A Month For Raising Awareness

By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL

You’ll see something in this issue that you rarely see in this magazine — the color pink. Like the NFL and various other organizations worldwide, we wanted to recognize October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. After all, according to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer claims the lives of nearly 40,000 women each year and is the number one cancer in women. I have three relatives who developed breast cancer. Of them, only one continues to fight valiantly against this affliction while the others have passed. There is good news, though: Breast cancer is survivable if you catch it early enough. The keys to surviving are knowing your risk factors and early detection. The risk factors are fairly straightforward — gender, age, and family history. Yes, men can get breast cancer, too.

As women age, the risk of developing breast cancer increases. If you have a first-degree family member (e.g. mother, sister) who developed breast cancer, you are at greater risk. The best medicine is preventative, as in doing a thorough self-exam every month. A good resource for finding information on breast cancer screening can be found by going to www.cancer.gov. Please take the time to conduct self-exams and get screened regularly. Your family would rather have you around.

Speaking of family, mine did not have me around as much as they would have liked this past September. I traveled to Philadelphia twice for two different shows. The first was the Conference Forum’s Disruptive Innovations in Clinical Trials conference. I had the opportunity to meet a variety of key opinion leaders in the industry. The second trip to Philly was to attend IQPC’s (International Quality & Productivity Center’s) 9th Annual Cold Chain & Temperature Management Global Forum. This is the world’s largest trade show for temperature control life science professionals, covering all temperature ranges and all life sciences products. Biological drug development continues to gain importance. Consequently, the safe handling and proper shipping of biologics is critical to this industry’s growth. I had the opportunity to rub elbows with a bunch of executives involved in the logistics of cold chain shipping. They got me up to speed on some of the latest trends and how they see this industry evolving moving forward. Stay tuned for some interesting future editorial resulting from my attendance at these conferences.

This month’s issue features plenty of the best practice editorial you have come to expect from Life Science Leader. One reader recently had this to say about the magazine, “The content is superior to many of your competitors.” And, be sure to check out the solid-dose roundtable (p. 28) and the article on pharmacovigilance (p.40), which delves into the science and activities behind drug-related adverse effects.