any of our product candidates, and our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. Because these statements apply to future events, they are subject to risks and uncertainties. When used in this announcement, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "expectation", "goal", "should", "would", "project", "plan", "predict", "intend", "target" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, expected liquidity or achievements to differ materially from those projected in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such a difference include, without limitation, our need for substantial additional financing and the availability and terms of any such financing, the safety and/or efficacy results of clinical trials of our product candidates, our failure to obtain regulatory approvals or comply with ongoing governmental regulation, our ability to commercialize, manufacture and achieve market acceptance of any of our product candidates, for which we rely heavily on collaboration with third parties, and our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights and to operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of third parties. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements and no assurance can be given that the actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. For more information about the risks and uncertainties that may affect our results, please see the Risk Factors section of our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this announcement to conform these statements to actual results, to changes in management's expectations or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
Johnson & Johnson Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding product development. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Janssen Research & Development, LLC and/or Johnson & Johnson. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approvals; competition, including technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges to patents; changes to regulations and domestic and foreign health care reforms; and general industry conditions, including trends toward health care cost containment. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Johnson & Johnson's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2013, including in Exhibit 99 thereto, and the company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. None of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies or Johnson & Johnson undertakes to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments.
IMBRUVICA is a registered trademark of Pharmacyclics, Inc.

Contact:

Bristol-Myers Squibb
Media:
Ken Dominski, 609-252-5251
ken.dominski@bms.com
or
Investors:
Ranya Dajani, 609-252-5330
ranya.dajani@bms.com
or
Ryan Asay, 609-252-5020
ryan.asay@bms.com
or
Pharmacyclics
Media:
Samina Bari, 408-215-3169
or
Investors:
Ramses Erdtmann, 408-215-3325
or
IMBRUVICA Medical Information:
Pharmacyclics Medical Information: 877-877-3536
or
Janssen
Media:
Kellie McLaughlin, 908-927-7477
Mobile: 609-468-8356
or
Investors:
Stan Panasewicz, 732-524-2524
or
Louise Mehrotra, 732-524-6491
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How to kill a protection bill.

Gentle People: This is an important message from the New York Times. Remember the recession! Well the Banks are going to do it to you again with the Oil cartels and the Bush family helping them.They just passed a bill in government allowing them to do it to you again! I suggest you elect only local pro-environment human rights activists into your State governments and do not borrow money from the Banks! If you are in a mortgage, lock it in now at a low interest rate! I also suggest you create local home mortgage lending associations that will lend money below Bank rates. Remember the movie "It's a wonderful life!" with Jimmy Stewart? Now imagine the corrupt Bank manager winning and extrapolate that scenario into real life and soon you will feel the results. Brace yourselves! P.S. I also suggest you create a third political Party from the working class. Call it the National Union Party.
The Opinion Pages | EDITORIAL

