Highlights: World Hepatitis Day is celebrated annually on 28th July to create awareness on the global burden of viral hepatitis Around 290 million people are living with viral hepatitis unaware worldwide The theme for 2020 is ‘Find The Missing Millions’. World Hepatitis Day is celebrated annually on July 28th.Organizations around the world celebrate World Hepatitis…
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EMA Green Light for Avapritinib for GIST, Acalabrutinib for CLL
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has given a thumbs up to two new oncology drugs. The Committee has recommended granting conditional marketing authorization for avapritinib (Ayvakit, Blueprint Medicines) for use in adults with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) harboring a platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA) exon 18 mutation,…
Ophthalmologists Called to Catch Cancers Earlier
Significant advances in the management of eye cancer mean that early referrals to subspecialists are crucial when ophthalmologists suspect disease in their patients, two leaders in the field say. “Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to contact an ocular oncologist,” said Carol Shields, MD, from Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Improvements in prognosis and treatment are…
‘Doc, Can I Get a Mask Exemption?’
As more jurisdictions mandate facial coverings in public, questions have arisen about whether it’s safe for everyone — including those with lung disease — to wear masks. Stories about people who claim to be unable to wear masks because of breathing problems are appearing in the news with increasing frequency, and patients are starting to call their…
Russia 1st Nation to Successfully Finish Human Trials for Potential COVID-19 Vaccine
As the world reels under the growing coronavirus cases, Russia’s Sechenov University has successfully completed the world’s first clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine on humans. Chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk, who heads the Center for Clinical Research on Medications at Sechenov University, told Russian news agency TASS on Sunday that the human trials for the vaccine…
Hydroxychloroquine, Lopinavir/Ritonavir Trial Discontinued for COVID-19 Treatment
For its Solidarity Trial, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that it was discontinuing hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir, citing little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The WHO said the decision was in light of the evidence from the Solidarity Trial interim results. “These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and…
Common Anticancer Drug may be Less Effective in Obese Women
Obese and overweight breast cancer patients might benefit less from docetaxel compared to lean patients, according to retrospective analysis of data from a large clinical trial, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. In most European countries, more than 50% of women are overweight or obese (with a body mass index (BMI) above 25 kg/m2, as…
HCV Infected Livers are Safe for Transplantation
Patients who received a liver transplant that is infected with hepatitis C can clear the virus infection later and have a safe recovery as patients who received an organ free of infection, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Liver Transplantation. Two sets of 32 patients were enrolled in…
Gardasil-9 Approved for Prevention of Head and Neck Cancers
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the indication for the Gardasil-9 (Merck) vaccine to include prevention of oropharyngeal and other head and neck cancers caused by HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58. This new indication is approved under the FDA’s accelerated approval program and is based on the…
Scientists discover that nicotine promotes spread of lung cancer to the brain
Among people who have the most common type of lung cancer, up to 40% develop metastatic brain tumors, with an average survival time of less than six months. But why non-small-cell lung cancer so often spreads to the brain has been poorly understood. Now scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine have found that nicotine,…
Apalutimide for Prostate Cancer: What to Know
The FDA approved apalutamide (Erleada, Janssen Biotech, Inc.) to treat patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) is an effective and integral part of care for patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer. However, resistance to ADT is inevitable and develops in almost all cases of prostate cancer. Preventing metastasis to bone and other sites…
Relugolix: Novel Drug for ADT in Advanced Prostate Cancer
An investigational new drug for androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in prostate cancer has shown superiority over the standard therapy leuprolide, and could change practice once it is available, experts have suggested. The new drug is relugolix (Relumina, Myovant Sciences), an oral gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist already approved in Japan for use in the treatment of uterine fibroids. Relugolix has the…
