SEATTLE, May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- A new national poll shows that American women show little concern about developing lung cancer, despite the fact that it is the number one cancer killer of women. Lung cancer will kill more than 70,000 women this year -- more than breast cancer (approximately 41,000) and ovarian cancer (approximately 15,000) combined. Lung cancer death rates for U.S. women are among the highest in the world. The poll was commissioned by Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) .
During the past 20 years, lung cancer deaths among women increased nearly 200 percent, while the number for men decreased about 5 percent. Yet women are even less worried than men about developing lung cancer.
According to the survey, 45 percent of women were more concerned about having a heart attack, while 33 percent pointed to breast cancer as their number one health fear. Only 11 percent said lung cancer worried them despite recent news coverage of the high profile celebrity deaths of Dana Reeve and Peter Jennings. The poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies of Alexandria, Va. included 800 likely voters with equal numbers of men and women. (For complete poll results go to http://www.cticseattle.com/media.htm).
Even with the increased deaths from lung cancer, funding for medical research into lung cancer continues to lag behind other diseases. The federal government spends $1,829 per lung cancer death, compared to $23,474 per estimated breast cancer death and $14,369 per estimated prostate cancer death.
“These survey results confirm an alarming truth -- that tremendous misunderstanding and ignorance surrounding lung cancer’s lethalness continues to exist, especially among women,” said Laurie Fenton, President of the Lung Cancer Alliance in Washington D.C.
“Simply put, we must do a far better job educating the American public about these dangers and increasing research dollars to a level commensurate with lung cancer’s public health impact -- which includes understanding why certain forms of lung cancer are more aggressive in women than men.”
Last week the United States Senate passed by unanimous consent S.Res.408 which calls for lung cancer to be treated as a national public health priority and lays out a blueprint for a coordinated attack on lung cancer’s high mortality by several federal agencies. A similar resolution is pending action in the House of Representatives.
“Gender does matter -- especially when it comes to lung cancer,” said James A. Bianco, M.D., president and CEO of CTI. “This should be a national wake-up call for increased awareness and research into lung cancer and gender based medicine. Women are affected differently than men when lung cancer strikes and they respond differently to treatment. We need to open the door to a new avenue of clinical research for gender specific therapies.”
Mounting scientific evidence points to estrogen as a factor in the difference between how lung cancer acts in women versus men. Though its exact role in the disease is unknown, recent studies suggest that estrogen may promote lung cancer growth and metastasis, making the disease more aggressive in women. These differences promise to have critical implications for developing safer and more effective treatments for women.
“Sunday begins National Women’s Health Week and this poll reinforces the need for increased study of gender differences in diagnosis and treatment,” said Phyllis Greenberger, president and CEO of the Society for Women’s Health Research also based in Washington D.C.
“Lung cancer deaths specifically are on the rise in women and there is growing evidence that the disease develops and progresses differently between the sexes. We need research that will explain these differences and, where appropriate, develop sex-specific treatments to address the variations we are seeing between women and men.”
The poll also showed that men had a stronger belief than women, 61 percent versus 45 percent, that medical researchers take the gender of patients into account when conducting medical research. And among women who are most concerned about lung cancer, 48 percent believe that medical researchers do not take gender into account, a striking difference from men who believe gender is taken into account.
CTI is currently conducting an all-female clinical trial, known as PIONEER, for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
PIONEER Clinical Trial Protocol
The PIONEER clinical trial is currently enrolling 600 poor performance status (PS2) chemotherapy-naive women with advanced stage NSCLC in the United States, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Each study arm of approximately 300 patients will be randomized to receive either XYOTAX(TM) 175mg/m2 or paclitaxel 175mg/m2 once every three weeks. The primary endpoint is superior overall survival with several secondary endpoints including disease control, response rate in patients with measurable disease, time to disease progression, and disease-related symptoms.
About XYOTAX
XYOTAX(TM) (paclitaxel poliglumex) is a biologically-enhanced chemotherapeutic that links paclitaxel, the active ingredient in Taxol(R), to a biodegradable polyglutamate polymer, which results in a new chemical entity. When bound to the polymer, the chemotherapy is rendered inactive potentially sparing normal tissue’s exposure to high levels of unbound, active chemotherapy and its associated toxicities. Blood vessels in tumor tissue, unlike blood vessels in normal tissue, are porous to molecules like polyglutamate. Once inside the tumor cell, enzymes metabolize the protein polymer, releasing the paclitaxel chemotherapy. Based on preclinical studies, it appears that XYOTAX is preferentially trapped in the tumor blood vessels allowing significantly more of the dose of chemotherapy to localize in the tumor. Preclinical and clinical studies support that XYOTAX metabolism by lung cancer cells may be influenced by estrogen which could lead to enhanced release of paclitaxel and efficacy in women with lung cancer compared to standard therapies.
About Cell Therapeutics, Inc.
Headquartered in Seattle, CTI is a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing an integrated portfolio of oncology products aimed at making cancer more treatable. For additional information, please visit www.cticseattle.com.
This press release includes forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, the outcome of which could materially and/or adversely affect actual future results. Specifically, the risks and uncertainties that could affect the development of XYOTAX include risks associated with preclinical and clinical developments in the biopharmaceutical industry in general and with XYOTAX in particular including, without limitation, the potential failure of XYOTAX to prove safe and effective for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, determinations by regulatory, patent and administrative governmental authorities, competitive factors, technological developments, costs of developing, producing and selling XYOTAX, and the risk factors listed or described from time to time in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, without limitation, the Company’s most recent filings on Forms 10-K, 8-K, and 10-Q. CTI is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Cell Therapeutics, Inc.
CONTACT: Dan Eramian, +1-206-282-7100, or Susan Callahan, +1-206-272-4472,both of Cell Therapeutics, Inc., fax, +1-206-272-4434, ormedia@ctiseattle.com
Web site: http://www.cticseattle.com//
