Breast cancer drug "unprecedented" in extending lives

A new breast cancer drug from Roche has shown “unprecedented” benefits in extending lives in a clinical trial and experts urged its widespread use for women with an aggressive form of the disease.

Patients with a type of breast cancer known as HER2 positive, which makes up about a quarter of all breast cancers, who were given Perjeta on top of older medicine Herceptin and chemotherapy lived 15.7 months longer than those on Herceptin and chemotherapy alone.

That is the longest extension to survival ever seen for a drug studied in metastatic breast cancer and also an unusually good result for any type of metastatic cancer, where disease has spread to other parts of the body.

The result is a vindication of combining medicines that fight tumor cells in a variety of ways.

Both Herceptin and Perjeta are antibodies designed to block the function of HER2, a protein produced by a cancer-linked gene. Perjeta, also known as pertuzumab, binds to a different part of the same protein, which makes combining the two drugs extra effective.

“The results, I think, are phenomenal,” lead researcher Sandra Swain from the Washington Hospital Center told the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) annual congress in Madrid on Sunday.

“The survival improvement of nearly 16 months … is unprecedented among studies of metastatic breast cancer.”

Perjeta, which was approved by regulators two years ago, was tested in the Roche-backed study involving more than 800 women.

Researchers had previously reported the Perjeta drug regimen significantly extended progression-free survival, or the period of time patients live without their disease worsening, but the final overall survival data has taken longer to collect.

The median overall survival time was 56.5 months for those given Perjeta against the already impressive 40.8 months for patients taking only the older drugs.

Looking at the study results a different way, the risk of dying was reduced by 32 percent for women who received the Perjeta regimen compared to those who got Herceptin and chemotherapy.

While both Perjeta and Herceptin have side effects, including rash, diarrhea and a potentially adverse impact on heart function, using the two drugs together did not make these issues any worse.

“I think these data are really compelling,” said Eric Van Cutsem of the University of Leuven, who was not involved in the research. “When you see in breast cancer such a big change in survival with not a lot of cardio-toxicities then that is really practice-changing.”

REMARKABLE RESULTS

Swain and Javier Cortes, another researcher on the study from the Vall D’Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, said the results suggested using Perjeta should now be the standard of care for HER2 positive breast cancer patients.

A favorable reaction from oncologists will underpin expectations of strong sales for Perjeta, which analysts currently expect to sell $3.1 billion a year by 2018, according to consensus forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters Cortellis.

But it poses a challenge for healthcare providers, since Perjeta and Herceptin are costly injectable drugs and the multiple-drug regimen promises to strain budgets.

In the United States, the monthly price of Perjeta is approximately $5,900, while Herceptin costs around $5,300, a Roche spokeswoman said. Prices in Europe are lower.

For Roche, Perjeta is an important new product that should help defend its position in breast cancer, following the success of Herceptin, which was first approved in 1998.

The company said the latest data would be submitted to regulatory authorities around the world for inclusion in the prescribing information for Perjeta.

The Swiss drugmaker also has another related drug called Kadcyla, which is also being tested in combination with Perjeta. Some analysts believe Kadcyla’s prospects could be curbed if results from that combination are not better than the impressive findings reported this weekend.

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Breast cancer drug "unprecedented" in extending lives

Vehicular crash claims two lives

Sunday, September 28, 2014 | 8:05 PM    

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Two persons were killed earlier today (Sunday, September) following a vehicular crash on the May Pen leg of Highway 2000.

Dead are Nicko Richards and Richie Richardson both 24-years-old of Hope Village, Willamsfield in Manchester.

Reports from the May Pen Traffic Department are that about 1:30 pm, Richards was driving a Honda motor car with Richardson as a passenger, on the highway towards Kingston.

It is then alleged they the vehicle crashed in a ditch.

The Police were summoned and Richards and Richardson were taken to hospital where they succumbed to their injuries while being treated.

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Vehicular crash claims two lives

Stella Maris, Digicel foundations changing lives in Grant’s Pen

WITH crime and violence threatening to destabilise the area, the Grant’s Pen community in St Andrew used to be labelled one of Jamaica’s more “volatile” areas. However, the staff and volunteers of the Stella Maris Foundation, located in the heart of the community, have worked hard to change this perception.

 The foundation is committed to the promotion of goodwill and sustainable social and economic development through skills training and social programmes. Their efforts were almost thwarted nine years ago when the building in which the Stella Maris Foundation was housed went up for sale. “We faced a crossroads,” says Omar Frith, general manager of the foundation. “We needed to keep the building, but at a cost of $12 million and with mounting bills, we could hardly afford to pay.

