Recent studies conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University show that obese people have an increased risk of developing common kidney cancer, kidney stones apart from being at a high risk of getting a stroke. A study involving 1,640 participants studied the effects of weight on kidney cancer. The average age of patients was 62 and all participants had kidney tumors. The study showed that patients with a BMI of 30 or higher were 48% more likely to develop clear-cell renal cell cancer (RCC). With every 1 point increase in BMI, obese patients increased their odds of getting kidney cancer by 4%. Out of all the participants, 67% of the obese patients had kidney cancer compared to 57% of non-obese patients.

InSightec Ltd. announced that Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has approved the company’s ExAblate(R) MR-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) system for the treatment of women with uterine fibroids. ExAblate is currently the only noninvasive treatment for uterine fibroids approved for use in Japan. Approximately 25% Japanese women will develop symptomatic uterine fibroids, primarily during childbearing years. These benign tumors can significantly impair functionality and degrade quality of life resulting in significant work absences.

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Abiraterone acetate (AA) can be safely administered for long periods without concurrent steroids in patients with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), according to research presented here at the 2nd European Multidisciplinary Meeting on Urological Cancers (EMUC). AA reduces levels of testosterone, oestradiol, and cortisol, but it increases levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone, deoxycorticosterone, and corticosterone, which could lead to hypokalaemia, hypertension, and fluid retention.

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Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (”DSMB”) recommended that QPI-1002 (I5NP) continue on to the next phase of clinical testing. This followed review of available safety data from two clinical trials for Quark’s siRNA QPI-1002, at doses up to 10 mg/kg, the highest evaluated to date. QPI-1002 is designed to temporarily inhibit expression of the stress-response gene, p53.

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