You have never seen this before

AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) have revealed about their collaboration for clinical trials to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of AstraZeneca's investigational anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, MEDI4736, in combination with ramucirumab (CYRAMZA®), Lilly's VEGF Receptor 2 antiangiogenic cancer medicine.

The planned study will assess the combination as a treatment for patients with advanced solid tumours.

The Phase I study is expected to establish the safety and a recommended dosing regimen, with the potential to open expansion cohorts in various tumours of interest, for the combination of MEDI4736 and ramucirumab. Under the terms of the agreement, the trial will be sponsored by Lilly. Additional details of the collaboration, including tumour types to be studied and financial terms, were not disclosed.

MEDI4736 is a monoclonal antibody developed by MedImmune, AstraZeneca's global biologics research and development arm, directed against programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1). Signals from PD-L1 help tumours avoid detection by the immune system. Ramucirumab is a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) Receptor 2 antagonist that specifically binds and blocks activation of VEGF Receptor 2 by blocking the binding of VEGF receptor ligands VEGF-A, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D. Preclinical data indicate that combining VEGFR inhibitors with immune checkpoint blockades, such as PD-L1 targeted agents, has the potential to enhance anti-tumour activity.

Robert Iannone, Head of Immuno-oncology, Global Medicines Development at AstraZeneca, said: 'We believe that combination therapy in immuno-oncology has the potential to transform the way cancer is treated. MEDI4736 is supported by a comprehensive development programme and is emerging as a cornerstone of our combination-focused immuno-oncology pipeline targeting multiple tumour types. Our collaboration with Lilly is a great addition to our programme and provides the opportunity to explore another exciting, novel combination that could deliver important clinical benefit to cancer patients.'

'The development of immune checkpoint inhibitors has been one of the more exciting research advancements in recent oncology history, but it is going to be even more interesting to see how these inhibitors can be combined with other proven targeted therapies,' said Richard Gaynor, M.D., senior vice president, product development and medical affairs, Lilly Oncology. 'This collaboration represents the next wave of immuno-oncology research by bringing together two innovative medicines - Lilly's CYRAMZA and AstraZeneca's MEDI4736 - as a novel combination that we hope will one day provide new cancer treatment solutions.

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A recent fossil find is more evidence that the well-known 'Lucy' species was not alone in the region now known as Ethiopia, a new study suggests. A lower jaw, along with jaw fragments and teeth, dated at between 3.3 million to 3.5 million years old, were found in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia four years ago.

The discovery shows that a second human ancestor lived in about the same area and time frame a Lucy's species, researchers said.

However, not everyone agrees with that notion.

The journal Nature released a paper Wednesday announcing the new find and assigned it to a species they dubbed Australopithecus deyiremeda. In the Afar language the second name means 'close relative,' referring to its apparent relationship to later members of the evolutionary tree.

Yohannes Haile-Selassie of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, who led the discovery team, says nobody knows just how it's related to our own branch of the family tree.

Previously, fossilized foot bones found in 2009 near the new discovery site had indicated the presence of a second species. But those bones were not assigned to any species, and it is still unclear whether they belong to the newly identified species, Haile-Selassie said. If they don't, that would indicate yet another species from the same time and region as Lucy's species, Australopithecus afarensis.

Bernard Wood of George Washington University said the discovery provides 'compelling evidence' that a second creature lived in the vicinity of Lucy's species at the same time. Wood wonders how they shared the landscape.

"These fossils certainly create an agenda for a lot of interesting research that's going to be done in the next decade," Wood said.

As evidence that the new fossils represent a previously unknown species, the researchers cite specific anatomical differences with known fossils. But Tim White, a University of California, Berkeley, expert in human evolution, was unimpressed.

Drinking this (at breakfast) will shred 5.2 kg of pure fat

Patients who used cells from this STD to treat their melanoma were 8 times more likely to survive than a control group.

A genetically modified strain of herpes can kill cancer cells and stop tumors from growing, according to new research. The strain, called T-Vec, was used to treat patients with melanoma as part of one of the final phases of testing of a new drug.

The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, is the latest to show how viruses may be used clinically to kill cancer cells. Unlike chemotherapy, which casts a wide net and kills any proliferating cells, viruses often narrowly target cancer cells, which could make them more effective in fighting the disease. The method also appeals to researchers because it activates the immune system to fight cancer.

Researchers looked at more than 400 patients with aggressive malignant melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer. More than 16% of patients given the T-Vec treatment showed a lasting response for six months, compared with 2% of members of the control group given normal treatment.

'We may normally think of viruses as the enemies of mankind, but it's their very ability to specifically infect and kill human cells that can make them such promising cancer treatments,' said professor Paul Workman, chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, in a statement.

The drug, produced by Amgen, now awaits approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before it will be offered to patients.

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