Wednesday, October 11, 2006

An Unwanted Journey: Day 0323 - Remember This Name


Today, a European researcher named Dr. Eduard Batlle will be honoured at the 6th annual ISREC (Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research) cancer research conference in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Dr. Batlle has concentrated on the onset and progression of colorectal cancer, studying intestinal stem cells and their malignant counterparts, identifying molecules that prevent colorectal cancer, and identifying the genetics for metastasis of cancer cells to the liver. His research has been cited over 1,000 times in scholarly journals. He is also a patent holder for products being developed by two separate companies.

The award he will receive today is the Debiopharm Life Sciences Award (worth 100,000 francs or $89,450.67 CAD)). This year the award is slated for cancer research. The intent of the award is to honour European Life Sciences researchers under the age of 40. The research rewarded by this prize must demonstrate high potential for therapeutic and commercial applications. Debiopharm is currently known for Eloxatin, a treatment for colorectal cancer based on oxaliplatin administered by injection.

Oxaliplatin was one of the cocktail ingredients in my own chemotherapy. It is delivered as an intravenous infusion given over 1-6 hours. The dosage is measured according to the body surface area, calculated by body weight and height. Usually, that means 85 mg/m2 every two weeks. In almost all cases, eloxatin is given with fluorouracil (FU) and folinic acid.

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