LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 12, 2003 - 3A
CAMPUS
Engineering
society to hold
BBQ on Diag
Join the National Society of
Black Engineers at its annual bar-
beque today from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
on the North Campus Diag.
Submit Woman
of the Year
nominations
The Women of Color Task Force,
an organization dedicated to pro-
viding career development and
training opportunities for University
employees, is accepting nomina-
tions for the annual Women of the
Year Awards.
Nomination forms should be e-
mailed to wctf-awards@umich.edu
by tomorrow. Winners will be
announced in December.
New pizza
service at game
tomorrow
Domino's Pizza is introducing
their new "Philly Cheese Steak
Pizza" with a tailgate party before
the Michigan vs. Notre Dame foot-
ball game tomorrow on the west
side of the Michigan Stadium from
noon to 3 p.m.
Pizza slices will be $1 per slice
and half of proceeds will benefit the
Motts Children's Hospital and The
Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michi-
gan.
International
journal needs
writers
The International Affairs Society
is launching a new publication,
"Journal of International Affairs,"
and holding a mass meeting Sunday
in the Tap Room of the Michigan
Union at 7:00 p.m. for students
interested in writing for the journal.
Noodle-eating
fundraiser to aid
service group
The University's Habitat for
Humanity chapter is sponsoring,
"Noodles for Nails," an all-you-can-
eat pasta dinner on Sunday at the
William Monroe Trotter House from
5:00 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The event costs is $5 and pro-
ceeds go to Habitat for Humanity.
Hillel sponsors
3-on-3 basketball
competition
University Hillel is sponsoring
the 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament
Challenge Sunday at the Coliseum.
The Coliseum is located at the cor-
ner of Hill Street and Fifth Avenue
at noon. Cost is $5 per person.
Email Ray Braid at
royale@umich.edu if interested.
Prizes will be awarded to winners
and runners-up.
Lecturer will
discuss systems
science
James Freebersyser, program
officer at the Office of Naval
Research in Arlington, Va. is speak-
ing as part of the Systems Science
Seminar today in room 100 of the
Electrical Engineering and Comput-
er Science Building at 11 a.m.
Freebersyser's address is titled,
"Recent Results of Field Experi-
ments of Mobile Ad Hoc Net-
works."
Museum curator to
lecture on abstract
art forms
The University Museum of Art is
sponsoring a talk titled "Curator's Talk,
Geometric Abstraction" by University
curator Sean Ulmer, a modern and con-
temporary art specialist, on Sunday at
f theMuseumofArtat3p.m.
Ulmer will discuss the newest
installation of 20th-century works
from the museum's collections
focusing on geometric abstraction.
Celebration marks
opening of Life
Science bridge
The Life Sciences Institute, Uni-
The first rule of Fight Club is ...
Medicare approves
cancer treatment
developed at U'
R.J. De Long of the University boxing club dodges a blow while sparring in the Sports
Coliseum yesterday.
Two students honored as campus
advocates against terrorism
By Kristin Ostby
Daily Staff Reporter
Two University students were
awarded fellowships by the Founda-
tion for the Defense of Democracies,
and they will spend the next year
acting as anti-terrorist advocates on
campus.
The FDD, a Washington-based
think tank, awarded the fellowships
to LSA junior Deborah Kim and
Engineering senior Avi Jacobson
based mainly on their interest in
defense against terrorism along with
other factors including their grades
and activities on campus.
As part of their fellowship, the
two students will organize five
events with the goal of educating
students about the threat of terror-
ism, the first of which was last
night's vigil in the Diag, which was
co-organized with the Michigan Stu-
dent Assembly. "We're (also) plan-
ning on bringing a variety of
speakers and perhaps showing
movies.... We want to bring individ-
uals who are involved currently in
the effort to write the Iraqi constitu-
tion," Jacobson said.
Kim and Jacobson began their fel-
lowship with a trip to an Israeli
naval base this past summer, where
they heard speeches from the leader
of the Israeli bomb squad. They also
attended talks by ambassadors from
Turkey and India and members of
Israeli military intelligence.
"One of the weaknesses in com-
bating terrorism is applying our own
methods of thinking. We assume our
own culture upon (the terrorists)
whom we are fighting and therefore
do not understand what motivates
them," Jacobson said.
Both Kim and Jacobson agree that
terrorism is a very loosely defined
concept. Kim said, "We should get
an international coalition to define
exactly what terrorism is ... and then
we need to ban it."
"When I graduate, I want to do
something in the realm of fighting
terrorism. I want to work for a
security agency when I graduate.
They fight terrorism using ideolo-
gy," Kim added.
The FDD is a non-profit organi-
zation that aims to research and
educate the public about interna-
tional terrorism.
