- Author: Health Informer
- Filed under: Health News
- Date: May 25,2011
Halaven(TM) Black Triangle Drug (eribulin), a novel treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer who have progressed after at least two chemotherapeutic regimens for advanced disease is launched today in the United Kingdom. Prior therapy should have included two common types of chemotherapy, an anthracycline and a taxane, unless patients were not suitable for these treatments.[1]
Discovered and developed by Eisai, eribulin is a non-taxane, microtubule dynamics inhibitor and a synthetic analog of halichondrin B, a natural product isolated from the marine sponge Halichondria okadai.[2] It is a new class of agent and the first, single-agent chemotherapy to demonstrate a statistically significant overall survival benefit in patients with heavily pre-treated advanced breast cancer compared to currently used treatments. [1,3] Patients treated with eribulin survived a median of 2.5 months longer than patients who received treatment of physician’s choice (overall survival of 13.1 months versus 10.6 months, respectively, p=0.041).[1,3]
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK.[4] It accounts for around 16 percent of female deaths from cancer, the second most common cause of female cancer death after lung cancer.[5] 30 percent of women diagnosed with early or localised breast cancer will eventually relapse and develop metastatic or advanced disease.[6] Read the rest of this entry »
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- Author: Health Informer
- Filed under: Health News
- Date: May 24,2011
Military members and their families now need just one phone number for emergency communications
As part of an ongoing effort to better serve the military community, the American Red Cross today announced that it will move to a single telephone number for its emergency communication services.
Beginning June 13, 2011, at 8:00 a.m. EDT, all military members and their families can use one number- 877-272-7337 (U.S. Toll Free) to send an urgent message to a service member.
The change means that all military members and their families can use this single number to initiate an emergency communication, regardless of where they live. In the past, community-based military or families living outside an installation needed to remember the phone number for their local Red Cross chapters for emergency communications, while those living on a military installation used the 877-272-7337 number.
“An emergency situation can be a very stressful time for a military family, and having just one common telephone number to remember can make a difficult situation a little easier,” said Sherri Brown, Senior Vice President for Service to the Armed Forces. ”U.S. military personnel and their families can remain confident that the Red Cross will be there to keep them connected when there is a crisis at home.” Read the rest of this entry »
Website Offers New Resources for Medicare Annual Enrollment Period and Beyond
Understanding and keeping on top of what’s new in Medicare can be challenging–even for those who know the program best.
NCOA’s My Medicare Community is an important resource that can help. Since it launched in 2007, the online community has helped more than 2,400 benefits counseling professionals including volunteers get the information and news they need to assist Medicare beneficiaries in making the most of their Medicare coverage. MyMedicareCommunity.org is funded in part by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.
On the site, benefits counselors can find the latest news and developments in Medicare and participate in an online forum to learn and share with others working in the community. New resources are available to help counselors prepare now for the 2012 Part D and Medicare Advantage Annual Enrollment Period, which begins earlier this year on Oct. 15. During this period, Medicare beneficiaries can review and make changes to their Medicare coverage. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: Health Informer
- Filed under: Health News
- Date: May 24,2011
Adding just a few more weeks of pregnancy can cut a newborn’s risk of death in half – even if the pregnancy has reached “term” — adding more evidence to the argument that continuing a pregnancy to at least 39 weeks is crucial to a baby’s health.
The research by a team of investigators from the March of Dimes, the National Institutes of Health and the US Food and Drug Administration found that although the overall risk of death is small, it more than doubles for infants born at 37 weeks of pregnancy, when compared to babies born at 40 weeks, for all races and ethnicities.
In 2006, the infant mortality rate was 1.9 for every 1,000 live births for babies born at 40 weeks of pregnancy. The mortality rate increased to 3.9 per 1,000 when a baby was born just a few weeks earlier at 37 weeks of pregnancy, the study found.
“There is the perception that babies born between 37 and 41 weeks of pregnancy are all born healthy. But this study confirms that even babies born just a week or two early have an increased risk of death,” said Alan R. Fleischman, MD, senior vice president and medical director at the March of Dimes. “It is clear, that regardless of race or ethnicity, every additional week of pregnancy is critical to a baby’s health.” Read the rest of this entry »