| OSI's anti-cancer drug Tarceva launches in Japan next week
The anti-cancer drug Tarceva will be launched and covered under Japan's National Health Insurance starting Tuesday, the Melville-based drug maker OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Friday. The drug is now available in 83 countries, including the United States and European Union.
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approved Tarceva in October for patients with some forms of lung cancer where chemotherapy has failed. "We are pleased that lung cancer patients in Japan will now have access to Tarceva, which has been proven to offer a survival benefit with a well-described side-effect profile," said Gabriel Leung, president for oncology at OSI.
OSI manufactures and distributes Tarceva through partnerships with Genentech and Roche. The drug will be marketed in Japan by Roche affiliate Chugai Pharmaceutical Co.
The Forgotten
First, just after Canada Day, there was Joshua, George Ratliff's marvelously creepy thriller about a New York family being torn apart by mysterious and disturbing accidents following the birth of their second child; the studio didn't know how to market it, selling the film as a horror movie in the tradition of Rosemary's Baby and The Omen – a comparison that's only superficially appropriate – and failing to give it the kind of promotional push necessary for a small film to distinguish itself amidst the summertime competition. Not that it was ever going to be Little Miss Sunshine, but still. .
Obama planning Thursday appearance at Tulane
Once race enters the conversation all sense goes out of it. I don't think Obama is playing on 'blackness' like other politicians. If he were I don't think he would have been able to win in some of the whitest states in the union, Iowa, Idaho, Utah, Alaska. I am going to push the button for him because he isn't Mrs. Clinton and my first choice left the race after New Hampshire. .
DFLers advance health insurance plan
A bold plan to provide health insurance coverage for all Minnesotans through a government run program was advanced today by DFL legislators, who say they expect to wage a three or four year battle for such a system. The proposed Minnesota Health Plan was touted as the most effective way to transfer savings resulting from lower insurance overhead and other costs to provide coverage for an estimated 400,000 uninsured Minnesotans. The effort is being led largely by new House members, who say they are responding to numerous complaints about health insurance while campaigning in 2006. "Health care was either number one or number two as a primary concern," said Rep. David Bly, DFL-Northfield. The single-payer plan will compete with less dramatic proposals for health coverage reform during the upcoming legislative session.
Pedal power: Yuma woman shares Tour de France past
Some people walk into the pages of history. Betsy King chose to pedal. Today this spunky Yuma gal works far from the spotlight, doing her best to make folks feel better as a family nurse practitioner. But just a few years ago, King was earning thunderous applause and making headlines around the globe. That's when King racked up more than 10,000 miles a year on her bicycle, making her living by leaving everyone in the dust. That's back when King made history by competing in the world's most famous bike race of them all: the Tour de France. "All the crowds cheering and the people throwing water on you," she said, describing the thrill of crossing the finishing line. "It's amazing. It gives me chills just thinking about it." King competed in the Tour de France not just once, but five of the six years that a women's race was offered in the 1980s.
Montgomery professor uses education to rebuild Haiti
This story about Anne Jordan-Reynolds' work in Haiti originally ran in the June 7, 2004, Montgomery Advertiser: A few weeks ago, Montgomerian Anne Jordan-Reynolds walked along the port of Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti looking for old friends she hoped were still alive. After a coup forced Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile Feb. 29, rampant violence continued, forcing everyday people into hiding, the economy to a standstill and an already poverty-stricken nation into an even more brutal way of life. "There is nothing there, and that's something that's hard for people of our culture to comprehend," Jordan-Reynolds said of life in Haiti. "Daily, people have to make do with what's available." Lack and chaos dominate Haitian life, but for Jordan-Reynolds the country has become a second home.
Lee reappointed to teacher fund; is he the next chairman?
Gov. Rick Perry said today he has reappointed James Lee to the Teacher Retirement System board of trustees. Lee's new term runs until Aug. 31, 2013. For the better part of a year, Lee has been an active and successful fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. But his profile hit new heights in September, when Giuliani fired his top fundraiser and named Lee to the job. At the teacher pension fund, it's widely expected that Perry will name Lee as the next chairman of the board of trustees. That position is currently held by Jarvis Hollingsworth, a lawyer in the Houston office of Bracewell & (Rudy) Giuliani. But Hollingsworth's term is up, clearing the way for a new chair. (Although Perry can name a new chairman anytime he wants, regardless of whether the current chair's term has expired.) The Giuliani connections run deeper, of course: Perry has endorsed the former New York mayor for the Republican presidential nomination.
Winds shifting in the debate over education
The bill he introduced a week ago, House Bill 1133, would give a state income tax credit to individuals and corporations donating to school-choice scholarship organizations. It's similar to programs in Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Rhode Island. It would allow individuals to contribute $1,000 and couples $2,500 annually to nonprofits offering grants to public school students to attend private schools. Listening to Jones testify on HB 881, I am suddenly aware that, indeed, the center of gravity on the education debate has shifted. No longer are we stuck on inputs and debate about how one government can best grow another, which the input set chooses to define as "local control." "It is a unique opportunity," Jones says of her bill establishing a state commission to grant charters, along with a fairer funding model.
Japanese veteran haunted by WWII surgical killings in Mindanao
The combat doctor would tell him to watch as he sliced open a hostage's stomach, a scene that Makino says made him so ill he couldn't eat or drink for days afterwards. "When cooking chicken, the doctor would get amused and say, 'Oh, this is just like human intestines,'" he said. But Makino said he eventually became accustomed to what he had to do. "I was desperate," he said. "I didn't want to do anything like that if possible. But I had to follow the orders of my superior as a military man, otherwise I'd have been beaten up." He could not put a definitive number on how many of the 50 people the unit killed were vivisected or how many of the operations he took part in. He did say he could never forget those days on the tropical island and even six decades later he could barely talk about his experiences without breaking down.
|
