http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Q0uQAL_YDA

Video of Care To Live member Ted Girgus taken at our nationwide protest in Seattle. Ted has stage IV prostate cancer, that has metastacized to his bones. Ted and his doctor, want him on Provenge NOW!

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Here is a Video of the 2007 Rally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqAx7uZAS90

MAY 30, 2008 NATIONWIDE PROSTATE CANCER PROTEST

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20% of 42,000 Lives = 8,400 Lives & Counting

Money is very important to most people yet nobody can measure how many dollars one life is worth. There is no amount of money, no matter how much, that is worth trading for one single life. If one life is so very valuable to one family, then how much are 8,400 lives worth?

Ever since the FDA delayed getting Provenge to men with late stage prostate cancer over 42,000 men have died. If they were on Provenge since May 2007, at least 20% would still be alive. That is over 8,400 men that would have benefited.

In other words the FDA would have approved Provenge if it saved 9,240 people, but because it only saved 8,400 people’s lives, they won’t let us have it. The bureacracy must be using artificial intelligence to come up with their faulty conclusion to delay. The FDA already told us the agency is too broken to keep up with the science.

There are currently 90,000 to 100,000 men with Androgen Independent Prostate Cancer (AIPC), or are hormone refractory. That’s 18,000 to 20,000 people. AT LEAST THEY COULD BE SAVED, according to interim data just released. Keep in mind that the final data will even be more impressive.

CareToLive has again written to Dr. Jesse Goodman, the Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). CareToLive sent Dr. Goodman a Citizens Petition on July 27, 2007, to reconsider the denial of a license for Provenge, an immunotherapy treatment for men with late stage prostate cancer. The petition was sent to the FDA over a year ago and as per Federal Regulation CareToLive should have received an answer within 180 days after receipt. We are still waiting.

Additional data for Provenge has recently been evaluated and has shown what we at CareToLive have been saying all along. Provenge is safe and Provenge shows a survival benefit. An outside firm has just confirmed that 20% of the men in the Provenge trials survived over placebo, due to the Provenge treatment. It is time for the FDA to grant approval, even if only conditional while more data is gathered, so that men with late stage prostate cancer can begin receiving Provenge NOW!

Link to CareToLive’s Citizen’s Petition http://caretolive.com/caretolivepetition.pdf

Here is the letter CareToLive sent to Dr. Jesse Goodman:

Jesse L. Goodman, M.D., M.P.H.
Director
Food and Drug Administration
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
1401 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852-1448

Re: Docket No. 2007P-0297/CP1

Dear Dr. Goodman,

I am requesting that the FDA reconsider our CareToLive Citizens Petition docket number 2007P-0297/CP1 filed in July 2007, concerning the FDA delay of Provenge licensure for men with late stage prostate cancer. To date we have never received a proper answer and have only received one letter from you, stating that our petition is still pending. Enclosed is additional data obtained from the Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) from the Interim look, proving that the survival is real. Provenge clearly demonstrated a 20% reduction in the risk of death in the Provenge arm relative to placebo.

My husband Mike Kearney and I both spoke to Paul Richards of the FDA Consumer Affairs CBER Department, whom your office directed us to. He is supposed to be working for Consumer Affairs but he obviously does not have the consumer in mind. Mr. Richards stated that he himself looked at the data and did not see the survival. This is shocking, seeing that even Dr. Maha Hussain, of “leaked letter” fame said at the meeting that she saw the survival. She wanted to make sure it could be attributed to Provenge. This additional IDMC data proves that the survival is indeed due to Provenge. Mr. Richards refused to answer our question as to whether Provenge is safe. The IDMC clearly states that Provenge is safe, and the FDA Advisory Commmitee voted unanimously that Provenge is safe, so that should not be an issue, despite Mr. Richards refusal to admit Provenge’s safety profile. Mr Richards told us that the minority panelists swayed the FDA decision to delay Provenge. Another of the minority panelists, Dr. Howard Scher, also of “leaked letter” infamy, had many undisclosed conflicts of interest, including running a competitior’s trial for prostate cancer with Novacea’s Asentar, a trial that was stopped midstream due to the high number of deaths, possibly caused by Dr. Scher’s trial design, which caused an abundance of toxicity to the poor patients enrolled.

Our Citizens Petition, which is also attached, addressed the shenanigans that took place during the FDA Provenge BLA process. The FDA correctly granted Provenge Fast Track Status and Priority Review since it is a treatment for a life threatening disease where no viable alternatives exist. Regardless of what took place in the past, in light of the corroborating scientific evidence seen at the Interim, it is time to to reconsider our Petition concerning the denial of a license for Provenge for men with late stage prostate cancer.

To date, over 42,000 men have died without the benefit of Provenge. A 20% improvement in survival means that more than 8000 of them might still be alive if given the right to fight for their lives. It is a travesty that the FDA, which is sworn to protect the public health, has instead ignored these men in their battle with prostate cancer.

The FDA can fix this by allowing the 96,000 men who are eligible for Provenge right now, the chance to fight for their lives. Please restore the American people’s faith in the FDA, and in light of the new data, honor that Fast Track Status and Priority Review. Please reconsider the CareToLive Citizens Petition to reconsider the denial of a license for Provenge. This is an emergency!

Thank you for your immediate consideration of this matter.