Hiding Bad Policy in a Budget Bill

By 

When the long-lost grail of bipartisan compromise finally re-emerged on Capitol Hill this week, the spending bill for 2015 turned out to be weighted with some of the most devious and damaging provisions imaginable for good government. Written in secrecy, presented as the take-it-or-leave-it alternative to a government shutdown, the bill, which narrowly passed the House Thursday night, includes two regressive “riders” aimed at warming the big-money hearts of donors who leave Congress increasingly vulnerable to special-interest corruption.
One rider would allow a huge increase in the size of checks that deep-pocketed donors can write to win inner-sanctum clout with the major political parties. A donor now held to a mere $97,200 under party limits would be able to give a staggering $777,600. In a further invitation to luxury shopping, a couple yearning for the inside track could triple-down and give $3.1 million to party committees. This is pretty much the coup de grâce for the McCain-Feingold law’s ban on large party donations enacted to end the “soft money” corruption of Watergate.
The parties claim they need this big transfusion of lucre to compete with the stealth millions being raised by independent political operatives. But in truth, the rider would only enlarge the political casino’s runaway action, without any hint of ethical controls.
The second rider, custom tailored for the banks of Wall Street, would kill a crucial part of the Dodd-Frank reform law aimed at curbing the banks’ reckless speculation in complex derivatives that fueled the banks’ ignominious collapse in 2008 and fed the great recession. The rider would effectively put taxpayers back on the hook to cushion the banks’ losses in risky derivative deals.
The White House complained but still supports the bill’s passage. The dirty secret is that many Democrats want this harmful repeal as much as Republicans do in the shabby, big-money symbiosis between Wall Street and Capitol Hill. Passage of this rider would also signal open season on the rest of the Dodd-Frank reforms when Republicans take control of both houses next year. Though a few Democratic senators plan a counterattack against the Dodd-Frank repeal, there clearly is little appetite on Capitol Hill for responsible, transparent legislating.
The omnibus bill includes a thicket of other regressive moves, including further budget cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency, always a favorite target of the Republican right wing. Most notoriously, the bill would enshrine a Bush-era rule that allows the mountaintop mining industry to continue dumping toxic coal waste in the streams of Appalachia.
The Internal Revenue Service, another conservative bête noire, would take one of the harshest cuts, $345.6 million, weakening auditing and taxation. The Fish and Wildlife Service would be banned from adding the greater sage grouse to the endangered species list — a victory for the gas and oil industry, which covets even more of America’s threatened Western landscapes than it already has access to. And so it goes — special industry giveaways, large and small, one after the other.


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Thursday, December 11, 2014

A HOLIDAY STORY FOR YOU!


DO I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? NO BUT...

In 1974 I was a skinny Twenty Seven year old wannabe writer wondering homeless and almost broke on the streets of Vancouver. Almost because I had Twenty-Five cents in my left Blue Jean pocket and nothing but a hole in my other pocket. Not knowing where to find my next meal forced me to hold on tightly to that quarter.

Gas-town Vancouver was proving to be a strange place! It was the oldest and most itinerant filled part of the city and it was also far from the office towers and beautiful homes of upper middle class Vancouver. The poor and homeless felt less rejected in Gas town and so, being poor and homeless myself, I tried to blend and mingle with the street people. Mingling for me meant watching an old man feeding Pigeons. He placed a few peanuts in his hands and waved his arms gently up and down and I was surprised to see the birds land on his arms and eat the peanuts! The closest I could coax a pigeon with food was three feet before they feathered away. I noticed most of the birds were dust Grey and street smart and yet I saw a few bright multicolored feathers; too pretty to be anything but escapees from a Hutch.

These clever street birds never allowed humans closer than a few feet and so I wondered how the old man managed to land them on his arm?

“How does he do that?” I thought and kept studying until the idea finally struck me! The secret was not to stare at them. The birds were staring first and if you looked directly at them, they were gone!

“Interesting. Very interesting” Then I saw the police car cruising past and decided to walk a few steps to give the impression I had somewhere to go. I stopped when I saw the small bars of Chocolate laid out neatly in rows in the local candy store window. I was starving and so I said good-bye to my last quarter even though I knew the snack would not last long. Only Twenty Five cents and by God I was feeling hungry! When I reached for the quarter I saw the bag of Peanuts...also only Twenty Five Cents.

It was a strange choice! To buy the Peanuts and feed the Pigeons or buy a Chocolate bar and briefly, very briefly stop from starving! My curiosity was always stronger than my intelligence and so I bought the peanuts. I never claimed to be a bright human being and so I carried my treasure to the park and put some peanuts in my hand. Then I exactly imitated the old man and moved my arms gently up and down.
It was worth the pain in my stomach to feel those Pigeons land on my arm and go for my Peanuts.

End of story you would think but no, this is where my life changed completely.
Unknown to me a pretty young lady was standing across the street and watching my effort. She crossed the street and approached me.

“I always wanted to do that!" she said. "Can you show me how?”
Without a word I placed some Peanuts in her hand and gently moved her arm up and down and then I backed away.
“Don't stare at them.” I said. If you do they will fly away.
“Oh my God I can feel them! She laughed! They are on my arm! I can feel them! Thank you! Thank You! I am going to buy you lunch and a Beer!

