Friday, December 11, 2020

No deal Brexit could have detrimental impact for people in UK living with a rare disease

Experts have warned that a 'no deal' Brexit will result in the exclusion of the UK from the 24 European Reference Networks (ERNs) that were established to improve the care of patients bearing the lifelong burden of a rare disease, which require highly specialised diagnosis and treatment.

Rectal cancer patients who 'watch and wait' may only need few years of stringent follow-up

An international team of scientists, including doctors from the Champalimaud Clinical Centre, in Lisbon, has just published results in the prestigious journal The Lancet Oncology that suggest that the majority of rectal cancer patients may be able, in the not so distant future, to replace aggressive colorectal surgery with a course of radiochemotherapy and few years of close surveillance. All this with a very low probability of seeing their tumor regrow locally or leading to the development of distant metastases later on if they survived the first years after treatment without signs of reappearance of the tumor.

US panel endorses widespread use of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

A U.S. government advisory panel endorsed widespread use of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine Thursday, putting the country just one step away from launching an epic vaccination campaign against the outbreak that has killed close to 300,000 Americans.

Window opens for Virgin Galactic test flight from spaceport

The window opens Friday for Virgin Galactic's first rocket-powered test flight from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico as the company prepares for commercial flights next year.

Disney unveils plans to stream a galaxy of new series, films

The Walt Disney Co.'s streaming plans shifted into hyper speed Thursday, as the studio unveiled a galaxy's worth of new streaming offerings including plans for 10 "Star Wars" series spinoffs and 10 Marvel series that will debut on Disney+.