International
Cancer drug cooperation could save 1.5 mn lives a year: researchers
AFP
Around 1.5 million lives could be saved every year if the world worked together to more swiftly approve new cancer drugs, researchers said Tuesday.
The figure was based on how long it took two recent cancer drugs to be approved across the world after they were given the green light by the United States.
Pembrolizumab, an effective treatment for most lung cancers, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2016.
More than 600,000 years of patients’ lives could have been saved if Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan and the European Union had approved the drug at the same time, according to an analysis published in the Harvard Business Review, which is not peer-reviewed.
The authors, including US oncologist Bobby Daly, also looked at enzalutamide, which is used to treat prostate cancer.
Enzalutamide was approved by the FDA in 2012, but was not authorised in China for another seven years, partly due to a requirement for separate trials to be carried out there.
The analysis by members of the Bloomberg New Economy International Cancer Coalition found that 284,000 years of patient lives could have been saved if other countries had approved the drug alongside the FDA.
Extrapolating out from their findings, the researchers estimated that if each of the approximately seven cancer drugs approved by the FDA a year were authorised worldwide, it would reduce the number of cancer-related deaths by 10-20 percent.
That represents roughly 1.5 million of the around 10 million people who die of cancer every year.
‘Challenging’ for doctors
“In China alone an estimated 500,000 patient life-years could be saved through harmonisation of trial requirements that have delayed patient access to treatment,” former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, co-chair of the Bloomberg cancer coalition, said in a statement.
Mary Gospodarowicz, also a member of the coalition, said that it was “challenging” as an oncologist in Canada when a drug was approved in the US but would take years to be able to prescribe it to her patients.
The study assumed that the rest of the world had the infrastructure to diagnose and treat cancer as well as the US, which is not always the case, Gospodarowicz told AFP via phone from the World Cancer Congress in Geneva on Tuesday.
But it served as an example of how “removing the barriers to drug approval would be beneficial to patients around the world,” said the former president of the Union for International Cancer Control, which is holding the congress.
The authors of the analysis called on countries to embrace Project Orbis, a US-led framework aiming to get cancer drugs trialled and approved at the same time in multiple countries.
“The US has already made significant progress in setting up the regulatory infrastructure for cancer treatment with the Project Orbis initiative and the task ahead is to take that framework and internationalise it,” former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.
International
Regional mexican music mourns the death of Banda Gota de Oro singer Giovanni Vera
Regional Mexican music is mourning the death of Giovanni Vera, lead vocalist of the band Banda Gota de Oro, who was among the victims of an armed attack that occurred on Sunday, December 28, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.
The incident took place inside a residence located in the Los Presidentes neighborhood, in the municipality of Irapuato.
According to preliminary reports, several people were gathered at the house when armed men burst in and opened fire on those present. The attack left five people dead, including the singer.
Hours after the shooting, Banda Gota de Oro confirmed Vera’s death through its official Instagram account. In one of the posts, the group expressed its grief with an emotional message: “Today, the sky is dressed for a celebration because you are singing up there. Your voice and your joy will live on forever within us.”
Messages of support and condolences from fans and fellow musicians quickly flooded social media, paying tribute to the artist and expressing solidarity with his family and bandmates.
International
One Dead, Three Injured in Shooting at Cree Nation in Saskatchewan
One person was killed and three others were injured in a shooting reported early Tuesday in the Big Island Lake Cree Nation, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, according to local media.
Police said they were alerted to the incident in a remote area located approximately 392 kilometers northwest of the city of Saskatoon. Authorities issued a dangerous persons alert for two suspects, who were described as armed.
Saskatchewan police urged residents to seek shelter immediately, lock their doors, and avoid the area while the situation remains under investigation. Officers are working to determine whether the shooting was a targeted attack or a random act of violence.
As a precautionary measure, seven health-care facilities in the surrounding area were placed under lockdown, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a post on X.
International
Mexico’s President Visits Victims After Train Derailment Kills 13 in Oaxaca
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum visited on Monday the victims injured in a train accident that left 13 people dead in the southern state of Oaxaca and announced financial assistance for those affected by the derailment of the Interoceanic Train, which was inaugurated in 2023.
The train, carrying 241 passengers and nine crew members, derailed on Sunday while traveling along the Interoceanic Corridor, a major infrastructure project that connects the Pacific coast with the Gulf of Mexico across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The corridor was one of the flagship initiatives of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration (2018–2024).
Sheinbaum visited three hospitals in the neighboring towns of Tehuantepec and Salina Cruz, where around 20 injured passengers remain hospitalized. She also went to a funeral home to accompany the families of those who lost their lives in the accident.
According to Mexico’s Navy Secretary, Raymundo Morales, the accident occurred when one of the locomotives derailed, causing all four railcars to leave the tracks.
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Regional mexican music mourns the death of Banda Gota de Oro singer Giovanni Vera