Saturday, December 5, 2009

The Brain Observatory - In Memory of H.M.

The Brain Observatory, is dedicated to the study of the architecture in the human brain. We have optimized multiple complementary imaging modalities, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and computer-controlled microscopy, to illustrate the detailed structural design of the brain and to understand how cognitive systems are perturbed by neurological disease.

http://thebrainobservatory.ucsd.edu/hm_live.php

As best he could remember, Henry Gustav Molaison never visited San Diego, spending his entire life on the East Coast. When he died late last year at the age of 82, Molaison was a man almost entirely unknown except by his initials H.M. and the fact that experimental brain surgery had erased his ability to form new memories.

He forgot names, places, events and faces almost immediately. Half an hour after lunch, he couldn't recall what he had eaten, or that he had eaten at all. His face in the mirror was a constant surprise because he remembered only what he looked like as a young man. Every question was new, even those asked just minutes before.

Yet Molaison bore this strange and unimaginable burden with grace and stoicism, allowing scores of scientists to study, probe and ponder his condition for decades, each seeking to better understand the mysteries of the human brain, memory and personal identity.

"H.M. started a revolution in the study of memory," said Dr. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, a professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at UCSD at the time of Molaison's death. "His was an unforgettable contribution."

Molaison died of respiratory failure on Dec. 2, 2008, but his story — and his legacy — does not end in that Connecticut nursing home. Within hours of death, Molaison's brain would be scanned, removed and placed in the preservative formalin, the first steps on a journey to San Diego and a new kind of immortality.

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Questioning a Cancer Drug That Costs $30,000 a Month - NYTimes.com

A newly approved chemotherapy drug will cost about $30,000 a month, a sign that the prices of cancer medicines are continuing to rise despite growing concern about health care costs.

The price of the new drug, called Folotyn, is at least triple that of other drugs that critics have said are too expensive for the benefits they offer to patients. The colon cancer drug Erbitux, for instance, costs $10,000 a month and the drug Avastin about $8,800 when used to treat lung cancer. The price of Folotyn "seems way higher than I heard of before," Robert L. Erwin, president of the Marti Nelson Cancer Foundation, a patient advocacy group. "I can't imagine there not being a backlash against the pricing."

Drug makers in general have been raising prices sharply in advance of the possible passage of health care overhaul legislation, according to various studies. But the price of cancer drugs has been an issue for several years.

Critics, including many oncologists, say that patients and the health system cannot afford to pay huge prices for drugs that, on average, provide only a few extra months of life at best.

And Folotyn has not even been shown to prolong lives — only to shrink tumors. The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in late September as a treatment for peripheral T-cell lymphoma, a rare and usually aggressive blood cancer that strikes an estimated 5,600 Americans each year. It is available for sale, but its manufacturer, Allos Therapeutics, does not plan to start actively promoting it until January.

Allos defends the price, saying it made a significant investment to develop the first approved drug for this type of cancer.

"It's a very aggressive disease, and patients right now have no options," said James V. Caruso, the chief commercial officer for Allos, a 17-year-old publicly traded company based in Westminster, Colo., that has no other drugs on the market.

Mr. Caruso also said the price of Folotyn was not out of line with that of other drugs for rare cancers. Patients, moreover, are likely to use the drug for only a couple of months because the tumor worsens so quickly, he said. So the total cost of using Folotyn will be less than for many other drugs with lower monthly prices.

"We believe we are fairly priced," he added, "and we're benchmarked" against other drugs. In a conference call with analysts last month, Mr. Caruso said Allos had "not had pushback of any type at this point" from insurers.

Some drugs for rare cancers are close to Foltyn's price. Genzyme's Clolar for pediatric leukemia costs about $34,000 a week, though the company says that only two weeks of treatment are typically needed. Genzyme's drug Campath, for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, costs about $5,000 a week for several weeks.

GlaxoSmithKline is charging up to $98,000 for a six-month treatment course of Arzerra, a drug approved in late October for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which strikes about 15,000 Americans a year. About $60,000 of the cost would be incurred in the first eight weeks, when the drug is given more frequently.

More ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/health/05drug.html?src=sch&pagewanted=print