 The challenge seemed great.” Then board director Anne Marie Thomas called on philanthropist Daphne Hewett to assist in advancing a down payment for a sale agreement to secure the building. Hewett, who had been conducting weekly praise and worship sessions in Grant’s Pen, happily agreed. Immediately after, the Digicel Foundation stepped in, committing to match Stella Maris’ fundraising efforts to up to $6 million.

 The board of the Stella Maris Foundation, led by then chairman Jean Lowrie-Chin, raised the needed funds, and true to its word, the Digicel Foundation provided the additional $6 million, presented in person by Digicel Foundation Patron Denis O’Brien in May 2005. This support has reaped lasting results. Since then, training in collaboration with HEART/NTA at the Stella Maris Foundation has been expanded and more than 1,000 young Jamaicans from surrounding communities have been certified.

 The building also houses the Norma Chang Day Care Centre where students can leave their children in expert care while they attend classes. The graduates have either found employment or have started their own businesses. These young people, who otherwise might have been drawn into disruptive activities, are now well respected citizens of the community.

 “Our success is undoubtedly linked to Digicel Foundation’s intervention,” said Frith. “Today, in spite of our limitations, the Stella Maris Foundation has security of tenure, and we are the proud owners of this property, thanks to the extraordinary help from the Digicel Foundation.

 We could hardly keep up with the rent and the utilities at the time, much less to purchase a building. They stepped up and made the investment in our community, one that has made a world of a difference.” The Stella Maris Foundation is just one of the many organisations that have benefited from Digicel Foundation’s financial support.

 Over the 10 years that the Digicel Foundation has been established, it has already given more than $1.95 billion to sustainable national development projects. The foundation has targeted three key areas of support over these years: education, special needs and community development.

 “When we see organisations committed to enhancing their communities and improving the quality of lives of the residents, we are compelled to play our part to ensure that these efforts are sustained,” says Lisa Lewis, Digicel Foundation chair. The Digicel Foundation recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with a launch on the grounds of the Stella Maris Foundation and is looking to extend its reach during this anniversary year.

 The foundation says it will continue to create centres of excellence for special needs students, bringing the total number of centres from four to 10. In the education sector, the foundation will continue to expand the enrichment programme with the provision of specially designed mobile science carts for 10 schools islandwide.

 Additionally, the Digicel Foundation says it will partner with the BREDS Foundation under the Community Development portfolio by contributing an additional $10 million in support of the Treasure Beach Foundation Sports Park. The park, which is already hosting local schools and clubs, aims to host regional and international sporting events.

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Stella Maris, Digicel foundations changing lives in Grant’s Pen

Tenor Saw lives on

WHEN dancehall’s roll is called up yonder, singer Tenor Saw’s name will definitely be there.

