Articles
Drug repurposing: EU legislative changes could speed up new treatment options
The length of time it takes for each new cancer drug to reach the market – and more importantly, the patient – remains a cause of deep frustration particularly among those whose lives depend on accessing new options. Concrete data…
Keeping family hopes alive among African women treated for breast cancer
In Africa, women's infertility carries a heavy stigma; it becomes their label. Many end up feeling worthless, face harsh treatment from in-laws, abandonment by spouses, or relegation to polygamous marriages, as husbands take additional wives capable of bearing children. For…
Soft policies on smokeless tobacco to cost India, Pakistan and Bangladesh billions
Smokeless tobacco products such as paan masala, gutkha, khaini, mishri and snuff are chewed, sucked or sniffed rather than smoked, with the nicotine absorbed through the nose and mouth. Many contain more than 4,000 chemicals, 30 of which are linked to cancer. …
Is yours a beach-ready body? Dietary tips to lower your risk of melanoma
“Did you remember to bring the sunscreen?” Public awareness of the need to protect against the risk of melanoma from excessive exposure to UV rays from the sun has risen dramatically over recent decades. ‘Bringing the sunscreen’ is now a…
Treatment-free remission: How today’s CML patients can aspire to a drug-free life
Around the start of the millennium, the therapeutic landscape for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), a rare type of blood cancer affecting the bone marrow and white blood cells, was transformed by the arrival of a revolutionary cancer drug. This was…
Quality palliative care: investing in data collection to monitor and improve services in Africa
Effective palliative care has become a growing priority in African health services in recent decades. This is partly a result of the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases including cancer – and the sad reality that palliative care is often all…
If the risk is very low, should we still call it ‘cancer’?
'Cancer’ is the weightiest of words. Jacky remembers the impact those two short syllables had when she was given her results after tests for breast cancer. “I went into this little room and they told me that I had cancer…
How telomeres protect our chromosomes, and what happens when they don’t
Chromosomes are essential structures in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells that carry genetic information as DNA. DNA is organised into genes, which provide the instructions for building and maintaining the organism. During cell division, chromosomes ensure that each daughter cell…
Cancer treatment or future parenthood? Poland’s patients are finally spared that choice
Efforts to ensure that cancer patients can have children after treatment have been hampered in Poland by the lack of a national fertility service. The costs of fertility preservation – greater than the average Polish salary – have normally had…
India’s HPV vaccine: another step towards eradicating cervical cancer
It’s hard to remember that, at the time it was introduced in 2008, many questions were raised about whether the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine would be cost effective. In the intervening decade and a half, it has become abundantly clear…