A new target therapy drug, which can effectively extend the lives of people in the last stages of renal cell cancer by about 11 months, is now on the market, doctors said in Taipei yesterday.
Renal cell cancer is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults. In the US, 38,890 people are diagnosed with it each year.
PREVALENCE
Renal cell cancer was the 13th leading cause of death in Taiwan last year, said Wayne Chang (張延驊), a urologist at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital’s department of surgery.
Chang said that if found in the early stages, renal cell cancer is cured more than half the cases.
However, of the 600 people who are diagnosed with renal cell cancer each year, around 40 percent are already in the last stage when the cancer cells are first discovered, he said.
In this stage, the patient has an extremely slim chance of surviving for more than five year, he said.
While treatment of renal cell cancer ranges from surgery to chemotherapy and hormone therapy, the form of treatment depends on the stage of the disease and the person’s overall health, Chang said.
Target therapy is a form of chemotherapy that targets the molecules that feed tumor growth.
In contrast to traditional chemotherapy, target therapy inhibits tumor growth by focusing on the molecules that tumors need to spread, which not only effectively kills cancer cells, but also decreases side effects.
CLINICAL TRIAL
A article published in the New England Journal of Medicine in June last year said clinical trial results showed that patients with poor prognosis in the last stages of renal cell cancer live an average of 11 months longer when treated with Temsirolimus, the first mTOR inhibitor on the world market.
Kuo Lung-hung, vice president of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, the firm that developed the drug, said the drug was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last year, and was recently approved for the Taiwanese market.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
RSS