Bristol-Myers Squibb Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Financial Results for 2019 – Yahoo Finance

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) today reports results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2019, which highlight continued strong sales and robust operating performance, along with the ongoing advancement of the companys pipeline.

"By all measures, 2019 was a transformative year for Bristol-Myers Squibb as we progressed our strategy through the acquisition of Celgene, delivered strong operational and financial performance, and continued to drive important science for patients," said Giovanni Caforio, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer, Bristol-Myers Squibb. "With an expanded portfolio of high-performing brands, eight potential commercial launch opportunities, a deep and broad early pipeline, and the financial flexibility to continue to invest in innovation, the company enters 2020 uniquely positioned to transform patients lives through science and create long-term sustainable growth."

Fourth Quarter

$ amounts in millions, except per share amounts

2019*

2018

Change

Total Revenues

$7,945

$5,973

33%

GAAP Diluted EPS

(0.55)

0.71

N/A

Non-GAAP Diluted EPS

1.22

0.94

30%

Full Year

$ amounts in millions, except per share amounts

2019*

2018

Change

Total Revenues

$26,145

$22,561

16%

GAAP Diluted EPS

2.01

3.01

(33)%

Non-GAAP Diluted EPS

4.69

3.98

18%

*Includes Celgene results from November 20, 2019 through December 31, 2019.

FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS

All comparisons are made versus the same period in 2018 unless otherwise stated.

ACQUISITION OF CELGENE CORPORATION

Otezla is a trademark of Amgen Inc.

FOURTH QUARTER PRODUCT AND PIPELINE UPDATE

Product Revenue Highlights

Global product revenue increases in the fourth quarter of 2019, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, drove revenue increases.

* Represents product revenues for Celgene products only from November 20, 2019, which was the date of the closing of the acquisition, through December 31, 2019. See "Worldwide Product Revenue," which is available on bms.com/investors, for information on the revenue for these products and other products of the company and Celgene presented on a quarterly basis for 2018 and 2019.

Oncology

Opdivo

Regulatory

Clinical

Cardiovascular

Eliquis

Clinical

Immunology

Orencia

Regulatory

Clinical

Hematology

Conferences

In December, at the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, the company announced important new data and analysis from its hematology portfolio:

The following data were also presented at the ASH Annual Meeting by the company and its partners:

Revlimid

Regulatory

Reblozyl

Regulatory

Clinical

ide-cel

Clinical

liso-cel

Regulatory

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

CAPITAL ALLOCATION

Bristol-Myers Squibb maintains a balanced approach to capital allocation focused on future business development and sourcing external innovation as a priority, de-leveraging in the near term to maintain strong investment grade credit ratings and less than 1.5x debt/EBITDA by 2023, planning for annual dividend increases, subject to board approval, and disciplined share repurchases.

In that context, the company today announced its board of directors approved an increase of $5 billion to the share repurchase authorization for the companys common stock. This is incremental to the current share repurchase program announced in October 2016 under which the company has approximately $1 billion remaining and increases the companys total outstanding share repurchase authorization under the companys share repurchase program to approximately $6 billion.

The specific timing and number of shares repurchased will be determined by the companys management at its discretion and will vary based on market conditions, securities law limitations and other factors. The share repurchase program does not obligate the company to repurchase any specific number of shares, does not have a specific expiration date and may be suspended or discontinued at any time. The repurchases may be effected through a combination of one or more open market repurchases, privately negotiated transactions, transactions structured through investment banking institutions and other derivative transactions.

FINANCIAL GUIDANCE

Bristol-Myers Squibb is providing 2020 GAAP EPS guidance range of $0.75 to $0.95 and non-GAAP EPS guidance range of $6.00 to $6.20. In addition, the company is providing for 2021, a non-GAAP EPS guidance range of $7.15 to $7.45. Both GAAP and non-GAAP guidance for 2020 and non-GAAP guidance for 2021 includes the impact of the Celgene acquisition and the Otezla divestiture and assume current exchange rates. Key 2020 GAAP and non-GAAP line-item guidance assumptions are:

GAAP

non-GAAP

Revenue

$40.5B - $42.5B

$40.5B - $42.5B

Gross margin as a percentage of revenue

Approximately 74%

Approximately 80%

Marketing, selling, and administrative expenses

$6.8B - $7.0B

$6.8B - $7.0B

Research and development expenses

$10.1B - $10.3B

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Bristol-Myers Squibb Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Financial Results for 2019 - Yahoo Finance

Kleo Pharmaceuticals Receives IND Authorization to Proceed from FDA for its Multiple Myeloma Therapeutic – BioSpace

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Feb. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kleo Pharmaceuticals, an immuno-oncology company developing next-generation, fully synthetic bispecific compounds designed to emulate or enhance the activity of biologics, announced today that it has received Investigational New Drug (IND) authorization to proceed from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate a safety and tolerability clinical study combining KP1237, a CD38-targeting antibody recruiting molecule (ARM), with patients' own Natural Killer (NK) cells to treat multiple myeloma (MM) in post-transplant patients.

The single-arm study will be conducted in 25-30 patients with exploratory endpoints that assess the MRD (minimal residual disease) conversion rate at 90-100 days after transplantation. Recent clinical trials have identified MRD negativity post-transplant as a potential surrogate of long-term remission in MM. The trial is expected to begin enrollment in the first half of 2020, and topline data are expected in the second half of 2021.

"We are excited to have clearance to initiate a clinical trial in the US that addresses a significant unmet medical need in newly diagnosed, post-transplant multiple myeloma patients," said Kleo CEO Doug Manion, MD. "Approximately 30,000 individuals are diagnosed with multiple myeloma in the United States each year, with at least 1/3 of those patients undergoing autologous stem cell transplants."

In this trial, KP1237 is being investigated as a "cell homing" molecule to target the patient's activated NK cells to the CD38-expressing tumor. Current anti-CD38 therapeutic antibodies kill NK cells and are not approved for use in this clinical settingi.

Nonclinical efficacy datapresented at the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting demonstrated that CD38-ARMs are able to kill multiple myeloma cells by antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity without depleting CD38-expressing immune cells. Nonclinical data also demonstrated that the CD38-ARM molecule did not induce complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) suggesting it is not likely to cause CDC in humans. Kleo's 2019 ASH posters can be viewed hereand here.

About Kleo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Kleo Pharmaceuticals is a unique immuno-oncology company developing next-generation bispecific compounds designed to emulate or enhance the activity of biologics based on the groundbreaking research of its scientific founder Dr. David Spiegel at Yale University. Similar to complex biologic drugs, Kleo's compounds recruit the immune system to destroy cancer cells, with the advantage of being smaller and more versatile, leading to potentially improved safety and efficacy over biologics. They are also much faster and less costly to design and produce, particularly against novel targets. Kleo is advancing several drug candidates based on its proprietary technology platforms, all of which are modular in design and enable rapid generation of novel immunotherapies that can be optimized against certain cancers, or enhance the properties of existing immunotherapies. These include Antibody Recruiting Molecules (ARMs), Synthetic Antibody Mimics (SyAMs) and Monoclonal Antibody Therapy Enhancers (MATEs). Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company (NYSE:BHVN) and PeptiDream Inc. (Nikkei:PPTDF) are investors in Kleo Pharmaceuticals. For more information visit http://kleopharmaceuticals.com.

Forward-Looking StatementsThis news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties, including statements that are based on the current expectations and assumptions of the Company's management. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding the Company's plans and objectives, expectations and assumptions of management are forward-looking statements. The use of certain words, including the words "estimate," "project," "intend," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "will," "plan," "could," "may" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are made as of this date and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT INFORMATIONTiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.Maureen McEnroe, CFA (Investors)212-375-2664mmcenroe@tiberend.com

Ingrid Mezo (Media)646-604-5150imezo@tiberend.com

i DARZALEX (daratumumab) injection [package insert on the internet]. Horsham, PA: Janssen Biotech, Inc., http://www.janssenlabels.com/package-insert/product-monograph/prescribing-information/DARZALEX-pi.pdf (2019, accessed 05 February 2020).