Very Respectfully,

Rory & Mike Kearney
CareToLive,
a not for profit corporation

Cc: Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305)
Paul Richards, FDA Consumer Affairs
Lanessa Hill, FDA Consumer Affairs
Stephen Ripley, FDA Consumer Affairs

Popularity: 16%

CareToLive Reports Forbes Journalist to the SEC for “Rumor Mongering”

CareToLive, a not for profit corporation, wrote to Steve Forbes and his editors last Tuesday, asking them to investigate Matthew Herper and to consider relieving him of his duties. CareToLive cited Mr. Herper’s one-sided, rumor mongering story, which will appear in the September 15th issue of Forbes magazine. CareToLive presented the real story and tied it in to a Forbes welcoming screen, which displayed the following quote:

“Every being must desire happiness for himself.”

-Richard Price

CareToLive informed Steve Forbes that although Forbe’s use of the above quote is a nice idea, as long as people like Mr. Herper interfere with that desire for happiness, namely the happiness of the 96,000 men desiring a safe, non-toxic treatment for their late stage prostate cancer, it only remains a nice idea.

CareToLive relayed to Mr. Forbes that it should report Matthew Herper to the SEC for rumor mongering, in part because of his use of the word “lousy” when describing the Provenge data. Writing that the data were lousy demonstrated his own bias as the word lousy never appeared in any of the three leaked letters that he was referencing. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said that the new enforcement action for rumor mongering cracks down on rumors that the disseminator knows to be false.

Furthermore, CareToLive informed Mr. Herper prior to the article that CareToLive was just coming into existence at the time of the Chicago rally and was not responsible for organizing it. Regardless, the Chicago rally was completely peaceful, and there were no threats or intimidation leveled from the demonstrators, all of whom conducted themselves in a dignified, professional manner.

CareToLive does not try to alienate or antagonize the many thousands of practicing oncologists. Our only problem has been with the five conflicted oncologists that worked to stop the Provenge license approval, namely Howard Scher, Maha Hussain, Thomas Fleming, Richard Pazdur and Alison Martin. CareToLive informed Mr. Forbes that there are prominent cancer doctors who firmly believe in the Provenge data, and await the approval of the treatment so they may administer it to their patients suffering from late stage prostate cancer.

CareToLive waited for a response from Forbes, without success, and two days later sent notice of the rumor mongering to Enforcement at the SEC. Once again CTL laid out the story, this time covering many of Scher’s conflicts, in particular the fact that Scher publicly admitted on page 3 of his leaked letter that he was leading a Phase III trial for a Provenge competitor. CareToLive believes that Scher should have excused himself from serving and voting on the Provenge Advisory Committee due to his lack of impartiality. CareToLive asked the SEC to investigate Dr. Scher’s conflicts and included the details of Scher’s ProQuest Investments Scientific Advisory position, and his relationship with Novacea.

When this article hits the newsstands any day now, and appears in subscribers’ mailboxes, or in waiting rooms of doctors and dentists, Mr. Herper will have achieved his goal of wrongly influencing the readers.

All of this was CC’d to Steve Forbes, his editors and Mr. Herper so they could see, once again, the other side of the story and to try to encourage Mr. Herper to be objective when he writes his next story on Dendreon and CareToLive. The SEC acknowledged receipt of the complaint.

CareToLive feels the article was in part penned by Mr. Herper out of revenge since CareToLive’s lawyer questioned Mr. Herper’s previous article. It is also CareToLive’s belief that Mr. Herper has never been fair to Provenge in his coverage of this prostate cancer immunotherapy and that Mr. Herper was the first to leak parts of Maha Hussain’s letter, the day before it was officially published.

For more information go to www.CareToLive.com

Popularity: 26%

CareToLive has just learned Alison Martin no longer works at NCI. Remember her? She helped Howie Scher write his leaked letter. She now works for the Melanoma Research Alliance. Check out their website. It will be fully up and running on August 19th.

http://www.melanomaresearchalliance.org/

This is a new organization found under the auspices (patronage; support; sponsorship) of the Michael Milken Institute. It intends to support ambitious and innovative projects from both individual scientists and research teams to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic avenues relevant to pathways governing the behavior and clinical outcome of melanoma.

Skin cancer represents the most commonly diagnosed malignancy, surpassing lung, breast, colorectal and prostate cancer.
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer.
Even though it is rare, malignant melanoma is responsible for 75 % of all skin cancer related death cases

Meanwhile, back at the NCI ranch, we tried to pursue the missing gaps in the FOIA documents, namely, Scher’s “personal” e-mail. Under the rules, we can’t have his personal letter if it has his mother’s maiden name, his social security number, his phone number, home address, etc. Well what we learned is, this e-mail has his personal opinion. Did he say bad things about the Advisory Committee, its panelists, the patients who made public statements, CBER, Dendreon and Provenge? Did he brag how Asentar and GVAX and Abiraterone are better options? We want to know. Personal information and personal opinion are two different things, especially when that opinion influences a decision.

You can view the NCI FOIA documents here:

http://caretolive.com/NCI-FOIA-Response.pdf

Well, NCI tells us that since Alison Martin no longer works there, and since Scher doesn’t work for NCI, they do not have to turn over the e-mail. Can you believe that? What Alison Martin did when she worked for NCI should be fair game. Our tax dollars paid for that “work”. And what Scher, the most conflicted doctor on the Advisory Committee panel, had to say is most relevant in why he fought so hard to stop Provenge from being approved. We are sure he didn’t ask Alison Martin her bra size because it appears she forwarded the e-mails to Howard Streicher. We will continue to pursue this.

Popularity: 39%