LONDON - An independent British medical watchdog says the first treatment proven to help people with the deadliest form of skin cancer is too expensive to be used by the UK’s health care system, a recommendation critics called a potential death sentence.
The drug, Bristol-Meyers Squibb’s Yervoy, has offered some hope to people with advanced skin cancers, though a recent study showed it only worked in a small segment of patients studied, and they lived just four months longer than patients given older medications.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence advised yesterday that at a cost of $126,600, Yervoy “could not be considered a cost-effective use’’ of health funds. A final decision is expected next month after a public consultation.
In the United Kingdom, most medicines are paid for by the government as long as they are recommended by the cost-efficiency watchdog. The agency commonly rejects expensive drugs, including recently advising against new treatments for prostate cancer, breast cancer, and multiple sclerosis.
The government usually adopts the institute’s recommendations, meaning doctors in the government-funded health service cannot prescribe Yervoy without its approval.
Yeah, you wouldn't want a national health system, American.
--more--"
Speaking of cancers:
"Britain’s defense minister, Liam Fox, resigned abruptly yesterday after more than a week of damaging newspaper headlines about his personal and professional relationship with a 33-year-old man who accompanied him on numerous official trips abroad and appeared to have brokered access for wealthy individuals who shared Fox’s interest in close ties with the United States and Israel....
--more--"
Related: Was Mossad using Fox and Werritty as 'useful idiots'? Ex-Ambassador reveals how links made by 'advisers' set alarm bells ringing
"Ex-publisher to testify on phone hacking" October 12, 2011|New York Times
LONDON - Rupert Murdoch’s former chief lieutenant, Les Hinton, will appear before Parliament to answer further questions on the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, lawmakers said yesterday.
The parliamentary committee investigating the scandal said Hinton will give evidence by video link from the United States on Oct. 24. Hinton was chairman of News International, the British newspaper unit of Murdoch’s News Corp. media empire, from 1995 to 2007; he then became publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
He resigned from that post over the summer after revelations that journalists at the company’s British tabloid weekly News of the World had repeatedly broken into the private voicemail boxes of celebrities and people in the news.
The scandal led the company to shut News of the World and threatened to shake News Corp. to its foundations. In dramatic hearings over the summer, Murdoch, his son James, and other senior figures from News of the World and News International were shown to be sharply at odds over the question of who knew that phone hacking was endemic at the newspaper, and when they knew it. The company had insisted until early this year that the practice was limited to one “rogue reporter,’’ Clive Goodman.
Hinton “was in charge during a lot of the critical period,’’ John Whittingdale, the committee chairman, said yesterday.
Of particular interest, Whittingdale said, is a letter sent to Hinton at News International in early 2007 by Goodman, which alleged that phone hacking was “widely discussed’’ at the paper.
--more--"
"Event hails music, life of King of Pop
CARDIFF - Three generations of Michael Jackson’s family - with a few notable absentees - joined an eclectic roster of entertainers yesterday to pay tribute to the King of Pop, a celebration of the late star’s life overshadowed by the Los Angeles manslaughter trial of his doctor. On a stage shaped like a giant glove, participants performed songs from throughout Jackson’s career."
"UK to open inquest in 2006 poisoning" October 15, 2011|Associated Press
LONDON - A British coroner has ordered a wide-ranging inquest into the 2006 death of dissident former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko.
Litvinenko died in a London hospital after ingesting a radioactive substance, polonium-210. On his deathbed, he blamed the Russian president at the time, Vladimir Putin, for authorizing his poisoning - bringing UK-Russian relations to a freeze.
London officials said yesterday that coroner Dr. Andrew Reid had asked police and intelligence agencies to carry out further inquiries into the death.
Russia has refused repeated British requests for the extradition of the chief suspect in the case, former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi, who denies any involvement.
Last month, in a step toward mending UK-Russian ties, Prime Minister David Cameron made the first visit to Russia’s capital by a British leader since Litvinenko’s death. He stressed that Britain and Russia must set aside their disputes over the incident to nurture new trading ties and help promote global stability.
Gee, who would want to mess that up?
--more--"
