Issues with Delivery of Avastin

[stemboat]

The below link was provided by laujhawj on the Yahoo board.
The unclean delivery of Avastin has created eye infections and caused blindness.

I am glad ACTC is engaging the best sites for the trials.

More reports of Avastin causing blindness - The Boston Globe

[hophead]

This was posted by evilpickem in that same thread, a really great point...

have to admit an interesting post, another issue with drugs like avastin and Lucentis is the need to inject regularly which can cause endophthalmitis," a devastating
infection that can destroy the eye. It also risks
hemorrhage or retinal detachment. The more
injections, the higher the risk."

[Flipper_ak]

This blurb was recently released by the DowJones wire service:

"Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s (REGN, $64.78, +$5.32, +8.95%) shares rose as more clouds surface around Roche's Avastin the rival age-related macular degeneration treatment to Regenorn's Eylea, which is awaiting FDA approval. According to a New York Times report, LA Veterans Affairs medical center says Avastin led to vision loss in the injected eyes of several California patients. Needham analyst Mark Monane said worries about Avastin are likely boosting Regeneron's stock, but he believes the stock should be up on own merit. Eylea works faster than Avastin and the treatment is only needed every other month versus monthly." -Edited by Corrie Driebusch and Caitlin Nish; write to caitlin.nish@dowjones.com and corrie.driebusch@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires September 02, 2011 17:05 ET (21:05 GMT)*Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 05 05 PM EDT 09-02-11

[Selluwud]

This was posted by evilpickem in that same thread, a really great point...

have to admit an interesting post, another issue with drugs like avastin and Lucentis is the need to inject regularly which can cause endophthalmitis," a devastating
infection that can destroy the eye. It also risks
hemorrhage or retinal detachment. The more
injections, the higher the risk."

We should be mindful of the fact that ACT's rpe's are injected as well. We want our trials to not be compromised by any condition, much less something that is preventable and outside of any stem cell related cause.

Still thinking positive here.

[hophead]

We should be mindful of the fact that ACT's rpe's are injected as well. We want our trials to not be compromised by any condition, much less something that is preventable and outside of any stem cell related cause.

Still thinking positive here.

Of course, but avastin has to be injected repeatedy for the lifetime of the patient. Hopefully ACT's treatment will last the lifetime of the patient or at least will require much less injections over the course of the patient's life thereby reducing these infections. Also, i read that avestin comes in a large batch and needs to be separated by hand into smaller doses prior to injections. This increases the likelyhood of contamination that doesn't occur with our method. In a nutshell, any treatment prior to ours(if validated) will become instantly obsolete...

[Selluwud]

Of course, but avastin has to be injected repeatedy for the lifetime of the patient. Hopefully ACT's treatment will last the lifetime of the patient or at least will require much less injections over the course of the patient's life thereby reducing these infections. Also, i read that avestin comes in a large batch and needs to be separated by hand into smaller doses prior to injections. This increases the likelyhood of contamination that doesn't occur with our method. In a nutshell, any treatment prior to ours(if validated) will become instantly obsolete...

Believe me, our dosing and frequency should leave less chance any irregularities, but I keep my fingers crossed that some secondary problem (infection ) doesn't intrude on and cloud the trials. The Avastin problems were recorded through the VA medical care system which is regrettably, as a government agency, not as well run as privately sustained health care systems.

[tradeup]

Regeneron's Eylea Gets Backing of FDA Panel (June 20, 2011):

Avastin which sells for $100 or less per injection from a compounding pharmacy as compared with $2,000 per injection for Lucentis had about 70 percent of the AMD market in the U.S. last year.

Following the committee meeting, Roth Capital Partners analyst Joseph Pantginis increased his price target for Regeneron from $58 to $60 and his peak sales estimate from $800 million to $850 million for Eylea.

PiperJaffray analyst Edward Tenthoff had set a price target of $62 and said he expected Eylea to be a blockbuster with $1.2 billion in U.S. sales in 2016.

Link: Regeneron's Eylea Gets Backing of FDA Panel - Seeking Alpha

$1.2B in sales in 2016: A "blockbuster" they say. And to think, Eylea is merely another treatment for a fraction of the Wet-AMD market.

Can't wait until we get to pick some of this "low hanging fruit."

