Salt Lake City April 8 2009 -- Myriad Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today that the FDA has approved an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to begin a Phase 1 clinical study with its Hsp90 inhibitor MPC-3100 for the treatment of cancer. The clinical development plan for MPC-3100 is designed to expedite the drug candidate through the clinical development path. The Phase 1 trial will assess the safety and pharmacokinetics profile of MPC-3100.

The September 17th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) contains a study claiming that approximately one quarter of women and more than a third of older women reported at least one pelvic floor disorder in a survey carried out recently. The study also finds that disorders of the Pelvic Floor for example urinary and fecal incontinence and pelvic organ shifting are more common as women get older and their weight increases. Pelvic floor disorders are an important component in the issues surrounding women's health.

Health Discovery Corporation has announced an advance in prostate cancer testing. They claim to have Phase III data supporting the use of a genomic test to diagnose prostate cancer in negative prostate cancer biopsies. The problem is this: even if a man has a negative prostate biopsy (let's say for an elevated PSA) he has a 30% chance of having prostate cancer. We know this. My father-in-law for example has had a negative prostate biopsy a PSA of 7 and a strong chance of having prostate cancer. He refuses to have another prostate biopsy and I can't say I blame him.