AstraZeneca says expanded use of lung cancer drug backed by EU agency

Posted on Friday, September 26, 2014


AstraZeneca says expanded use of lung cancer drug backed by EU agency

LONDON (Reuters) - British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said on Friday an expanded use of its IRESSA treatment for lung cancer has been recommended for approval by European regulators. The company said a label update to IRESSA meant the treatment would now be able to be applied after blood-based testing. Previously a patient had to provide a tumour sample before receiving the treatment. "If doctors are unable to assess the mutation status of atumour, then patients' access to potentially life-changing medicines such as IRESSA becomes restricted. ...

Los Angeles schools knew of complaints against former teacher: LA Times

(Reuters) - The Los Angeles Unified School District knew of complaints made against a former teacher some 30 years before he was convicted of taking bondage-style photographs of his young students, some with spoonfuls of semen held to their faces, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday. Court documents filed in a civil lawsuit showed that education officials received complaints against 63-year-old Mark Berndt as early as 1983, after he allegedly dropped his pants during a school field trip, the Los Angeles Times said. ...

Games-Referee dies of suspected heart attack at Asian Games

(Corrects typo in last para) INCHEON, South Korea, Sept 26 (Reuters) - A referee at the Asian Games in Incheon has died due to a suspected heart attack, South Korean police said on Friday. The Games official, whose name has not been released, woke up early on Friday morning complaining of chest pain and called out to a colleague for help, Moon Jun-kyu of Incheon police told Reuters by telephone. The victim's family said he had high blood pressure, Moon added. (Reporting by Sohee Kim; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

Referee dies of suspected heart attack at Asian Games

INCHEON South Korea (Reuters) - A referee at the Asian Games in Incheon has died due to a suspected heart attack, South Korean police said on Friday. The Games official, whose name has not been released, woke up early on Friday morning complaining of chest pain and called out to a colleague for help, Moon Jun-kyu of Incheon police told Reuters by telephone. The victim's family said he had high blood presser, Moon added. (Reporting by Sohee Kim; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

Obama says "significant gap" in global effort to fight Ebola

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the United Nations meeting on the Ebola outbreak in New YorkBy Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama warned on Thursday that there was still a "significant gap between where we are and where we need to be" in the international response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and appealed for more countries to help. An outbreak that began in a remote corner of Guinea has taken hold of much of neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing nearly 3,000 people in just over six months. Senegal and Nigeria have recorded cases but, for now, contained them. ...



AstraZeneca says expanded use of lung cancer drug backed by EU agency

LONDON (Reuters) - British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said on Friday an expanded use of its IRESSA treatment for lung cancer has been recommended for approval by European regulators. The company said a label update to IRESSA meant the treatment would now be able to be applied after blood-based testing. Previously a patient had to provide a tumour sample before receiving the treatment. "If doctors are unable to assess the mutation status of atumour, then patients' access to potentially life-changing medicines such as IRESSA becomes restricted. ...

Smokers' paradise Austria struggles to stub out habit

Guests have a smoke at a coffee shop at Vienna's famous Naschmarkt on September 9, 2014Vienna (AFP) - In the wood-panelled rooms of Vienna's traditional coffee houses, tobacco-lovers can still light up pretty much as they please. But one of the last smokers' havens in Europe may be on course to kick the habit.



Factbox: Obamacare could see second wave of Medicaid expansion

(Reuters) - One of the most highly contentious Obamacare programs, which calls on states to expand their publicly-funded healthcare for the poor, could see a second wave of participation by U.S. states later this year or early in 2015, according to state officials and independent analysts. Following are states whose governor's offices or legislators have held talks with President Barack Obama's administration about possible options for extending healthcare coverage known as Medicaid to uninsured low-income residents. ...

Donors launch $4 billion health fund to cut mother and child deaths

By Stella Dawson NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The World Bank has announced a new global fund to invest about $4 billion in healthcare for mothers and children in developing countries as part of a drive to end their preventable deaths by 2030. World leaders had agreed to reduce the maternal mortality by three-quarters and child mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. However, with one year left, they are falling well short of the goals. ...

California governor signs inmate sterilization ban

California Governor Jerry Brown gestures during a news conference at Memoria y Tolerancia museum in Mexico City(Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that bans prisons from sterilizing inmates without their consent, his office said on Thursday, after media reports and a later audit showed officials failed to obtain consent from dozens of incarcerated women. The bill prohibits sterilizations of inmates as a means of birth control in correctional facilities except for when a patient's life is in danger or when there is a medical need and no less drastic alternatives are available. The bill passed both the state's assembly and senate chambers unanimously last month. ...







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