World’s first malaria vaccine gets go-ahead from EU regulators

Malaria killed an estimated 584,000 people in 2013, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 80 percent of malaria deaths are in children under the age of five. (Source: Thinkstock Images)

The world’s first malaria vaccine got a green light on Friday from European drugs regulators who recommended it should be licensed for use in babies in Africa at risk of the mosquito-borne disease.

The shot, called RTS,S or Mosquirix and developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, would be the first licensed human vaccine against a parasitic disease and could help prevent millions of cases of malaria in countries that use it.

Recommendations for a drug license made by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are normally endorsed by the European Commission within a couple of months.

Mosquirix, also part-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will also now be assessed by the World Health Organization, which has promised to give its guidance on when and where it should be used before the end of this year.

Malaria killed an estimated 584,000 people in 2013, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 80 percent of malaria deaths are in children under the age of five.

Andrew Witty, GSK’s chief executive, said EMA’s positive recommendation was a further important step toward making the world’s first malaria vaccine available for young children.

“While RTS,S on its own is not the complete answer to malaria, its use alongside those interventions currently available such as bed nets and insecticides would provide a very meaningful contribution to controlling the impact of malaria on children in those African communities that need it the most,” he said in a statement.

Global health experts have long hoped scientists would be able to develop an effective malaria vaccine, and researchers at GSK have been working on RTS,S for 30 years.

Hopes that this shot would be the final answer to wiping out malaria were dampened when trial data released in 2011 and 2012 showed it only reduced episodes of malaria in babies aged 6-12 weeks by 27 percent, and by around 46 percent in children aged 5-17 months.

EMA’s recommendation is that the shot should nevertheless be licensed for use in babies in the full age range covered in the trials — from 6 weeks to 17 months.

Some malaria specialists have expressed concern that the complexities and potential costs of deploying this first vaccine when it only provides partial protection make it less attractive and more risky.

However Joe Cohen, a GSK scientist who has led the development of Mosquirix since 1987, said on Friday he has no doubt the vaccine could significantly reduce the toll of sickness and death caused by the malaria among African children.

“I have absolutely no reservations in terms of rolling this vaccine out,” he told Reuters. “Why? Because the efficacy, when translated into cases averted and deaths averted, is just tremendous. It will have an enormously significant public health impact.”

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Two cheap generic drugs can cut breast cancer deaths

“The studies provide really good evidence that the inexpensive, generic drugs can help to reduce breast cancer mortality in postmenopausal women”. (Source: Thinkstock Images)

Two different classes of inexpensive generic drugs can each improve survival prospects for post-menopausal women with early breast cancer, researchers have reported in two studies.

About two-thirds of all women with breast cancer are post-menopausal.

The two types of drugs – aromatase inhibitors (AIs) and bisphosphonates – can be used together, increasing the benefits while also decreasing some side-effects, the findings published in the journal The Lancet showed.

“These studies provide really good evidence that both of these inexpensive, generic drugs can help to reduce breast cancer mortality in postmenopausal women,” said lead statistician for both studies Richard Gray, professor at University of Oxford.

“The drugs are complementary, because the main side effect of aromatase inhibitors is an increase in bone loss and fractures, while bisphosphonates reduce bone loss and fractures as well as improving survival,” Gray pointed out.

The first study analysed data from 30,000 post-menopausal women who participated nine randomised trials.

The researchers found that compared to standard therapy, taking AIs for five years further reduced the likelihood of the cancer recurring by about a third, and the risk of dying from breast cancer by around 15 percent throughout the decade after beginning treatment.

The researchers estimated that, compared to no endocrine treatment, the risk of dying from breast cancer for women who took AIs would be reduced by around 40 percent in the decade after beginning treatment.

The second study found that two-five years of treatment with a class of drugs called bisphosphonates, which are usually used to treat osteoporosis, reduces the risk of breast cancer recurring in post-menopausal women, and also significantly extends survival. However, bisphosphonate treatment appears to have little effect in premenopausal women.

The most common site for breast cancers to spread to is bone and the researchers found that bisphosphonates treatment resulted in 17 percent reduction in recurrence of cancer in the bone.

However, among post-menopausal women, bisphosphonate treatment produced larger reduction in bone recurrence of 28 percent and also reduced the risk of dying from breast cancer by 18 percent during the first decade after diagnosis.

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Whole fat butter may control diabetes in humans

“Butter may have both good and bad saturated fats but it is always best to check with your physician before making changes to your diet,” the authors concluded. (Source: Thinkstock images)

A unique saturated fat found in fish and whole fat daily products can reverse diabetes, researchers have reported after discovering that dolphins suffering from prediabetes were cured when fed with a modified diet rich in the saturated fat.

The researchers are hopeful that controlled doses of this saturated fat called heptadecanoic acid may help reverse prediabetes in humans soon.

Because of the popularity of fish-based omega-3 fatty acids as a human health supplement, the team from the US National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF) assessed fatty acid blood levels in 49 dolphins as well as in their dietary fish.

“We were surprised to find that among the 55 fatty acids studied, the saturated fat heptadecanoic acid appeared to have had the most beneficial impact on dolphin metabolism,” said Stephanie Venn-Watson, director of NMMF’s translational medicine and research programme.

Dolphins with higher levels of heptadecanoic acid in their blood had lower insulin and triglycerides, he said.

The study also showed that while some fish have high levels of heptadecanoic acid other fish types had none.

