Cancerlife provides a social platform for cancer center patients to communicate with supporters such as friends, family, people who share their disease and physicians. It also includes a journal to document how they are feeling. But what sets Cancerlife apart from rivals, says president and co-founder Charles Coltman, is that patients can track the side effects they experience from their medications, allowing them to work with their physicians to better tailor the level and types of medication they take.

A cancer vaccine developer has appointed a life sciences entrepreneur as chairman.Dr. Wolfgang Oster is a managing partner for the life sciences fund at PolyTechnos, which focuses on investment in early stage, technology-oriented companies. Although the venture capital firm’s focus has been primarily on German companies, it has invested in several U.S.-based life sciences businesses. [...]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a revised label for cancer drug Gleevec following a clinical study that showed better results with prolonged use of the drug compared with the 12 months that has been recommended.The U.S. regulator also granted regular approval of Gleevec. Marketed by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:NVS) with [...]

A New Zealand bladder cancer detection firm is opening its U.S. office at the biotechnology incubator Hershey Center for Applied Research, in a move that will add 100 jobs over three years.Pacific Edge Diagnostics will market its bladder cancer detection test, Cx Bladder, to urologists at the end of the year, according to a statement [...]

A biotechnology company that develops tests to determine dosages for more personalized cancer treatments has begun looking for a new CEO after the current head of the company submitted his resignation for family reasons. He will be replaced by a senior vice-president from Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania, an incubator and investor in the [...]

A gel to treat a precancerous skin condition has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.Picato gel, produced by LEO Pharma is applied to the skin to treat actinic keratosis, a skin condition caused by overexposure to the sun. The condition produces dry, scaly patches or lesions that form on the outermost layer [...]

A team of researchers at Jefferson University Hospitals and National Institutes of Health has found that vitamin C in high doses shows encouraging signs as a treatment aid with chemotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer and is seeking patients for a phase 2 trial.A small phase 1 clinical trial at Jefferson used high-dose, intravenous vitamin C [...]

A drug to combat kidney failure that some cancer patients suffer after receiving high levels of chemotherapy drug methotrexate has been approved by U.S. regulators with an orphan drug designation.Voraxaze, made by UK-based BTG International, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and will be marketed by the company’s U.S. office in West [...]

A Philadelphia health IT company with software aimed at helping oncology patients decide more suitable, personalized cancer treatments has changed its name to reflect the decision-making platform it began marketing last year and to aid its national expansion.Eviti, formerly known as ITA Partners, started as a case manager for cancer treatment 10 years ago, but [...]

The CEO of Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Research Center is the focus of a $1 billion lawsuit filed by a cancer research institute at the University of Pennsylvania for allegedly stealing the innovative cancer treatment he developed while serving as a director there.Dr. Craig Thompson was the scientific director of the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family [...]