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Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to Present at the 22nd Annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference – BioSpace

NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(NYSE AMERICAN: ATNM)("Actinium") today announced that Sandesh Seth, Actinium's Chairman & CEO, will be presenting at the 22nd Annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference. Hosted by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the 22nd Annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference will take place February 10th and 11th at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City.

Presentation Details

Date:Tuesday, February 11Time:10:15 am ETPresenter:Sandesh Seth, Chairman and CEOLocation:New York Marriott Marquis, Ziegfeld Room

Members of Actinium's Executive team will be available for one-on-one meetings with conference attendees. Those interested in scheduling a meeting with Actinium may do so by contacting Steve O'Loughlin, Principal Financial Officer via email at soloughlin@actiniumpharma.com.

About Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: ATNM)Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing ARCs or Antibody Radiation-Conjugates, which combine the targeting ability of antibodies with the cell killing ability of radiation. Actinium's lead application for our ARCs is targeted conditioning, which is intended to selectively deplete a patient's disease or cancer cells and certain immune cells prior to a BMT or Bone Marrow Transplant, Gene Therapy or Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT) such as CAR-T to enable engraftment of these transplanted cells with minimal toxicities. With our ARC approach, we seek to improve patient outcomes and access to these potentially curative treatments by eliminating or reducing the non-targeted chemotherapy that is used for conditioning in standard practice currently. Our lead product candidate, apamistamab-I-131 (Iomab-B) is being studied in the ongoing pivotal Phase 3Study ofIomab-B inElderlyRelapsed orRefractoryAcute Myeloid Leukemia (SIERRA) trial for BMT conditioning. The SIERRA trial is over fifty percent enrolled and promising single-agent, feasibility and safety data has been highlighted at ASH, TCT, ASCO and SOHO annual meetings. Apatmistamamb-I-131 will also be studied as a targeted conditioning agent in a Phase 1/2 anti-HIV stem cell gene therapy with UC Davis and is expected to be studied with a CAR-T therapy in 2020. In addition, we are developing a multi-disease, multi-target pipeline of clinical-stage ARCs targeting the antigens CD45 and CD33 for targeted conditioning and as a therapeutic either in combination with other therapeutic modalities or as a single agent for patients with a broad range of hematologic malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and multiple myeloma. Ongoing combination trials include our CD33 alpha ARC, Actimab-A, in combination with the salvage chemotherapy CLAG-M and the Bcl-2 targeted therapy venetoclax. Underpinning our clinical programs is our proprietary AWE (Antibody Warhead Enabling) technology platform. This is where our intellectual property portfolio of over 100 patents, know-how, collective research and expertise in the field are being leveraged to construct and study novel ARCs and ARC combinations to bolster our pipeline for strategic purposes. Our AWE technology platform is currently being utilized in a collaborative research partnership with Astellas Pharma, Inc.

More information is available at http://www.actiniumpharma.com, http://www.sierratrial.com and our Twitter feed @ActiniumPharma, http://www.twitter.com/actiniumpharma.

Forward-Looking Statements for Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

This press release may contain projections or other "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe-harbor" provisions of the private securities litigation reform act of 1995 regarding future events or the future financial performance of the Company which the Company undertakes no obligation to update. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated or estimated future results, including the risks and uncertainties associated with preliminary study results varying from final results, estimates of potential markets for drugs under development, clinical trials, actions by the FDA and other governmental agencies, regulatory clearances, responses to regulatory matters, the market demand for and acceptance of Actinium's products and services, performance of clinical research organizations and other risks detailed from time to time in Actinium's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including without limitation its most recent annual report on form 10-K, subsequent quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q and Forms 8-K, each as amended and supplemented from time to time.

Contacts:

Investors:Hans VitzthumLifeSci Advisors, LLCHans@LifeSciAdvisors.com(617) 535-7743

Media:Alisa Steinberg, Director, IR & Corp Commsasteinberg@actiniumpharma.com(646) 237-4087

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How Much Do Stem Cell Treatments Really Cost? – The Niche

Stem cell treatments of various kinds are now widely available in America at more than 100 stem cell clinics offering non-FDA approved interventions for dozens of conditions.

American patients are often recruited on the Internet to travel around the US or to Mexico and other countries.

How much do these stem cell treatments cost?

