Brain Cancer

Lyle Alzado, who became a crusader against steroid use when he was found to have brain cancer a year ago, died yesterday at age 43.The NFL's defensive player of the year in 1977, he played 14 years for the Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Raiders, retiring after the 1985 season. He tried a brief comeback in 1990 that ended in Raiders training camp.Alzado attributed his brain cancer to steroid use, but there is no proof linking the two. He said he began using the drug in 1969 and spent $20,000 to $30,000 a year on steroids in the days before the NFL tested players for the performance-enhancing drugs.

Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares gained 9.6 percent after it said its brain cancer treatment is scheduled to be reviewed June 14 by the Food and Drug Administration.Guilford shares rose $2.75 to a record $31.50.The Baltimore-based biotechnology company said yesterday that the product, the Gliadel wafer, is implanted in the cavity created when a surgeon removes a cancerous tumor from the brain.The wafer slowly dissolves, releasing the chemotherapeutic drug it contains to the tumor site over a period of time.

EntreMed Inc., a Rockville biotechnology company, said yesterday that its clinical trial of a drug to treat brain cancer patients was being expanded based on some positive results.EntreMed's stock rose $1 in trading yesterday to close at $14.75.The trials of thalidomide -- a drug banned years ago when it was found to cause birth defects -- are sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and being performed by EntreMed and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.Doctors reported that magnetic resonance imaging showed a "suggestion of reduction in tumor size" in two of 15 patients in the trials, the company said.

Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Baltimore-based biotechnology company, said yesterday that it has filed an application for regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its wafer implant that prevents brain cancer relapses.The company hopes to have a hearing on the application later this year.JTC Guilford Pharmaceuticals already has FDA approval to distribute the wafer, called Gliadel, to neurosurgeons who have patients with a recurrence of malignant brain cancer.

Baltimore-based Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. said yesterday that it has received government regulatory approvals to market its Gliadel treatment for malignant brain cancer in Canada and France.The Canadian Health Protection Branch and the French Drug Agency approved Gliadel for use in treating glioblastoma multiforme, a rapidly growing and one of the most fatal forms of brain cancer.Gliadel is a thin, dime-sized wafer that is loaded with a potent anti-cancer agent. Surgeons implant the wafers into cavities left in the brain after surgery to remove tumors.

Scott A. Hax, a manager for a family-owned courier business, died of brain cancer Oct. 9 at his Rosedale home. He was 37. Mr. Hax was born in Baltimore and raised on Hillburn Avenue in Hamilton. He was a 1984 graduate of Polytechnic Institute, and played fullback on its varsity football team. He attended what is now Towson University, and worked in the drafting department of Poole & Kent Co., mechanical contractors. He left in the late 1980s to work for R.A.H. Courier Inc. For several years, he worked for air cargo firms at Baltimore-Washington International Airport before returning in 2001 as a manager at R.A.H.

Genetic Therapy Inc. said yesterday that it had won initial federal approval for clinical trials of three experimental anti-cancer treatments, including a second round of tests of genetically altered mouse cells used to fight brain tumors.The Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health said the Gaithersburg-based biotechnology company could now test its brain cancer therapy on children.The committee, which rules on all genetic testing, said the company also could start trials injecting genetically altered viruses into patients undergoing bone marrow transplants for the treatment of breast cancer.

Two small Maryland companies reported encouraging results yesterday from early clinical trials using thalidomide, the sedative banned since the 1960s for causing birth defects, to treat cancers and an AIDs-related condition.The results add further weight to a growing body of evidence that the drug may have potential in treating some of humans' most vexing diseases.In one clinical study, co-sponsored by Andrulis Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Beltsville, researchers found that thalidomide dramatically reduced or eliminated AIDS-related mouth and throat ulcers.

ST. LOUIS -- The search for cancer cures can at times produce some curious treatments, but the latest study just might stun you. Neurosurgeons at St. Louis University are among the doctors injecting radioactive scorpion toxin directly into the brains of patients with a deadly brain cancer. "It's not like people said, `Scorpion venom - this must be a good way to treat cancer,'" said Dr. Alison M. O'Neill, vice president for medical affairs for TransMolecular Inc. The company, based in Cambridge, Mass.

Boosted by a $20 million payment from its partner in the marketing of a cancer-fighting wafer, Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. yesterday reported quarterly earnings of $13.2 million.On a per-share basis, earnings for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 were $1.29. For the corresponding period last year, the Baltimore-based company reported a loss of $3.4 million, or 65 cents a share."This has been a milestone quarter for Guilford Pharmaceuticals," said Dr. Craig Smith, president and CEO.Guilford Pharmaceuticals' stock closed yesterday at $28, down 75 cents.