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Trimira Selects OrCA Founder Dr. Hamburg As Key Opinion Leader for Identafi™ 3000 - KOL Speaks to the Importance of Early Cancer Detection
For further information contact:
Fred Iannotti
802-888-0085
fiannotti@planningsource.comHOUSTON, June 19, 2009 — Houston's TRIMIRA LLC, maker of the next-generation oral cancer detection device Identafi™ 3000, announced it has selected oral cancer survivor Dr. Lawrence Hamburg as a key opinion leader (KOL) for oral cancer screenings. "We look forward to working closely with Dr. Hamburg in our effort to educate the public about the importance of early detection in the fight against this epidemic," CEO David A. Burns said.
Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth
Two years ago Dr. Hamburg was diagnosed with Stage IV oral cancer — squamous cell carcinoma, the worst. Seventy-eight percent of those diagnosed with Stage IV oral cancer are expected to be dead in five years.
Hamburg had a superball-size mass at the base of his tongue, with a secondary tumor in his lymph node the size of a baseball. He realized when he couldn't button his shirt collar that it could be due to an enlarged gland from an infection on one side of his face — but that it would be unlikely. He knew the obvious other cause was one he didn't want to think about. Subsequently, he underwent seven chemo treatments and 33 radiation sessions, and surgery that required a week in the hospital.
Dr. Hamburg says that, like Lou Gehrig, he feels like "the luckiest man on the face of the earth" — or, as he was quoted in the February 6, 2008 issue of Newsweek, "the luckiest person coming out of the 10th floor at Beth Israel's Head and Neck Cancer ward."
"Unlike others there I kept my tongue and vocal cords," Dr. Hamburg said. "Outside of a lengthy scar on my neck, the loss of my taste buds and salivary gland function, and some numbness in my fingers and feet from chemotherapy, I'm fine."
He is in remission, and, in fact, considers it a miracle that he can speak.
He notes that the irony of his personal battle with oral cancer is that as a dentist it's his job to advise patients to take their health seriously. But he ignored the symptoms for six months. He says that in retrospect the cancer has been a gift because it has transformed him into a crusader against what has become one of the deadliest cancers — a cancer that is growing by 11 percent annually.
In, 2008, Dr. Hamburg founded The Oral Cancer Awareness Foundation, or OrCA (www.oralcancerawareness.com). He said OrCA's mission is to "take a bite out of cancer" by making people aware of the insidious nature of the disease. Catching it early is vital, said Dr. Hamburg, who has a restorative dental practice, Hudson Valley Dental Arts, P.C. (www.hvdentalarts.com), in LaGrange, N.Y. He also founded the OrCA Blues Band (www.orcabluesband.com) to raise prevention awareness.
He is also a research associate at Tufts University's School of Dental Medicine and will rejoin the faculty at New York University's College of Dentistry in September.
"Multispectral" Tech Developed By Three Cancer Centers
Identafi™ 3000 may detect oral cancer and pre-cancer that would be otherwise invisible to the naked eye. It enables dentists to identify biochemical and morphological changes in the cells of the mouth, throat, tongue, and tonsils.
Like most cancers, cancers of the lip and oral cavity are best treated when found early.
Dr. Hamburg stresses that early detection would improve the survival rate to 80-90 percent — provided that dentists can detect the cancer in stage I or II (or even “zero," while the cells are still precancerous).
Unfortunately, fewer than 50 percent of those who visit a dentist get screened for oral cancer.
Identafi™ 3000's technology — called "multispectral," or triple-wavelength imaging — was developed by research scientists at America's largest and top-rated cancer center, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in collaboration with Houston's Rice University and British Columbia Cancer Research Centre in Vancouver, Canada.
Identafi™ 3000 delivers enhanced specificity to patients being screened for signs of oral cancer and pre-cancer. Identafi™ 3000's "next-gen" optical fluorescence and reflectance technology is changing the diagnostic landscape for dentists and doctors across America.
Identafi™ 3000, is made by Houston-based TRIMIRA LLC, which is venture capital-funded by cancer research philanthropist T. Boone Pickens of oil and windfarming fame.
About Oral Cancer Awareness Foundation
The newly formed Oral Cancer Awareness Foundation (OrCA), is dedicated to the early detection of this horrible disease, and the motivation of local dentists and doctors to do the necessary oral cancer screenings, thus improving the outcomes of those diagnosed. In addition, OrCA works to educate the public, as well as dental professionals, in the use and application of various early detection devices that are proven to decrease the morbidity and mortality rates of those diagnosed. OrCA's goal is also to share new information about the causes of this rapidly spreading disease.
Visit OrCA at: www.oralcancerawareness.net
About TRIMIRA™ LLC
TRIMIRA™ LLC is a subsidiary of Remicalm LLC, a privately held bio-medical optics and imaging device company. Trimira continues to advance the commercialization of its technology for screening and diagnostic devices that address skin, cervical, gastrointestinal, and bladder cancers. Remicalm, as the parent company, has licensed exclusive use of certain of its patents and patents pending for use as a cervical cancer product and other epithelial-based cancers. Remicalm's core technologies are based on high-speed, high-resolution optical platforms that enable healthcare professionals to read metabolic and physiologic differences in diseased and healthy tissue in the human body.
Visit TRIMIRA™ at: http://www.trimira.net
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