[eigenman]

Believe me, our dosing and frequency should leave less chance any irregularities, but I keep my fingers crossed that some secondary problem (infection ) doesn't intrude on and cloud the trials. The Avastin problems were recorded through the VA medical care system which is regrettably, as a government agency, not as well run as privately sustained health care systems.

Jules Stein is a component of UCLA which is a government agency. Not that I buy your statement since I'm pretty sure Jules Stein is considered the best in the world. So is the VA for that matter.

[tarcham]

Jules Stein is a component of UCLA which is a government agency. Not that I buy your statement since I'm pretty sure Jules Stein is considered the best in the world. So is the VA for that matter.

That is correct on both counts, I live near the large Bay Pines VA Healthcare facility on the Gulf Coast, and out of 24 quality measures, are better than the national average by far, including Heart Attack, Heat Failure, Pneumonia, and Surgical Infection Prevention to name a few. They handle 100k patients per year - I have heard from family Veterans its comparably top-notch.

[stemedga]

Jules Stein is a component of UCLA which is a government agency. Not that I buy your statement since I'm pretty sure Jules Stein is considered the best in the world. So is the VA for that matter.

Eigen,
My personal experience and opinion is mixed with VA quality of health care. VA health system uses trainee or interns to administer a lot of their services. System entirely overloaded. It sure didn't help when President Bush cut 15 billions dollars from the budget during his reign and closed Centers that Vets could only get to for care.
If this is what you were referring to?
Eddie

[tarcham]

The VA used to be quite bad, but since 2003 things have changed significantly. An answer came in 2003, when the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published a study that compared veterans health facilities on 11 measures of quality with fee-for-service Medicare. On all 11 measures, the quality of care in veterans facilities proved to be "significantly better."

Here's another curious fact - The Annals of Internal Medicine recently published a study that compared veterans health facilities with commercial managed-care systems in their treatment of diabetes patients. In seven out of seven measures of quality, the VA provided better care.

I don't have first-hand experience with them, but as with American car building, things have changed over the past few years. There's some good reading on the net including The Best Care Anywhere - Phillip Longman

T

[Selluwud]

Jules Stein is a component of UCLA which is a government agency. Not that I buy your statement since I'm pretty sure Jules Stein is considered the best in the world. So is the VA for that matter.

Eig, I'll stand by my statements as my WWII veteran Dad uses the VA services very sparingly. Also my daughter is doing fourth year rotations ( doctor of Pharmacy) and has spent two of them at a VA hospital. All I'm saying is there's not the same level of expertise due to the level of compensation paid to the professionals as compared to the private sector. This area has the largest naval base in the world and The military medical system is not the best. I wouldn't put state supported institutes and their research facilities (UCLA Jules Stein ) in the Same category with the VA, totally different animals.

[stemboat]

Selluwud,
I agree, UCLA takes a good system up a notch or two.

[michaelbrom]

Im almost hesitant to post this but has anyone read about jules stein on yelp..?

[gebroida]

Im almost hesitant to post this but has anyone read about jules stein on yelp..?

I wish I've never seen that

[Selluwud]

I wish I've never seen that

I'm not familiar with yelp, does anybody do anything but complain??

[stemboat]

I'm not familiar with yelp, does anybody do anything but complain??

My thought too. I think I might have to discount that information. The name alone is a clue as to the post they attract. Search other medical facilities; I am tired right now, but it looks to me like other organizations receive higher numbers of potshots.

[gebroida]

My thought too. I think I might have to discount that information. The name alone is a clue as to the post they attract. Search other medical facilities; I am tired right now, but it looks to me like other organizations receive higher numbers of potshots.

I disagree. I use to be a yelper myself, and I would rate places accordingly. Yelp helped me out numerous times to pick good restaurants from bad ones when I travel around the states. Is a pretty famous web and app utility.

[stemboat]

I disagree. I use to be a yelper myself, and I would rate places accordingly. Yelp helped me out numerous times to pick good restaurants from bad ones when I travel around the states. Is a pretty famous web and app utility.

Ok, I respect your opinion. When you get a minute, please post a couple blogs that illicit the most concern for you about Jules Stein. Thanks.

[DeeDee]

Jules Stein is a component of UCLA which is a government agency. Not that I buy your statement since I'm pretty sure Jules Stein is considered the best in the world. So is the VA for that matter.

Here is a list of the best US opthamology hospitals in the US, acccording to U.S. News. Found this list kind of interesting...

Ophthalmology hospitals - US News Best Hospitals