American clinics charge approximately $10,000 per treatment. Notably, many patients gets more than one of these non-FDA approved treatments and must pay each time of course.

Some clinics have reduced prices to the $7,000-$8,000 range. Interestingly, costs for treatments outside of the US are usuallyfar higher than in the US,charging anywhere from $20,000 all the way up to $100,000. These clinics still generally have Americans as clientele. Whether inside or outside the US, insurance does not cover the costs of these potentially dangerous, unproven treatments.

Clinic profits are difficult to estimate and vary depending on the type of stem cells and other factors such as malpractice insurance cost. However, I have heard estimates of the clinics own costs being around $1,000-$2,000 per treatment, yielding a very high profit margin.

Part of the way that clinics cut corners to boost their profitsis by not following FDA regulations, putting patients in danger. Clinics typically do not do pre-clinical studies to get evidence of safety and efficacy before starting to sell their offerings to patients. Clinics also do not include sufficient follow up in the cost of the treatments. They do not publish their data to get peer review and feedback. They often do not have GMP compliant facilities or devices.

Patients themselves are frequently unable to afford these expensive, unproven stem cell treatments, and so they turn to their communities including churches, friends, and family to do fundraisers. For example, a coach reportedlyrecently raised $70,000 for a stem cell intervention fromhis community. Update: The non-FDA approved Stemedica stem cell intervention sold in Tijuana via partner Novastem reportedly costs $32,000-$40,000 a pop.

With the rapidly increasing number of clinics right here in the US, in theory one might imagine costs would go down due to competition. Its not clear if that is driving some clinics to lower prices.

Of course othercosts to patients going to dubious clinics, sometimes not considered, include the price of false hope, potential injury due to dangerous stem cell treatments, possibly being excluded from a real clinical trial in the future, and injury from deferring other arguably more real treatments.

Related

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How Much Do Stem Cell Treatments Really Cost? - The Niche

Stem Cell Therapy for Knees: Process, Efficacy, and Cost

Throughout the United States, stem cell therapy is being touted as a miracle cure for everything from wrinkles to spinal repair.

Though very few of these applications have any scientific backing, stem cell therapy for knees has been the subject of quite a few promising studies.

Arthritis develops when the cartilage lining the joints starts to deteriorate, causing pain and limiting function. Osteoarthritis is incredibly common. Arthritis and similar conditions are a major cause of disability in the United States.

Every year about 600,000 Americans get a knee replacement, a number that could rise to 3 million by 2030. Until recently, treatment options were either temporary or surgical.

Now, in numerous cases, stem cell therapy for knees is reducing pain and repairing cartilage. As a result, many people have been able to improve their quality of life and avoid surgery.

As studies continue, the forms and combinations of stem cell preparations are improving, and outcomes are expected to improve as well.

The job of adult stem cells is to maintain and heal tissues by replenishing damaged and dying cells. In some areas of the body, such as the knee, blood supply is limited, so stem cells dont work as well as they should.

Alternatively, though, they can be injected, at which point they appear to initiate the self-recovery process.

The usual job of joint cartilage is to promote smooth movement of joint surfaces and protect bones from friction. This process allows for shock absorption of up to 20 times the weight of the body. Its essential to physical movement, especially in athletics.

Osteoarthritis is one of the most common chronic degenerative disorders and it very often affects the knee, causing deterioration of its joint cartilage over time.

Osteoarthritis can also begin as a result of a knee injury, such as a ligament tear, tendon damage, or a fracture.

In the face of damage, the joint becomes unstable and this wears down the articular cartilage. From there, the bone can suffer damage as well, in addition to the synovial joint lining, tendons, ligaments, and muscles.

Stem cell therapy for knees is minimally invasive. Its a procedure that can decrease inflammation, slow and repair all these forms of damage from arthritis, and delay or prevent knee replacement surgery.

Adult stem cells can be extracted from bone marrow or fat through simple methods. Its then concentrated and injected into the knee with image guidance, usually to successful results.

In one study, patients experienced improvement in both knees even though only one knee was injected. Although natural deterioration of the knee continues, at five years, those knees that are injected with stem cells are in better shape than they were before the injections.

