According to a new study from Duke University, Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs appear to reduce the risk for prostate cancer recurrence in patients who have had radical prostatectomy.

The results showed that men who took a cholesterol lowering drug like Lipitor, Crestor, or Zocor for their heart health were 30 percent less likely to have cancer come back after their prostate surgery.

Dr. Stephen J. Freedland of the Duke Prostate Center said the research does not prove that taking cholesterol-lowering drugs directly slows the growth and progression of prostate cancer. But the fact that the fewest recurrences were seen in men who took the highest statin doses is compelling.

“Statin users may see their doctors more often and may be more health conscious in general, and it has been suggested that this could explain the observed reduction in risk,” Freedland told WebMD. “If this is the case, dosage shouldn’t matter. But that is not what we found.”

Among men who took more than 20 milligrams of Zocor every day, the recurrence risk was reduced by 50%. Men who took less than 20 milligrams of the drug a day saw no reduction in risk.

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According to reports, a French drug company has applied for approval from the FDA to sell its emergency contraceptive pill here in the US called “Ella”.

According to the this tech site, “Ella has been available to many European women for several years and is currently sold in 22 other countries.”

The drug is intended for emergency contraception and is able to stop unwanted pregnancy up to five days after having unprotected sex, simular to the current emergency contraception drug Plan B.

If history repeats itself, this drug is sure to find much resistance. Some opponents of the drug have already begun to voice there opinion stating that the drug will cause women to terminate pregnancies they are not aware of and that others will abuse the drug as a way to induce abortion. Those that support it claim it is nothing more than a more affective means of emergency birth control.

The pharmaceutical industry predicted that if the drug importation proposal succeeded that we would be at risk from unsafe drugs. I think what they meant to say is that the pharmaceutical industry’s profits would be at risk.

The new proposal from Senator Dorgan would have allowed importation of prescription drugs from countries that are verified safe by the FDA. Allowing importation from countries such as Canada, Europe, and Japan, which sell their prescription medications from 35 percent to 55 percent lower do to price controls, would have saved consumers more than $100 billion over the next 10 years.

Even though the bill would put money back into hard working Americans pockets, the bill hit the wall in the Senate, and got shot down with a 51-48 vote. Senators attest that the bill would not be safe, because the drugs would be coming from untested sources.

This couldn’t be farther from the truth. According to the New York Times

Senator Dorgan’s office says the industry’s safety alarms are false ones, because his measure would permit exports only from factories approved by the Food and Drug Administration and would assure high-quality imports by setting up a new registration procedure for pharmacies and wholesalers.

If safety isn’t the real reason why the drug import proposal failed, then what is?

According to the Examiner, its because the government has already found a better deal.

The pharmaceutical industry made a deal with the White House to commit 80 billion dollars over the next 10 years to health care reform. The deal was supposedly contingent upon Congress not asking for more cuts in their profits.

The article in the Examiner also pointed out that pharmaceutical sales in 2006 were $289 billion, over half of the global total.  If the price of our drugs  fell by just 15%, it would save the American consumers over $43 billion annually.  This price cut would also allow those who are currently not taking their medication due to cost, to finally be able to afford the medications they need.

So the real reason the drug import proposal failed isn’t because the government is concerned for our safety, they are concerned with profits.

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Earlier this week, the US Food and Drug administration panel voted to not allow Tarceva for lung cancer patients who remain stable after chemotherapy.

Tarceva is already used as the second round of defense to fight against lung cancer in patients who’s symptoms continue to worsen after the first round of chemotherapy.

According to the FDA, those who used Tarceva earlier did see less progression of the disease than those who got a placebo in the study, however the benefits were too small to consider it for earlier use.

Wyndham Wilson of the National Cancer Institute commented, “We all agree that if the overall survival benefit was larger … we would be more impressed.”

Both Tarceva and docetaxel, have shown to improve survival of lung cancer patients by about three months if started after the cancer has advanced.