US oncology group rates blood cancer regimens

WASHINGTON: The most influential source for US oncology treatment guidelines on Friday unveiled ratings aimed at helping doctors and patients assess the costs versus benefits of current therapies for two types of blood cancer. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a nonprofit alliance of 26 leading cancer centers, said its new “Evidence Blocks” for multiple myeloma and chronic myelogenous leukemia are the first in a series that by the end of next year will encompass all oncology therapies, other than surgery or radiation.

They will supplement NCCN’s widely followed guidelines for oncology care. FDA eye drug rebuff adds to Shire’s woes in Baxalta pursuit Shire Plc suffered a setback for its most important pipeline medicine late on Friday, adding to the group’s problems as it pursues Baxalta Inc to forge the leading global specialist in rare diseases.

The Irish company said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had declined to approve its new eye drug lifitegrast and had requested an additional clinical study. Half a million Yemen children face severe malnutrition: UN More than half a million children in Yemen face life-threatening malnutrition as a risk of famine grows, a senior official of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday. The figure, a three-fold jump since fighting erupted in March, reflects depleted food stocks compounded by a failing health system unable to care for hungry children or vaccinate them against disease, said Afshan Khan, director of UNICEF emergency programs worldwide. — Reuters