Health Buzz: Ovarian Cancer Drug Findings and Other Health News

FDA Concerned About Drug for Ovarian Cancer

Johnson & Johnson is seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration to use its drug Yondelis to treat women with recurring ovarian cancer, the Associated Press reports. The company studied 673 women with cancer that returned after regular chemotherapy treatment. Their findings indicate that women live on average six weeks longer if they use Yondelis, an injectable drug, in combination with another J&J cancer drug, Doxil, rather than taking Doxil alone. But analysis from the FDA suggests patients who take Yondelis have significant risks that include blood toxicity, anemia, and heart problems, the AP reports. The FDA will ask its panel of experts, scheduled to meet tomorrow, to weigh in on the drug's risks and advise whether more studies are needed before the drug gets approval.

Read how researchers zeroed in on the cause of granulosa cell tumors, a deadly type of ovarian cancer. And one new study suggests that among women with ovarian cancer, those who had their first menstrual period before the age of 12 may be more likely to die of the cancer than those who began ovulated later in life and therefore have had fewer ovulatory cycles over their lifetime.

What Regina Benjamin Could Mean to Women's Health

Yesterday, President Obama nominated physician Regina Benjamin to become surgeon general. He pointed out that Benjamin hails from the small Alabama fishing village of Bayou La Batre, a "diverse but poor rural community" with a mixture of whites, blacks, and Asians. Like Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who has said her Latina heritage will factor into how she rules, Benjamin may put a new imprint on the largely ceremonial position of surgeon general, one that recognizes her experience as an African-American woman, U.S. News's Deborah Kotz reports. Certainly, more attention could be paid to the biological differences among various ethnic groups, Kotz writes in a discussion of what Regina Benjamin could mean to women's health. Kotz predicts Benjamin will address treatment disparities that still plague women and minorities, as well as poor folks.

Consider 4 ways to boost black women's health, according to medical experts whose advice forms the basis of The Black Woman's Guide to Healthy Living. Here's how to avoid a false positive on your mammogram.

Getting Medical Advice on the Web From Other Patients

Using the Web as a medical resource is hardly novel: More than 3 in 5 Americans say they have done so. Growing numbers, however, go online not just to do research but also to share their medical stories with others and to contribute to "crowd-sourced" sites where individuals can compare their symptoms and treatments with those of other members and of patients outside the group. PatientsLikeMe.com, an online site where people enter their symptoms and treatments for illnesses, boasts that it's "a new system of medicine by patients for patients," U.S. News's Nancy Shute reports.

Advocates say that what they learn from informed peers often is more helpful than what they get from their doctors, whose time to read the latest studies, let alone discuss them, is limited. But Shute writes that many sites are sponsored by for-profit companies that could sell patient data. Some, including CureTogether and PatientsLikeMe, are upfront about selling anonymized data to researchers. Continue reading.

A new survey finds that while 41 percent of adults read about other people's experiences on an online newsgroup, website, or blog, just 6 percent post comments, queries, or research. U.S. News covers more survey findings in the report: Would you share your health information online? If you're looking for health advice online, ask our U.S. News panel of experts.

—Megan Johnson

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