Six dolphins with low heptadecanoic acid were then fed fish high in this fatty acid.

Within six months on the new diet, indicators of metabolic syndrome in dolphins, including elevated insulin, glucose, and triglycerides normalised.

Key to this surprising outcome was reversal of high ferritin, an underlying precursor to metabolic syndrome.

“We saw blood ferritin levels decrease in all six dolphins within three weeks on the new diet,” Venn-Watson said.

Heptadecanoic acid, also called margaric acid, is found in dairy fat, rye and some fish.

The fish with the highest heptadecanoic acid content was mullet.

“We hypothesise that widespread movement away from whole fat dairy products in human populations may have created unanticipated heptadecanoic acid deficiencies,” Venn-Watson contended.

“This dietary deficiency may be playing a role in the global diabetes pandemic,” he warned in a paper that appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.

Does this mean that we can now eat butter without guilt?

“Butter may have both good and bad saturated fats but it is always best to check with your physician before making changes to your diet,” the authors concluded.

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Dunny Dips for the Hips: Will YOU swap the gym for this toilet-cleaning squat?

WILL you be trying the ‘Clean and get lean’?

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Say no to dandruff trouble this monsoon

Combining an anti-dandruff shampoo containing active ingredients with a mild conditioner formulated for greasy hair. (Source: Thinkstock Images)

Hair care during monsoon becomes a herculean task and one of the most common woes during the rainy season is dandruff. From using a diet low in sugar and high in antioxidants to opting for light conditioner can help in getting rid of such problems, says an expert.

Sangeeta Velaskar, vice president and head, Medical Services and R&D, Kaya India has a few tips to help control dandruff:

* Use an effective anti-dandruff shampoo specially formulated with active ingredients such as zinc pyrithione or piroctone olamine, which control the fungus and yeasts. Such a shampoo can be used as often as required — once, twice or even thrice weekly. Combine it with a mild conditioner formulated for greasy hair.

* It is important to keep the scalp dry. In case your hair gets wet in the rain, make sure you wash it thoroughly with a mild cleanser and use a conditioner thereafter. Remember to dry your hair completely before leaving the house.

* If you have sticky hair, just opt for a light conditioner that is suited for limp and oily hair. The trick is to pick the right product. The conditioner should be applied to the hair ends and not on the scalp. Application on the scalp may increase dandruff, especially during monsoon.

* Recognise your severity. If you are suffering more than moderate flaking and itching, be sure to find the right product. There are products that include intensive solutions targeted at severe dandruff sufferers. Do visit a dermatologist if the problem persists.

* A diet low in sugar and high in antioxidants will reduce inflammation and could help in controlling dandruff.

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Successful people at extra risk of harmful drinking

Harmful drinking is a “middle-class phenomenon” that may be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people, said researchers. (Source: Thinkstock Images)

People who are in their 50s and are “successful agers” – healthy, active, sociable and well off – are more at the risk of harmful drinking than their less successful peers, researchers have warned.

Harmful drinking is a “middle-class phenomenon” that may be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people, they added.

“We can sketch the problem of harmful drinking among people aged 50 or over as a ‘middle class phenomenon’. These are healthy people with higher income, higher educational attainment, socially more active and are more likely to drink at harmful levels,” the authors wrote in the BMJ Open journal.

Higher risk of harmful drinking was not linked to feelings of loneliness or depression but it was more likely among men living on their own, including those who were separated or divorced.

Caring responsibilities lowered the probability of being at higher risk among women, but religious belief did not – for either sex.

Employment status did not seem to be a significant factor but women who had retired were more likely to be at higher risk, the study noted.

Income was associated with a higher risk but only among women while smoking, higher educational attainment and good health were all linked to heightened risk in both sexes.

The authors analysed over 9000 responses to the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA) – a long term study of a representative sample of those aged 50 and above living independently at home in England.

They used national guidance to define increasing risk of harmful drinking at 22-50 weekly units for men and 15 to 35 weekly units for women.

“The results show that the current group of over 50s may be carrying on levels of higher consumption, developed in their younger years, in later life,” the researchers concluded.

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Drink up Jaljeera for good health

Jaljeera a cool and healthy summer drink which will help you to stay well hydrated all day and can fight intestinal gas and poor digestion, says an expert. (Source: Thinkstock images)

Jaljeera, a refreshing and natural drink, can help to fight intestinal gas and poor digestion, says an expert.

Rahul Jain, partner at beverage company Jayanti Group, shares benefits of drinking Jaljeera:

* Good for digestion: Jaljeera contains black salt, which is good for digestion. It helps in heartburns, relieves from intestinal gas and rehydrates the body.

* Prevents anaemia: Cumin content helps in preventing and treating anaemia as it is the excellent source of iron. It even improves immunity and keeps your body cool.

* Remedy for gastrointestinal upset: With ginger content, it treats any feeling of nausea and giddiness. It even helps in treatment of abdominal cramps, vomiting, menstrual cramps, arthritis, intestinal gas and several other disorders.

* Improves vitamin C deficiency: As it has dry mango or ‘amchoor’ powder, which is high in vitamin C, helps to improve immunity and keeps scurvy at bay.

* Burns calories: For calorie conscious people, it’s a care-free drink which they can have as it comes with very low calorie content.

* Keeps you hydrated: It is the cure for all health issues as it keeps the body hydrated and removes toxins from your body.

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