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 .E' 11 a' ' '[/ I