New cancer medication launched in JAMAICA

Thursday, September 17, 2015 | 6:56 PM    
KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Government continues work to strengthen the country’s cancer care system through strategic partnerships with international entities.
On August 26 of this year, the Government signed a contract with global leader in diagnostic and pharmaceutical products, Roche, to market Herceptin Subcutaneous (SC), an agent commonly used in the treatment of early stage Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (HER) 2 Positive breast cancer.
Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson
The product was launched on Wednesday at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston, to be distributed by Roche Pharma (Jamaica and Cayman).
In his address, Health Minister, Dr Fenton Ferguson, said that Herceptin SC will be a valuable addition to the country’s cancer treatment system.
“This is an achievement that is set to revolutionise the landscape for the treatment of HER 2 Positive breast cancer,” he said.
Citing breast cancer as the fifth leading cause of death in Jamaican women, Ferguson said that a crucial area for reducing deaths from this disease is early detection.
“Early detection, in order to improve breast cancer outcome and survival, remains the fundamental cornerstone in managing the disease. As we continue to push for early detection in order to improve breast cancer outcome and survival, we recognise that strong and fruitful partnerships like this one will help us achieve this goal,” he noted.
Herceptin is a cellular antibody that inhibits the protein that fuels tumour growth and should be used in conjunction with surgery and chemotherapy treatment.
In an interview with JIS News, Country Manager for Roche Pharma, Jamaica and Cayman, Stewart Dougan, said that the medication is now available to the public at several institutions islandwide.
The product is being distributed locally by Facey Commodity Company Limited and Cari-Med Limited.
Dougan warned that the product should only be administered by a licensed health care professional. more

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ANOTHER RACIST POLITICIAN ? Republican Gene Alday, Mississippi Lawmaker, Says Blacks Don't Work And Get 'Crazy Welfare Checks' ...The State Rep. says he was against increased funding for education, in particular funding to improve literacy...Alday also told the newspaper about a time he visited an emergency room. “I liked to died. I laid in there for hours because they (black people) were in there being treated for gunshots," Alday was quoted as saying.

Image
The Huffington Post  |  By Ed Mazza Email Posted: 02/17/2015 1:59 am EST  A Mississippi lawmaker says racist comments recently attributed to him  were taken out of context  and supposed to be off the record. State Rep. Gene Alday, a Republican says racist comments State Rep. Gene Alday, a Republican, told The Clarion-Ledger he was against increased funding for education, in particular funding to improve literacy. During his explanation, Alday said he comes " from a town where all the blacks are getting food stamps and what I call 'welfare crazy checks .' They don't work." Alday also told the newspaper about a time he visited an emergency room.  “I liked to died. I laid in there for hours because they (black people) were in there being treated for gunshots," Alday was quoted as saying.  Alday didn't deny the comments attributed to him. However, he said he was not a racist. " I am definitely not a racist, at all ," Alday told Missis...
Read more

MATH PUZZLE : Here's The Answer To That Fruit Math Puzzle That's Driving Everyone Coconuts.... What's half a coconut plus one apple plus three bananas? Is the answer 12, 14, 16, 18 or 20. Go to www.RulaBrownNetwork.com for the correct answer.

Image
 02/18/2016 02:01 am ET It's one of those Facebook posts that's all over the place, and -- like " the dress " or the  hidden panda  -- everyone seems to have a different take on it.  What is half a coconut plus one apple plus three bananas?  On the surface, it would seem the apple has a value of 10, the bananas a value of four and the coconut a value of two. And if that were the end of the story, the answer would be 2 + 10 + 4 = 16.  But in the final frame, the fruit are slightly different.  There is half a coconut, instead of two halves in the earlier example equation that establishes a value of two. And instead of the four bananas representing the value of four, there are just three bananas.  If the numbers are reduced along with the portions of fruit, you get a totally different answer: 1 + 10 + 3 = 14.   Which is the correct answer? Like the dress, the answer is in how you see it.... See Rula Brown'...
Read more

Police: 22 y-o Devon Staples shoots off firework from top of his head, dies

Image
CALAIS, Maine (AP) — A young man who was drinking and celebrating the Fourth of July tried to launch a firework off the top of his head, fatally injuring himself, authorities said Sunday. Devon Staples and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks Saturday night in the backyard of a friend's home in the small eastern Maine city of Calais, said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. Staples, 22, of Calais, placed a fireworks mortar tube on his head and set it off, he said. The firework exploded, killing Staples instantly, McCausland said. His death is the first fireworks fatality in Maine since the state legalized fireworks on Jan. 1, 2012, authorities said. Calais is on the Canadian border near New Brunswick. State fire marshals were also investigating several other Fourth of July fireworks accidents involving injuries in Friendship, Jefferson, Lebanon and Woodstock. They said most of the accidents involved burns and eye ...
Read more