Cancer patients anxious for FDA approval

(Tulsa-AP) -- A Tulsa attorney says federal health officials are expected this week to consider patients' request to resume receiving an experimental skin cancer vaccine. But attorney Steve Holden

Tuesday, August 15th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Tulsa-AP) -- A Tulsa attorney says federal health officials are expected this week to consider patients' request to resume receiving an experimental skin cancer vaccine. But attorney Steve Holden says he has no idea how long the U-S Food and Drug Administration will take to rule on the request.

Holden says the seven patients don't have time to spare. The seven patients were among 28 melanoma patients who received the vaccine during a study at the University of Oklahoma's medical school in Tulsa.

The university halted the study in March after an independent audit found numerous regulatory and safety problems. Federal regulators in June suspended five government-sponsored research studies because of those problems. Those studies were reopened but the skin cancer study remains closed.