GM Recalls

GM recalls of cars due to fire risk. General Motors' 1.5 million units of recall due to a engine risk is a serious matter and cannot go unnoticed. "General Motors Corp is recalling nearly 1.5 million Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Pontiac mid-sized cars due to a potential leak of engine oil that could cause an engine fire.

The recall applies to the 1997-2003 Buick Regal; 1998-2003 Chevrolet Lumina, Monte Carlo and Impala; 1998-99 Oldsmobile Intrigue; and 1997-2003 Pontiac Grand Prix, GM said in a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A total of 1,497,516 vehicles, all equipped with a 3.8 liter engine, are involved in the recall." In fact yesterday a top Wall Street analyst warned today that a bankruptcy filing by General Motors Corp. seems more likely in part because the government may have to take some losses on its own loans to the automaker.

What is interesting is that at this moment on Tuesday morning there is no information about the GM recall in its investor's relation or News section of the General Motors' website. We do know that GM and the U.S. automakers were hurting. My question is that how much will this GM recall further hurt the automaker. I found an interesting comment about the GM Recall by the blogger of INTJ who writes the following: "If this was a truly serious risk... Fires would have been reported already, which makes me wonder about the validity of this claim.

William Hurt

William Hurt is likely one of the last big names joining Ridley Scott's revision of the Robin Hood (current title) legend. HR reports that Hurt has joined the cast to play the Earl of Pembroke, William Marshall, a historical jouster of the era. He would be joining the feature cast which includes Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Vanessa Redgrave, Mark Strong, Scott Grimes, Kevin Durand, Alan Doyle, Oscar Isaacs and Lea Seydoux.

Actress Marlee Matlin has written a new book in which she claims she was once in a physically abusive relationship with actor William Hurt. The pair co-starred in the film "Children of a Lesser God," for which Matlin won an Oscar in 1987 - she was the first deaf actress to win the award. Matlin and Hurt met while making the film and began a romantic relationship.

In her book, "I'll Scream Later," Matlin describes a turbulent and violent courtship and one abusive fight in which she claims Hurt threw her on a bed and ripped her clothes off while she sobbed, "No, no, no. Please Bill, no." In an interview on Access Hollywood, Matlin told host Nancy O'Dell, "I was always afraid ... of him, but i loved him." The two dated for two years. Matlin told O'Dell she had new bruises every day.

Provenge

Provenge, an immune therapy for certain forms of prostate cancer, provides statistically significant survival benefits for patients. We have actually known this for almost two years, but the last time around the FDA decided to ask for a larger study to verify the earlier results.

The new study, a Phase III trial named IMPACT, enrolled 512 patients with metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancer, a late-stage cancer than usually kills men in a few months. The trial showed that on average men lived over 20% longer when they had received the Provenge treatment. The exact statistical results will be presented at a medical conference shortly.

This is going to have a major impact on the entire biotechnology industry. If the FDA now approves Provenge, as expected, it will be the first approved immunotherapy. Immunotherapy research has been stifled by lack of funds because the FDA had never approved a therapy. When sales of Provenge begin, Dendreon should have the funds to both improve its therapy for prostate cancer and to create therapies for other forms of cancer.