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The first full-scale trials of an experimental drug that attacks a genetic defect in breast cancer cells show significant promise for women with advanced cancer, scientists reported Sunday in Los Angeles. The drug, Herceptin, heightened the benefits of chemotherapy by shrinking tumors and slowing progression of a particular type of breast cancer, one that is responsible for about 30 percent of the 180,000 new cases of the disease in the United States each year, the scientists said at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology at the downtown Convention Center. Participants at the meeting greeted the reports with cautious optimism, and leaders said they were now planning to test the drug, which was developed by Genentech of South San Francisco, among patients with less advanced forms of the breast cancer and among the 20 percent of ovarian cancer cases involving the same genetic defect

An advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration recommended approval of the first vaccine against Lyme disease tonight, but expressed serious concerns about its safety and effectiveness. The 23-member panel said the vaccine met Federal standards for marketing. But it called on the manufacturer, SmithKline Beecham, to continue testing the vaccine. The panel recommended that the vaccine be approved for use just for people 18 to 70. Lyme disease, which is spread by ticks, is a cause of great concern each summer for parents and those who spend a lot of time outdoors. Over 16,000 cases of Lyme disease were reported to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1996, the most recent date for which figures were available

The Food and Drug Administration has given a California company approval to conduct the world's first full-scale test of a vaccine to prevent infection with the AIDS virus, the company announced Wednesday. The announcement brought expressions of cautious hope among health officials and advocates for people with AIDS. HIV, the AIDS virus, has infected an estimated 30 million people in the world, and many experts say it will take a vaccine to stop the worsening epidemic. But scientists are sharply divided over when and which experimental vaccines to approve for full-scale testing. No vaccine is 100 percent effective. Some experts favor testing any promising vaccine, even if it is likely to protect only a small proportion of recipients, arguing that something is better than nothing in a health emergency

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the United States, and its sometimes debilitating symptoms -- arthritis and damage to the nervous system and heart -- underscore the need for a vaccine

BETHESDA, Md. - An advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration recommended approval Thursday of the first drug specifically for Crohn's disease, an often debilitating bowel ailment that afflicts about 100,000 Americans. The drug, infliximab, is manufactured from mouse and human cells by Centocor Inc. of Malvern, Pa. Researchers are also testing it to treat rheumatoid arthritis. But the FDA limited the committee's Thursday deliberations on infliximab to Crohn's disease, although information on the drug's safety included the results of testing in rheumatoid arthritis patients

An advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration recommended today approval of the first drug specifically for Crohn's disease, an often debilitating bowel ailment that afflicts some 100,000 Americans. The drug, infliximab, is manufactured from mouse and human cells by Centocor Inc. of Malvern, Pa. Researchers are also testing it against another disease, rheumatoid arthritis. But the F.D.A. limited the committee's deliberations on infliximab today to Crohn's disease, although information on the drug's safety included the results of testing in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Infliximab, administered by injection, is not a cure for Crohn's disease. It was recommended today as a therapy to relieve the symptoms and improve the condition of people with moderate to severe cases in which standard therapy is inadequate. The panel also found that it helped heal a complication called draining fistula -- tracks that drain pus from the bowel through the skin, bladder, vagina and rectum

BETHESDA, Md. -- An advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday recommended approval of the first vaccine against Lyme disease but expressed concerns about its safety and effectiveness. The 23-member panel said the vaccine, which must be taken in three doses over a year, met federal standards for marketing. But it called on the manufacturer, SmithKline Beecham, to continue testing the vaccine. The panel recommended that the vaccine be approved for use only for people 18 to 70. The committee's unanimous recommendations are not binding, but the FDA usually follows the advice of its expert panels. Until the agency acts, the vaccine, Lymerix, will not be available to the public. FDA officials said they considered the vaccine a priority but would not say how soon it might be available

The problem has increased significantly in recent years following wider use of drugs for common cancers. A partial list includes tamoxifen and Taxol for breast cancer, Adriamycin for cancer of the lymph system, and 5-fluorouracil for colon cancer. But with expanding use, there has been scarce discussion of the safety and effectiveness of such drugs in patients older than 65, who account for more than half the total number of cancer cases in this country each year, said Dr. Frank Haluska, a cancer expert at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He moderated a news conference at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology that ended in Los Angeles Tuesday. Now oncologists are belatedly recognizing that they have included too few older cancer patients in the clinical trials that they conduct to determine the most effective therapies for all cancer patients

LOS ANGELES - Tens of thousands of American women with breast cancer are losing a breast unnecessarily each year because their doctors do not follow national guidelines in treating the breast cancer, the first comprehensive study of current practices shows. About 65 percent, or 117,000, of the 180,000 breast cancers diagnosed among American women each year are classified as early stage (1 and 2). Of these, three-fourths are eligible for breast- conserving therapy, which involves removing the cancer in a procedure known as a lumpectomy, followed by radiation therapy

The problem has increased significantly in recent years following wider use of drugs for common cancers. A partial list includes tamoxifen and taxol for breast cancer, adriamycin for cancer of the lymph system and 5-fluorouracil for colon cancer. But with expanding use, there has been scarce discussion of the safety and effectiveness of such drugs in patients older than 65, who account for more than half the total number of cancer cases in this country each year, said Dr. Frank Haluska, a cancer expert at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He moderated a news conference at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which ended here today. Now oncologists are belatedly recognizing that they have included too few older cancer patients in the clinical trials that they conduct to determine the most effective therapies for all cancer patients