Researchers believe that stem cell therapy for the knee works by:

Ongoing research is striving to determine which stem cell knee therapy techniques, cell choices, and dosages yield the most effective and consistent results.

While some seem more potent than others and overall results are promising, more research is needed.

Stem cell treatment for knees is noninvasive and rarely painful. Side effects are minimal.

The most frequent experiences after the procedure include mild pain at the injection site, swelling, and some joint stiffness.

A review of multiple medical institutions reveals an average cost for stem cell treatment for knees of approximately $3,000 to $5,000 per knee, depending largely on geographical location.

Most insurance companies dont cover stem cell injections yet, but that may be starting to change as more research accumulates showing the effectiveness of the process.

People typically complete the procedure in one visit, but usually have an initial consultation and a follow-up appointment. The injections take approximately two to three hours.

Although stem cell therapy can pose serious risks when performed on other parts of the body, such as the eyes or the spine, its relatively safe when performed on the knees.

Stem cell therapy using adult stem cells is safest because the stem cells are collected from the persons own body. This reduces the risk of a bad reaction.

Risks are increased if:

Because this is such a new area, new research is released frequently.

While the FDA is closely watching stem cell therapy developments, the only applications that are approved involve embryonic stem cells to treat blood or immune system disorders.

If youre experiencing knee pain or limited knee mobility, alternative initial treatments might include anti-inflammatory medications, opioid pain medications, or physical therapy.

Alternative treatments include injections with platelet-rich plasma, hyaluronic acid, or steroids.

Surgical treatments may be tried as well, such as arthroscopy, subchondral bone drilling, or microfracture.

Stem cell therapy for knees is still very new and the FDA is proceeding with caution, but studies so far are very promising.

Many people have successfully avoided knee surgery and side effects are minimal for this particular body part.

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Stem Cell Therapy for Knees: Process, Efficacy, and Cost

Six patients with rare blood disease are doing well after gene therapy clinical trial – UCLA Newsroom

Sarah C.P. Williams | January 27, 2020

UCLA researchers are part of an international team that reported the use of a stem cell gene therapy to treat nine people with the rare, inherited blood disease known as X-linked chronic granulomatous disease, or X-CGD. Six of those patients are now in remission and have stopped other treatments. Before now, people with X-CGD which causes recurrent infections, prolonged hospitalizations for treatment, and a shortened lifespan had to rely on bone marrow donations for a chance at remission.

With this gene therapy, you can use a patients own stem cells instead of donor cells for a transplant, said Dr. Donald Kohn, a member of theEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and a senior author of the new paper, published todayin the journal Nature Medicine. This means the cells are perfectly matched to the patient and it should be a much safer transplant, without the risks of rejection.

People with chronic granulomatous disease, or CGD, have a genetic mutation in one of five genes that help white blood cells attack and destroy bacteria and fungus using a burst of chemicals. Without this defensive chemical burst, patients with the disease are much more susceptible to infections than most people. The infections can be severe to life-threatening, including infections of the skin or bone and abscesses in organs such as lungs, liver or brain. The most common form of CGD is a subtype called X-CGD, which affects only males and is caused by a mutation in a gene found on the X-chromosome.

Other than treating infections as they occur and taking rotating courses of preventive antibiotics, the only treatment option for people with CGD is to receive a bone marrow transplant from a healthy matched donor. Bone marrow contains stem cells called hematopoietic, or blood-forming, stem cells, which produce white blood cells. Bone marrow from a healthy donor can produce functioning white blood cells that effectively ward off infection. But it can be difficult to identify a healthy matched bone marrow donor and the recovery from the transplant can have complications such as graft versus host disease, and risks of infection and transplant rejection.

Patients can certainly get better with these bone marrow transplants, but it requires finding a matched donor and even with a match, there are risks, Kohn said. Patients must take anti-rejection drugs for six to 12 months so that their bodies dont attack the foreign bone marrow.

