Roche breast cancer drug 'unprecedented' in extending lives

Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2014


Roche breast cancer drug 'unprecedented' in extending lives

The logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is seen outside the Shanghai Roche Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. headquarters in ShanghaiBy Ben Hirschler MADRID (Reuters) - A new breast cancer drug from Roche has shown "unprecedented" benefits in extending lives in a clinical trial and experts urged its widespread use for women with an aggressive form of the disease. Patients with a type of breast cancer known as HER2 positive, which makes up about a quarter of all breast cancers, who were given Perjeta on top of older medicine Herceptin and chemotherapy lived 15.7 months longer than those on Herceptin and chemotherapy alone. ...



Failed cancer vaccines might live again with new immune drugs

By Ben Hirschler MADRID (Reuters) - Using vaccines to fight cancer is a field littered with failures but experts believe it is possible the approach could get a new lease of life if such shots are combined with a new class of drugs called checkpoint inhibitors. Unlike traditional preventative vaccines, therapeutic cancer vaccines are designed for people with established disease and are supposed to boost the patient's immune system to keep tumors at bay. ...

Two popes attend gathering of the wise and wrinkled at the Vatican

Pope Francis greets Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI before a mass in Saint Peter's square at the VaticanBy Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Elderly people, including former Pope Benedict, attended a gathering of the wise and wrinkled at the Vatican on Sunday, where Pope Francis denounced the neglect and abandonment of the old as "hidden euthanasia". During the festive event in St. Peter's Square, Francis addressed some 40,000 elderly people -- grandfathers, grandmothers, widows and widowers. ...



Roche breast cancer drug 'unprecedented' in extending lives

The logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is seen outside the Shanghai Roche Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. headquarters in ShanghaiBy Ben Hirschler MADRID (Reuters) - A new breast cancer drug from Roche has shown "unprecedented" benefits in extending lives in a clinical trial and experts urged its widespread use for women with an aggressive form of the disease. Patients with a type of breast cancer known as HER2 positive, which makes up about a quarter of all breast cancers, who were given Perjeta on top of older medicine Herceptin and chemotherapy lived 15.7 months longer than those on Herceptin and chemotherapy alone. ...



Failed cancer vaccines might live again with new immune drugs

By Ben Hirschler MADRID (Reuters) - Using vaccines to fight cancer is a field littered with failures but experts believe it is possible the approach could get a new lease of life if such shots are combined with a new class of drugs called checkpoint inhibitors. Unlike traditional preventative vaccines, therapeutic cancer vaccines are designed for people with established disease and are supposed to boost the patient's immune system to keep tumors at bay. ...

Two popes attend gathering of the wise and wrinkled at the Vatican

Pope Francis greets Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI before a mass in Saint Peter's square at the VaticanBy Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Elderly people, including former Pope Benedict, attended a gathering of the wise and wrinkled at the Vatican on Sunday, where Pope Francis denounced the neglect and abandonment of the old as "hidden euthanasia". During the festive event in St. Peter's Square, Francis addressed some 40,000 elderly people -- grandfathers, grandmothers, widows and widowers. ...



Obesity research takes high-tech twist at Florida school

By Letitia Stein ST. PETERSBURG Fla. (Reuters) - Freshmen at Florida's Lakewood High School lined up against gold and black gymnasium mats on Friday to have their height and weight measured, an assessment to launch a novel study on fighting teenage obesity with trendy new technology. Researchers affiliated with Johns Hopkins Medicine, whose network includes a Florida children's hospital near the school, plan to use results of the screening to select about 50 overweight students and track their activity levels using the Fitbit, a connected wristband. ...

Roche breast cancer drug 'unprecedented' in extending lives

The logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is seen outside the Shanghai Roche Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. headquarters in ShanghaiBy Ben Hirschler MADRID (Reuters) - A new breast cancer drug from Roche has shown "unprecedented" benefits in extending lives in a clinical trial and experts urged its widespread use for women with an aggressive form of the disease. Patients with a type of breast cancer known as HER2 positive, which makes up about a quarter of all breast cancers, who were given Perjeta on top of older medicine Herceptin and chemotherapy lived 15.7 months longer than those on Herceptin and chemotherapy alone. ...



Failed cancer vaccines might live again with new immune drugs

By Ben Hirschler MADRID (Reuters) - Using vaccines to fight cancer is a field littered with failures but experts believe it is possible the approach could get a new lease of life if such shots are combined with a new class of drugs called checkpoint inhibitors. Unlike traditional preventative vaccines, therapeutic cancer vaccines are designed for people with established disease and are supposed to boost the patient's immune system to keep tumors at bay. ...





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