A round-up of other health news in brief
Oncologist calls for more clinical trials in Ireland
CANCER TREATMENTS will become more targeted over the next decade, and for patients in Ireland to benefit from advances, we need more clinical trials and a centralised facility for assessing “biomarkers” in patient samples.
That’s according to medical oncologist Dr Bryan Hennessy, who will address a conference in Dublin this weekend.
Targeted treatments are what many regard as the future of treating cancer, according to Dr Hennessy, a consultant at Beaumont and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitals. “Recently there has been a focus on trying to develop more effective treatments by targeting specific abnormalities of cancer cells that would spare normal cells and so be effective against cancer cells with minimal or no side effects,” he explained.
Targeted treatments are already starting to make an impact – including the drug herceptin, which is suitable for use with particular types of breast tumour – but their development and testing takes time, noted Dr Hennessy.
He envisaged that some cancers, such as breast cancer, would eventually be routinely cured if detected at an early stage, and that the later, metastatic stage of cancer would be viewed more as a chronic condition to be managed.
** Dr Hennessy will speak at the
Innovation in Cancer Care
conference this Saturday, September 4th, at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. For details, call Brian Deegan at 01-6650300, e-mail bdeegan@mandcgroup.ie or visit mandcgroup.ie
Plea for morning-after pill without prescription
THE REPRESENTATIVE body for 1,800 community pharmacists in the State has again called for the morning-after pill to be made available to patients without a prescription. The Irish Pharmacy Union said pharmacists had the skills and competencies to dispense hormonal contraceptives and provide appropriate advice and counselling to such patients, many of whom find it difficult to get a prescription at the weekend.
Stephen Fry gives Mad Pride a publicity boost
AN IRISH organisation which promotes understanding of the issues surrounding mental health received a boost yesterday when novelist and broadcaster Stephen Fry tweeted its website link on his Twitter site.
Stephen Fry sent out a tweet on behalf of the Cork-based Mad Pride campaign yesterday. The tweet is part of an ongoing project Fry has running from his Twitter site to help charities and causes gain exposure.
John McCarthy, founder of Mad Pride Ireland, said the tweet represented a positive development for the organisation. “This tweet from Stephen Fry will put the message of Mad Pride Ireland to a possible audience of more than 500,000; it is expected that 1,200 people will visit our website, madprideireland.ie, in the first three minutes following the post. Our message is simple – ‘Celebrate Difference, Stop Loneliness’ – so if we can get that to a wider audience great, and if in doing so we can help effect change and break down stigma all the better.”
The first Mad Pride day was staged in Cork in 2008 in a bid to tackle both the stigma and loneliness associated with mental illness. The aim of the day’s festivities was to encourage people with mental illness to find solidarity within their community and to prompt society to do more to help people recovering from such illnesses.
Since the first event two years ago, almost 40,000 people have enjoyed the free fun days in Cork, Portlaoise, Killarney and Tullamore.
For details, see madprideireland.ie