In the new approach, Kohn teamed up with collaborators at the United Kingdoms National Health Service, France-based Genethon, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, and Boston Childrens Hospital. The researchers removed hematopoietic stem cells from X-CGD patients and modified the cells in the laboratory to correct the genetic mutation. Then, the patients own genetically modified stem cells now healthy and able to produce white blood cells that can make the immune-boosting burst of chemicals were transplanted back into their own bodies. While the approach is new in X-CGD, Kohn previously pioneereda similar stem cell gene therapyto effectively cure a form of severe combined immune deficiency (also known as bubble baby disease) in more than 50 babies.

The viral delivery system for the X-CGD gene therapy was developed and fine-tuned by Professor Adrian Thrashers team at Great Ormond Street Hospital, or GOSH, in London, who collaborated with Kohn. The patients ranged in age from 2 to 27 years old; four were treated at GOSH and five were treated in the U.S., including one patient at UCLA Health.

Two people in the new study died within three months of receiving the treatment due to severe infections that they had already been battling before gene therapy. The seven surviving patients were followed for 12 to 36 months after receiving the stem cell gene therapy. All remained free of new CGD-related infections, and six of the seven have been able to discontinue their usual preventive antibiotics.

None of the patients had complications that you might normally see from donor cells and the results were as good as youd get from a donor transplant or better, Kohn said.

An additional four patients have been treated since the new paper was written; all are currently free of new CGD-related infections and no complications have arisen.

Orchard Therapeutics, a biotechnology company of which Kohn is a scientific co-founder, acquired the rights to the X-CGD investigational gene therapy from Genethon. Orchard will work with regulators in the U.S. and Europe to carry out a larger clinical trial to further study this innovative treatment. The aim is to apply for regulatory approval to make the treatment commercially available, Kohn said.

Kohn and his colleagues plan to develop similar treatments for the other forms of CGD caused by four other genetic mutations that affect the same immune function as X-CGD.

Beyond CGD, there are also other diseases caused by proteins missing in white blood cells that could be treated in similar ways, Kohn said.

The research was supported by grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine; the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, both at the National Institutes of Health; the Wellcome Trust; Boston Childrens Hospital; the National Institute for Health Research Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre; the Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University College London; the Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity; the AFM-Tlthon, French Muscular Dystrophy Association; and the European Commission through the Net4CGDconsortium.

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PERCEPT myeloma: a protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial of exercise prehabilitation before and during autologous stem cell transplantation…

This article was originally published here

PERCEPT myeloma: a protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial of exercise prehabilitation before and during autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma.

BMJ Open. 2020 Jan 29;10(1):e033176

Authors: McCourt O, Fisher A, Ramdharry G, Roberts AL, Land J, Rabin N, Yong K

AbstractINTRODUCTION: Myeloma, a blood cancer originating from plasma cells, is the most common indication for autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT). Patients with myeloma undergoing autologous SCT (ASCT) experience treatment-related morbidity and reduction in function and well-being for many months post-treatment. Interventions targeting physical functioning delivered prior to and during SCT have shown promising results in mixed haematological populations and may offer a non-pharmacological solution to physically optimising and preparing patients for SCT. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of a physiotherapist-led exercise intervention as an integral part of the myeloma ASCT pathway at a UK tertiary centre.METHODS AND ANALYSIS: PERCEPT is a single-site, pilot randomised controlled trial of an exercise intervention embedded within the myeloma ASCT pathway, compared with usual care. The primary study end points will be feasibility measures of study and intervention delivery including recruitment rates, acceptability of intervention, study completion rate and any adverse events. Secondary end points will evaluate differences between the exercise intervention group and the usual care control group in cancer-related fatigue, quality of life, functional capacity (6min walk test; handheld dynamometry; a timed sit-to-stand test) and objective and self-reported physical activity. Outcomes will be assessed at four time points, approximately 6-8 weeks prior to SCT, on/around day of SCT, on discharge from SCT hospital admission and 12 weeks post-discharge. The exercise intervention comprises of partly supervised physiotherapist-led aerobic and resistance exercise including behaviour change techniques to promote change in exercise behaviour. The primary outcomes from the trial will be summarised as percentages or mean values with 95% CIs. Group differences for secondary outcomes at each time point will be analysed using appropriate statistical models.ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has NHS REC approval (Camden and Kings Cross, 19/LO/0204). Results will be disseminated through publication and presentations at haematology and rehabilitation-related meetings.TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN15875290.

