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EUSA Pharma is a rapidly growing transatlantic specialty pharmaceutical company focused on
in-licensing, developing and marketing late-stage oncology, pain control and critical care products. 

http://www.eusapharma.com/

• Cancer that arises in the head or neck region, including the nasal cavity, sinuses, lips, mouth, thyroid glands, salivary glands, throat, or larynx (voice box).
• The sixth-most-common form of cancer in the United States.
• 40,000 cases diagnosed annually.

• Tobacco (including smokeless tobacco) and alcohol use are the most important risk factors for head and neck cancers, particularly those of the tongue, mouth, throat and voice box.
• Eighty-five percent of head and neck cancers are linked to tobacco use. People who use both tobacco and alcohol are at greater risk for developing these cancers than people who use either tobacco or alcohol alone. (Source: National Cancer Institute)
• Over the past decade, an increasing number of young, non-smokers have developed mouth and throat cancer associated with the human-papillomavirus, or HPV. Today, 25 percent – 10,000 cases each year – might be attributable to a strain of HPV. Physicians and researchers believe this might be due to an increase in oral sex as part of early sexual experience.
• Thyroid cancers can develop in anyone, although there often is a family history or exposure to radiation involved. Salivary gland cancers also do not seem to be associated with any particular cause.

An early indication of oral and throat cancer is one or more changes in the way the soft tissues of your mouth usually look or feel. Signs and symptoms may include:

• A sore in your mouth that doesn't heal or increases in size
• Persistent pain in your mouth
• Lumps or white, red or dark patches inside your mouth
• Thickening of your cheek
• Difficulty chewing or swallowing or moving your tongue
• Difficulty moving your jaw, or swelling or pain in your jaw
• Soreness in your throat or feeling that something is caught in your throat
• Pain around your teeth, or loosening of your teeth
• Numbness of your tongue or elsewhere in your mouth
• Changes in your voice
• A lump in your neck
• Bad breath

Most oral cancers arise on the lips, tongue or on the floor of the mouth. They also may occur inside your cheeks, on your gums or on the roof of your mouth.

Recent research could explain the increase of oral cancer incidence in young adults, a group traditionally at low risk. This phenomenon has been at least partly attributed to the rise of the human-papillomavirus (HPV), a cancer-causing virus that can be transmitted through oral sex. 

Though oral cancers associated with the papillomavirus are still relatively rare, they typically are found near the base of the tonsils and the back of the tongue, areas that are often difficult to see during visual screenings until the cancer is in a late stage.

Read the Good Morning America piece on the HPV-oral cancer link.