 Like I said...I don't believe in miracles but.... Happy Holidays!
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Sunday, December 7, 2014

Gas and Oil exploration company is threatening narwhals and an entire way of life! Help stop them now! A tiny community is fighting Big Oil, and they need our help! Off the coast of Clyde River, Nunavut, unspoiled Arctic waters are home to 90% of the world's narwhals. These whales, with their unique tusks that look like a unicorn's horn, take up a important role in the aquatic ecosystem. They are also an important food source for the native Inuit people, many of whom must rely on subsistence hunting to survive. But Clyde River, the narwhals, and everyone whose way of life depends on the ocean are in danger. The Canadian government just granted oil corporations the right to search for drilling sites in the ocean near Clyde River. The environnmental devastation that comes with offshore drilling is bad enough, but the search is worse – these oil companies will use "seismic testing," setting off huge explosions underwater. Like all whales, narwhals use their hearing to communicate and to find their way safely beneath the Arctic ice. The search for oil will deafen, disorient, and kill any narwhals caught in its path. Save the narwhals! Sign the petition to stop Big Oil from destroying Arctic habitats. For generations, big corporations have stripped northern Canada of its natural resources, trampling the rights of native peoples and destroying entire ecosystems for profit. The government has been complicit in this, auctioning off oil and mineral rights to the highest bidder and ignoring the consequences. The people of Clyde River have had enough. They are standing up to the government and to Big Oil and fighting to protect their home. But there are only 900 people in Clyde River. They need us to stand with them. If we act now, we can stop the oil companies in their tracks before the damage is done. Sign the petition to the government of Canada, saying NO to Big Oil wrecking the Arctic Ocean. ********** More information: Help Protect Canada's Arctic from Oil Spills Save the Arctic Sign the petition to the Canadian government. Petition Text: Oil exploration and offshore drilling destroys aquatic ecosystems, putting the narwhal and Inuit communities both at risk. Don't allow Big Oil to wreck the Arctic Ocean." FULL NAMEEMAIL ADDRESS COUNTRY POSTAL / ZIP CODE SumOfUs will protect your privacy, and keep you updated about this and similar campaigns. HOME ABOUT PRIVACY POLICY CONTACT 2014 SumOfUs, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.


A tiny community is fighting Big Oil, and they need our help!

Off the coast of Clyde River, Nunavut, unspoiled Arctic waters are home to 90% of the world's narwhals. These whales, with their unique tusks that look like a unicorn's horn, take up a important role in the aquatic ecosystem. They are also an important food source for the native Inuit people, many of whom must rely on subsistence hunting to survive. But Clyde River, the narwhals, and everyone whose way of life depends on the ocean are in danger.
The Canadian government just granted oil corporations the right to search for drilling sites in the ocean near Clyde River. The environnmental devastation that comes with offshore drilling is bad enough, but the search is worse – these oil companies will use "seismic testing," setting off huge explosions underwater. Like all whales, narwhals use their hearing to communicate and to find their way safely beneath the Arctic ice. The search for oil will deafen, disorient, and kill any narwhals caught in its path.
Save the narwhals! Sign the petition to stop Big Oil from destroying Arctic habitats.
For generations, big corporations have stripped northern Canada of its natural resources, trampling the rights of native peoples and destroying entire ecosystems for profit. The government has been complicit in this, auctioning off oil and mineral rights to the highest bidder and ignoring the consequences.
The people of Clyde River have had enough. They are standing up to the government and to Big Oil and fighting to protect their home. But there are only 900 people in Clyde River. They need us to stand with them. If we act now, we can stop the oil companies in their tracks before the damage is done.
Sign the petition to the government of Canada, saying NO to Big Oil wrecking the Arctic Ocean. 

**********
More information:

Sign the petition to the Canadian government.

Petition Text:

Oil exploration and offshore drilling destroys aquatic ecosystems, putting the narwhal and Inuit communities both at risk. Don't allow Big Oil to wreck the Arctic Ocean."


SumOfUs will protect your privacy, and keep you updated about this and similar campaigns.
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