PMID: 32001493 [PubMed in process]

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PERCEPT myeloma: a protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial of exercise prehabilitation before and during autologous stem cell transplantation...

Chinese New Year babys B.C. family gives gift of life in cord-blood donation – The Province

Jack Chieh and Yinnie Wong with their baby boy, born last Friday (Chinese New Year). The couple donate her baby's cord blood to the cord blood bank at B.C. Womens Hospital & Health Centre.Handout

Yinnie Wong and Jack Chiehs six-pound, 13-ounce baby boy as yet unnamed was born on an auspicious day, Jan. 24, Chinese New Year, and hes already doing good in the world.

Everyone was really happy, it is supposed to be a lucky day, said Wong.

Although the birth was a planned C-section, Wong had no control over the date hospital administrators chose for the birth. What she did have control over was the choice to donate her babys cord blood to the cord blood bank at B.C. Womens Hospital & Health Centre, which has just celebrated its fifth anniversary.

Cord blood is blood that is taken from the umbilical cord and placenta immediately after the birth of a healthy infant. Cord blood is rich in stem cells, and can be used to treat over 80 diseases, including leukemia.

According to Canadian Blood Services, ethnically diverse donors are especially needed because although Stats Canada data shows 67.7 per cent of Canadians consider their ethnic origin to be diverse, only 31 per cent of Canadians with blood in Canadas stem-cell registry are from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Crystal Nguyen, 20, is a former B.C. Childrens Hospital patient whose life was saved by a stem-cell transplant from donated cord blood. Nguyen was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at age 12. After chemo, she went into remission for almost three years. Then the cancer returned. She was told she needed a bone-marrow transplant.

Crystal Nguyen, now 20, was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at age 12. She found a stem-cell match for a needed bone-marrow transplant through the international cord blood bank.Handout

When I relapsed I was very confused, it was kind of surreal. The main thing about being told I needed the bone-marrow stem-cell transplant was confusion, fear and anxiety.

Nguyen is of Vietnamese descent and needed a match to survive. No one in her family was a match, nor was there a stem-cell match in the Canadian cord blood bank, but a match was found thanks to the Canadian Blood Services partnerships with 47 international blood banks.

I was told it came through the international cord blood bank from somewhere very far away, said Nguyen, who has been in remission since the transplant.

When she learned the stem-cell transplant had been successful, Nguyen, who is now studying to become a pediatric oncology nurse, said it felt too good to be true.

There was a lot of happiness, joy, excitement. Donating cord blood is such a simple way to save a life.

Although cord blood can be collected and stored for a fee by private companies and reserved for the donor familys use, cord blood donated through Canadian Blood Services is available free to the public whoever needs the match.

Wong didnt hesitate when her son was born. I felt like I wanted to do it if it helps someone in the public, and if it could save lives I would have been very happy to help another child, said Wong, who is a nurse at B.C. Womens hospital.

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Chinese New Year babys B.C. family gives gift of life in cord-blood donation - The Province

Foretinib Inhibits Cancer Stemness and Gastric Cancer Cell Proliferati | OTT – Dove Medical Press

Sung-Hwa Sohn,1,* Bohyun Kim,1,* Hee Jung Sul,1 Bo Youn Choi,1 Hyeong Su Kim,2 Dae Young Zang1,2

1Hallym Translational Research Institute, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang 14066, Republic of Korea; 2Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym University Medical Center, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do 14068, Republic of Korea

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Dae Young ZangDivision of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym University Medical Center, Hallym University College of Medicine, 22, Gwanpyeong-ro 170beon-gil, Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do 14068, Republic of KoreaTel +82-31-380-4167Fax +82-31-386-1528Email fhdzang@gmail.com

