By Ed Rabinowitz

The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute opened on July 9, 1990,as the adult patient-care component of The Ohio State University (OSU) Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC).Today, "The James," as it is referred to, is the only dedicated cancer hospital in the Midwest.

The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins is one of only 40 cancer centers in the country designated by the National Cancer Institute as a Comprehensive Center. The physician researchers at the institution have been characterizing the acquired genome defects in cancers for the better part of the past few decades.

Executives at Radient Pharmaceuticals Corporation may one day look back on 2009 as the year when the coming-out party for the two-decades-old firm located in Tustin, California, began.

If there is such a thing as a business trifecta, Seattle Genetics is nearly there. The Washington state biotechnology company is focused on the development and commercialization of monoclonal antibody–based therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. And with a potent pipeline of potential products and numerous technology and marketing collaborations in place, the opportunities for growth are in the air.

When companies talk about "narrowing the gap," they typically mean closing the distance that separates them from their leading competitor. At Ariad Pharmaceuticals, however, that expression has taken on a new meaning: narrowing the distance from development to market for its two most promising compounds.

In post-Katrina New Orleans, Louisiana, people refer to their return home and the revival of the city as �being back.� Today, the human spirit is thriving in the Big Easy�s resurrected communities and New Orleans is growing. The Tulane Cancer Center (TCC) at Tulane University Medical School has been the beneficiary of some of that growth.

In early February, Clarient Inc announced the commercial launch of its Insight Dx Pulmotype test that helps pathologists classify specific types of lung cancer so physicians can prescribe the most effective therapies.

Research and development in cancer has made a seismic shift toward immunotherapies, like anticancer vaccines, and the resulting tremor can be felt in the hallways and laboratories of drug and biotechnology companies large and small.

The John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey has been a leader in the diagnosis, treatment, management, and prevention of cancer for more than 30 years.

Done right, the benefits of a practice portal extend beyond just dollars and cents.