His spiritually-laced songs, catchy lyrics and unique voice, defined 1980s dancehall music and influenced a generation of singers.At the height of his four-year reign, the 21-year-old (whose given name was Clive Bright) was found dead with broken limbs near a Texas roadway in August 1988.Though the circumstances of his death remain shrouded in mystery, 25 years after, there is no denying Tenor Saw’s legacy lives on.Producer George Phang, who first recorded him for his Powerhouse label, remembers their first meeting at Dynamic Sounds in St Andrew which led to the gospel-inspired song Roll Call, released in 1984.“At the time, I was recording Half Pint’s Greetings and Michael Palmer’s Lick Shot,” Phang told Splash.He said he was approached by the diminutive teenager, who wanted to record a song.“Him was next to tears. Him say no one wanted to record him,” Phang recalled.According to Phang, he took a chance and gave the budding vocalist a microphone.“When the little youth start sing, his voice was bigger than him… it hold mi. The whole studio start cheer,” he said.After the release of Roll Call, Tenor Saw became an in-demand artiste.“He was a brilliant youth. He is sadly missed,” Phang added.Delores ‘Cherry’ Prince is Tenor Saw’s mother. She said it was difficult coping with her son’s death.“When I used to hear his music, I used to feel sad. But now, I feel happy when I hear them,” she said.The fourth of six children, Clive Bright was born December 6, 1966 at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston. He spent his formative years in Payne Land, Maverley and Olympic Gardens, a cradle for dancehall artistes in the 1980s.His family later settled in nearby Duhaney Park. Tenor Saw’s older sister, Janet Maragh, remembers him as a little boy with big dreams.“He always loved singing. He loved hats, never loved jewellery,” recalled the 57-year-old mother of three children.“He had lots of friends. He would take them home, and even share his dinner with them. I clearly remember (singer) Yami Bolo,” she continued.Tenor Saw had a religious background and was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of God choir in Olympic Gardens.“I took all of them to church,” says Prince, who is still a committed Christian.She remembers the first time hearing her son’s music on the radio.“I was in my kitchen when Roll Call was playing on the radio. Someone told me it was Clive; he sounded good. He later came home and told me himself,” she said.Tenor Saw recorded a string of hits during dancehall’s digital dawn, cementing himself as one of its brightest stars.Those hits include Pumpkin Belly, Lots of Sign, Fever and Run Come Call Me. His enduring Ring the Alarm, done on the Stalag rhythm for producer Winston Riley’s Techniques label, is his most successful song.Prince says she does not get a penny from covers or sampling of Tenor Saw recordings.She, however, recounts that a producer living in the United States called her and said he managed Tenor Saw. He paid off the balance on a house she once lived in in Seaview Gardens.He called again and advised the family he had funds for them.“That was the last I heard of him,” Prince said.The family’s wish, however, is that the late singer be “recognised” by the Jamaican music industry and his country.“It’s not about money. It’s about him being recognised for his contribution to Jamaica’s popular culture. His music should be played more on the radio. It’s clean,” Prince said.His family is also mulling a memorial event on his birthday, December 6.Prince has heard several accounts of Tenor Saw’s death. However, his autopsy reports the cause of death as pneumonia. He was cremated and his ashes brought home.“They killed my son, but they can’t kill his voice,” she added.Clive ‘Tenor Saw’ Bright is survived by his 26-year-old son, Justin, who lives in New York.Tenor Saw’s sister, Janet Maragh (left), and his mother Delores ‘Cherry’ Prince at the family house in Duhaney Park in Kingston. (PHOTO: GARFIELD ROBINSON)Tenor Saw (right) performing on stage with one of his several friends.

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Tenor Saw lives on

Former dancer lives under Ocho Rios bridge for 20 years

PASSING by the bridge located close to the Ocho Rios Police Station along the Ocho Rios bypass, curious onlookers will notice well washed clothes on a line, or smell the aroma of food being cooked, as smoke rises from beneath the road.

But many will be surprised to know that that is where former dancer Lavern Edwards, also known as Bev, has called home for some 20 years now.“A long time mi live here. About 20 years,” she said.Edwards, who is originally from Clarendon, told the Jamaica Observer during a visit to her “home” recently that she has been living under the bridge after she became involved with drug-taking and wanted a break from the lifestyle.Living there has not been easy for her and it is no easy task to leave, as Edwards said all she has been getting over the years are promises with nothing coming through for her.Through storms, hurricanes, murky and clean waters, this is where Edwards has called home — and she does everything to make it just that. A visit to her ‘home’ reveals a shared space for three, Edwards, her spouse and a young man, who is not related to the two.The makeshift bedrooms with furniture and mattresses, along with a kitchen area, show that Edwards has been busy trying to make the best of her situation.The 59-year-old, who makes a living from doing the laundry of several people in the resort town and from gardening, however explained that life has been difficult for her.Living under the bridge has not prevented criminals from targeting her. In fact, Edwards, who now experiences discomfort getting around as one of her legs has been broken twice and the other fractured, said that she was pushed from the top of the bridge during an attempted robbery several years ago.The pains that she now feels reminds her of that encounter.Edwards also plants bananas, plantains and sugar cane along with ground provisions, and she too has suffered at the hands of praedial thieves.“Last year dem tief 17 banana and 12 plantain,” Edwards said.“Very rare you will hear someone say sell mi something,” she stated, adding that she loses more to thieves than she is able to sell from her small farm located in close proximity to the bridge.Edwards, who has a sound reputation for doing laundry, is often called upon by many, including vendors in the Ocho Rios market.“Sometimes when mi wash the things and put dem on the line, dem same one no know a dem,” she said.The Sunday Observer met one of Edwards’ customers during a visit to the place that she calls home.“She wash dem good and she need the money,” the man who has been using Edwards’ laundry services stated.Edwards said that she is a hard-working person and if given the chance to leave under the bridge, would do so.‘A several times dem light under here,” she said as she complained of the brutal attacks she has faced by fire.Some people have even removed her things when she is not there, she revealed.During the interview, she constantly wiped her right eye which is infected. She explained that this happened while she cleaned a section of the river near to the bridge as she tried to make her area comfortable.“Mi can’t stand in the sun. Mi have an infection in mi eye,” she stated.Edwards said that she would be happy to get a house, but is tired of promises.She said that several persons have visited her over the years and have promised assistance but nothing has been forthcoming.“All dem tell mi is dem a guh find place put mi and all now…” she stated.Edwards said that she has even been interviewed and her story published on local television.“All mi hear is ‘Bev you a celebrity; we see you on TV’,” she added.The mother of four, one of whom she does not know, said that her children help her when it is possible, but they are in no position to get her out of her predicament.Edwards said that she ended up in Ocho Rios several years ago after she left Kingston where she danced for years and came to the resort town to dance.“Mi a did head dancer; mi use to dress nine girls,” Edwards said.She said that she was also a songwriter and singer.She, however, admitted that becoming involved in drugs forced her to seek refuge on the streets so as to avoid conflicts. While on the streets, she decided to call under the bridge her home. The bridge under which Lavern Edwards has been residing for some 20 years. (PHOTOS: RENAE DIXON) twitterThe bridge under which Lavern Edwards has been residing for some 20 years. (PHOTOS: RENAE DIXON)Edwards shows her bedroom in a section of her home that she shares with two other persons.A section of Edwards’ bedroom.Edwards’ spouse is asleep in one of the makeshift bedrooms.