The organization was formed just
after Sept. 11, 2001. "Not only does
By Andrew Kaplan
Daily Staff Reporter
Bexxar, a unique cancer therapy
recently developed by two University
doctors, is ready to hit the Medicare
market.
After getting the green light from
the Center for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, hospitals and other health
care providers under the Medicare pro-
gram can now seek federal rebates on
Bexxar prescriptions to treat patients
with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - the
nation's sixth deadliest cancer.
"The key thing here is that with get-
ting Medicare approval, it puts the
final stamp on the product so insurance
carriers are more likely to reimburse
it," said Mark Kaminski, co-director of
the Leukemia, Lymphoma and Bone
Marrow Transplant Program at the
University Comprehensive Cancer
Center. "The important thing is it's
developed at the University of Michi-
gan and was aided all the way up until
the (U.S. Food and Drug Administra-
tion's) approval," which came in June,
he added.
Kaminski, who crafted Bexxar along
with former University medical
researcher Richard Wahl, said recipi-
ents of the treatment benefit from a
regimen of antibodies and radiation
therapy.
"We make these antibodies even more
potent by hooking onto these antibodies
a radioactive isotope (of iodine),"
Kaminski said. "It's radiotherapy and
chemotherapy combined."
But unlike chemotherapy, which
loses its efficacy over time and car-
ries several side effects such as nau-
sea and hair loss, Bexxar requires
only two applications over two
weeks and has few side effects.
"The only clear-cut repetitive side
effect is that blood cell counts decrease
for a period of time to recover to their
normal levels," Kaminski said. "But dur-
ing the time when the blood cell count is
low, the patients actually do very well."
Once injected into the body, antibod-
ies blast single tumor cells with radia-
tion. By contrast, chemotherapy affects
a much broader area of the body.
"(Bexxar is) targeted radiation. It's
like a smart bomb," said spokesman
Jim DeNike of Corixa Corp., the Seat-
tle company who now shares market-
ing rights of Bexxar with Glaxo-
SmithKline, a research-based
pharmaceutical firm in the United
Kingdom. "The point that makes
Bexxar unique is its ability to take an
antibody whose job is to target a spe-
cific tumor type."
Although DeNike declined to say
if patients have received the first
prescription doses of Bexxar, he
said Corixa has seen "(test) patients
who, after receiving one administra-
tion of Bexxar, have been surviving
disease-free for more than eight
years."~
In addition, Kaminski said 60 per-
cent of test patients having NHL
responded to Bexxar even after
chemotherapy had lost its potency,
and about 30 percent of test patients
showed full remission of the cancer.
"The hope is further effort with this
type of approach can eventually cure
this type of disease," Kaminski said.
While the government cannot obli-
gate Medicare contractors to provide
Bexxar, CMS policy allows health care
practitioners to avail themselves of a
rebate system that will make prescrib-
ing the drug more amenable to their
budgets.
"(The Medicare rebates) cover the
entire regimen," said University of
Michigan Health System spokes-
woman Kara Gavin, adding that costs
associated with Bexxar application
include training staff to handle the
radioactive drug.
In the future, Medicare's approval
of Bexxar may persuade other
health insurance carriers to cover
the treatment, health personnel said.
"Private payers typically at least look
at or take a lead from CMS and
Medicare,' DeNike said. "That doesn't
mean they need to follow it, but it is
not uncommon for private payers to at
least take a lead."
Although Corixa and Glaxo-
SmithKline receive all revenues
from sales of Bexxar, Kaminski said
the University gets royalties on
those exchanges.
Currently, nearly 300,000 Ameri-
cans live with NHL, according to
the National Cancer Institute.
Kaminski said about 30,000 people
will die of the disease this year.
LSA junior Deborah Kim and Engineering
senior Avi Jacobson were awarded
fellowships for. anti-terrorism advocacy.
FDD support defending American
democracy, but also our fellow
democracies such as India, the
Philippines, Turkey and Israel," said
Travis Clark, director of the FDD.
The fellowship was awarded to 49
students on 28 campuses.
The University of Michigan
Department of Dermatology
is currently offering research
study for facial acne.
If you are over the age of 12 and are in good
general health, you may be eligible to participate
in a research program for facial acne.
Office visits and study agent are provided free of charge to eligible
participants. You may also receive compensation for your participation!
For more information, please call:
(734) 764-DERM
University of Michigan
Hospitals and
Health Centers
Learn about energy conservation efforts on
campus and how you can helpl
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 16
11:00 A.M. - 2:00 P.M.
CENTRAL CAMPUS DIAG
LIVE MUsic * PRIZES * GIVEAWAYS
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