Health Highlights: Feb. 3, 2009
Feb. 4 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
FDA Panel Backs New Blood Thinner
A new blood thinner called prasugrel marks a significant advance over older treatments, an advisory panel of U.S. cardiologists said Tuesday.
The nine members on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's panel unanimously voted in favor of approval for Eli Lilly's anticlotting drug, which, if OK'd by the FDA itself, would be marketed under the brand name Effient, according to the Associated Press.
The approval followed an FDA review, released last week, that found prasugrel appeared more effective than the current leading blood thinner Plavix.
Since prasugrel, which was developed by Lilly and Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo, was submitted for approval last January, the FDA has twice put off making a decision because of concerns about its safety. While the drug reduces life-threatening heart problems, it increases the risk of internal bleeding.
But the new FDA review, and the advisory panel's endorsement, indicate the drug's lifesaving benefits clearly outweigh its risks, the AP reported.
The agency is not required to follow the recommendations of its expert panels, but it usually does.
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Cancer Leading Killer in Developing Nations: Report
Cancer now claims more lives in developing countries each year than malaria, tuberculosis or AIDS, according to a report issued in advance of World Cancer Day on Wednesday.
In 2008, more than 12 million new cancer cases were diagnosed worldwide and 7.6 million people died of cancer, Agence France Presse reported.
Developing nations accounted for more than half of all new global cancer cases and about 60 percent of cancer deaths, according to the report from health foundation and consultancy Axios International.
"Cancer in the developing world is a hidden crisis that goes largely unreported, undiagnosed and untreated," said study co-author David Kerr, a professor of clinical pharmacology and cancer therapeutics at the University of Oxford in the U.K., AFP reported.