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Former dancer lives under Ocho Rios bridge for 20 years

Architect Hansel Williams lives on through his work

IT is often said that the artist never really dies, he lives on through his work.

The same can be said about well known Ocho Rios businessman and architect Hansel Roosevelt Williams Jr.The artistic talent of Williams will live on in the many buildings he had designed and constructed; his love and compassion through the many children, family and friends he cared for in his short lifespan of 47 years.The large number of lives Williams had impacted was evident at the mass thanksgiving service held for him at the Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Ocho Rios, St Ann on Saturday, June 22.Family, friends and members of the Ocho Rios business community were among a large number of persons who turned out to pay their last respects to Williams.Hansel, who was the father of three, died tragically on May 28.His son Nikolas was among those who shared fond memories of his hard-working father.He remembered his father as a family man who not only cared for his children but for his nieces, nephews and all the children he came in contact with.Young Williams said his father had a “keen eye for photography, which could be seen in photographs taken of his work.”Williams was also remembered for his interest in collecting stones and making jewellry from the stones he collected.Nikolas said his father had an insatiable appetite for knowledge. In fact he was remembered as one who celebrated the successes of his three children and his wife of 19 years.And although Williams is not around to see his children complete their education, or to see his young daughter who was successful in the GSAT exams recently, start high school, his brother Roger Williams gave the assurance that the family will embark on a journey to carry on the good work Williams started.Melessia Williams remembered her brother as a selfless individual who was always there for family.Best friend, Robert Watkis described his friend as irreplaceable.The humane qualities of Williams were recounted in several tributes offered.“He did not say much, but his contribution was well thought out, Captain Robert Hibbert of the Wolmers Lodge, of which Williams was a member, said.Williams was also remembered as one who, although often quiet, would give advice freely and frankly.He was often a deep thinker, Hibbert said.The astute businessman was also remembered for his love for music and tactical shooting.“My brother is one of those special agents or soldiers for God,” Roger Williams said.Williams, the first of five children, was born in St Ann where he started his early education. The aspiring architect was educated at York Castle High School before being transferred to the Cornwall College.He later went on to the Caribbean School of Architecture. With his talents, dreams and desire for growth he formed Cynergi Project Professionals.Williams is survived by wife Diana, children Nikolas, Kristopher and Aliyah, mother Evadney Williams, sisters Annette and Melessia, brothers Roger and Phillip and other relatives and friends.Among those who turned out for the thanksgiving mass on Saturday were Senator Robert Montague, Dane Marsh; Peter Fraser; Dr Linton Francis and wife; Richard Wayne Alberga Stephens; Kenroy Dixon and several members of the Ocho Rios business community which included the Goldsmiths, Pasmores, Beechams, Maffessantis, Chatanis, Chucks, Lyns, and Chins.His body was laid to rest at the Eltham Cemetery.Nikolas Williams remembers his father.Children, nieces and nephews sing in tribute to Williams.Family members join the rest of the congregation in standing during the thanksgiving mass for Williams. From left is mother of the deceased Evadney Williams, son Nikolas and wife Diana Williams.Nikolas Williams(right) leads other family members as they carry the casket with the body of his father from the church to the hearse.A teary eyed Melessia is comforted as she gave a remembrance of her brother

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Architect Hansel Williams lives on through his work