Purpose: CD44 isoforms are highly expressed in cancer stem cells, initiating tumor growth and sustaining tumor self-renewal. Among these isoforms, CD44 variant 9 (CD44v9) is overexpressed in chronic inflammation-induced cancer. CD44 and the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) receptor tyrosine kinase are coactivated in some gastric cancers (GCs). In this study, we characterized MET and CD44 expression and signaling in human GC cell lines and analyzed differences in the susceptibility of these lines to foretinib.Patients and Methods: We analyzed cell viability and the rate of apoptotic cells using MTS assays and flow cytometry, respectively. Gene and protein expression were assessed by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunoblotting, respectively.Results: Foretinib treatment resulted in dose-dependent inhibition of growth in c-MET-amplified MKN45 and SNU620 cells with concomitant induction of apoptosis, but not in c-MET-reduced MKN28 and AGS cells. Foretinib treatment also significantly reduced phosphor-c-MET, phosphor-AKT, beta-catenin, and COX-2 protein expression in MKN45 and SNU620 cells. Interestingly, foretinib significantly reduced CD44, CD44v9, COX-2, OCT3/4, CCND1, c-MYC, VEGFA, and HIF-1a gene expression in CD44 and MET coactivated MKN45 cells and increased CD44s gene expression; in contrast, these drugs were only slightly active against SNU620 cells.Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that foretinib could be a therapeutic agent for the prevention or treatment of GCs positive for CD44v9 and c-MET.

Keywords: c-MET, CD44v9, foretinib, gastric cancer, OCT3/4

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4 Crazy but Effective Ways to Save More Money This Year – Nasdaq

It's no secret that Americans aren't doing all that well in the savings department. An estimated 39% of U.S. adults don't have the money on hand to cover a $400 emergency, and 45% of Americans have no money earmarked for retirement savings.

If your savings efforts have been far from fruitful in recent years, it's time to do better -- even if that means going to a bit of an extreme to get there. Here are a few far-out but effective methods of boosting your savings -- and buying yourself the financial security you're currently missing.

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

If you're not familiar with no-spend periods, they involve not forking over so much as a dime on non-essentials for different periods of time. It's common to have an occasional no-spend week or no-spend month, but if you're really intent on boosting your savings, you may want to extend that restriction for a full year. That's right -- no restaurant meals, non-work clothing, or paid entertainment for an entire 12 months.

Will that be difficult? Absolutely. But imagine you currently spend $600 a month on dining out, leisure, apparel, and other items you enjoy having but can technically live without. In the course of a year, you'll be $7,200 richer.

Housing is the typical American's greatest monthly expense, so if you're able to reduce it substantially, you're apt to boost your savings in a very meaningful way. Imagine you currently rent a three-bedroom, 2000-square-foot apartment with your spouse and child for $2,000 a month. If you were to downsize to a one-bedroom (yes, you read that correctly) that takes up 800 square feet, you might reduce your rent to $1,000.

Will living in cramped quarters for a year be easy? Not at all. But if it saves you $12,000, it's a sacrifice worth making.

It costs $9,282 a year, on average, to own a vehicle, according to AAA. If you're willing to give yours up, you could wind up banking that much cash in the course of a year instead.

Now if you live in an area where public transportation is abundant, that's not such a huge ask. But if you live in suburbia, it could prove more challenging. That doesn't mean it can't be done, though. You could consider carpooling with your spouse (meaning, downsize from a two-car household to a single car), catching rides with friends or colleagues, or biking to and from work if that's a reasonable thing to do (if your office is 40 miles away, it's not).

Will giving up a car limit you logistically and socially? Probably. But think about it this way -- if it's harder to get around, you may be less inclined to dine out or spend money on entertainment, which will help your savings efforts.

The typical American spends $3,456 a year on restaurant meals and food outside the home, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But restaurants generally charge a 300% markup on the items they serve, which means that if your spending is in line with the typical American's, you could save yourself close to $2,600 in the course of a year by cooking every meal you eat at home.

Will that constitute a time investment? It sure will. But you never know -- you may discover that you enjoy cooking your own food, and that doing so is healthier for you anyway.

If you're doing reasonably well financially -- meaning, you're on track for retirement and have a healthy emergency fund -- then there's certainly no need to go to any of the above extremes (unless, of course, you happen to love a good challenge). But if your near-term and long-term savings are virtually nonexistent, then you may need to take drastic measures to build them up. The good news? You don't need to commit to these extremes for a lifetime. Make any of the above moves for a single year, and your savings could easily take a turn for the much improved.

The $16,728 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as$16,728 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after.Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.

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