Is this a propaganda, or one that is politically-motivated? My mind can't grasp that yet... I really don't know what it is...
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Posted: 19 November 2011


Roche
WASHINGTON: US health officials on Friday revoked the authorisation of Roche's Avastin for breast cancer treatment, saying it concluded the drug had "not been shown to be safe and effective for that use."

Avastin will still remain on the market as an approved treatment for certain types of colon, lung, kidney and brain cancer, the US Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.

"This was a difficult decision," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said.

"FDA recognises how hard it is for patients and their families to cope with metastatic breast cancer and how great a need there is for more effective treatments. But patients must have confidence that the drugs they take are both safe and effective for their intended use."

The latest move followed the recommendation of an expert panel that said the drug, also known under the generic name bevacizumab, carries risks such as severe high blood pressure and haemorrhage and does not prolong overall survival in women suffering from breast cancer.

The FDA had accepted the expert report that Avastin was not an effective treatment for breast cancer but Roche decided to appeal.

Hamburg said studies indicate that women who take Avastin for metastatic breast cancer "risk potentially life-threatening side effects without proof that the use of Avastin will provide a benefit, in terms of delay in tumour growth, that would justify those risks."

"Nor is there evidence that use of Avastin will either help them live longer or improve their quality of life," she added.

Avastin, which is marketed in the United States by the firm Genentech for its Swiss parent Roche, was approved for metastatic breast cancer in February 2008 under the FDA's accelerated approval programme.

The program provides early access to promising new drugs to treat serious or life-threatening conditions while clinical trials to confirm their efficacy are conducted.

In the case of Avastin, the accelerated approval was based on promising results from one study that suggested it could extend the lives of women with advanced breast cancer.

Genentech said in a statement it was "disappointed with the outcome."

"We remain committed to the many women with this incurable disease and will continue to provide help through our patient support programmes to those who may be facing obstacles to receiving their treatment in the United States," said Hal Barron, chief medical officer of the group.

"Despite today's action, we will start a new Phase III study of Avastin in combination with paclitaxel in previously untreated metastatic breast cancer and will evaluate a potential biomarker that may help identify which people might derive a more substantial benefit from Avastin."

European medical experts have urged that the drug be restricted to use in combination with paclitaxel only instead of other forms of chemotherapy because benefits were uncertain.

- AFP/de



Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
US revokes Roche's Avastin for breast cancer


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This is a late covering of the WHO reform...
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Posted: 05 November 2011

Logo of the World Health Organisation (AFP PHOTO / FABRICE COFFRINI)
GENEVA: The World Health Organisation plans financial reforms as it seeks to cope with budget shortfalls amid the global economic crisis, an official said Friday.

Proposals include reducing the size of the UN agency's Geneva headquarters by sending some staff to work in less expensive areas, the WHO's director of strategy Daniel Lopez-Acuna told reporters.

The WHO's executive body said after an extraordinary session this week that the organisation was planning "ambitious reforms designed to build on the organisation's already strong foundations and better equip it to respond to public health challenges in the 21st century."

But Lopez-Acuna said not to expect a "big bang". Reforms at the 63-year-old organisation with a staff of nearly 8,500 around the world will be "a process that takes some time," he said.

In May, the WHO's 193 members adopted an austerity budget for 2012-2013 in the face of a deficit of some $300 million (215 million euros) in donor contributions prompted by the global crisis.

Some 300 headquarters staff will be axed, but further reforms are needed.

Resources will increasingly be transferred to in-country programmes, Lopez-Acuna said, and some activities could be shut down entirely depending on funding and priorities.

The executive council's statement Thursday following a three-day meeting said the body would meet again in January to examine ways to "better anticipate and be more flexible in its financing".

In the interim, it authorised the WHO leadership to take "immediate measures", the statement said, without elaborating.

- AFP/wk



Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
WHO plans financial reforms

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