cancer

A reception is being held today at the Crowne Plaza to recognise the significance of all six South Island District Health Boards (DHBs) joint signing a public/private agreement with Baxter Healthcare Pty Ltd for the provision of aseptic compounded products including chemotherapy for cancer patients.

Cancer patients visiting Christchurch from Canterbury, West Coast, Nelson and Marlborough regions for specialised treatment may be making the journey from their accommodation in this new 12-seater transit van donated to the Cancer Society by two of the city's Rotary Clubs - Christchurch Sunrise and Riccarton.

The 2009 CanTeen Bandanna Challenge is set to be one of the biggest yet – but they need your help! CanTeen is looking for volunteers to help sell bandannas and collect donations for CanTeen’s Bandanna Challenge, 16th – 31st October.

A special event at The University of Auckland on Friday 11 September will celebrate New Zealand’s recent successes in discovering new medicines to treat cancer and other diseases.

A second round of District Health Board (DHB) research funding for 2009 addresses research needs in the areas of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and cancer, across nine projects.

An innovative new medical ice cream developed by Fonterra and The University of Auckland has shown early promise for combating some of the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy.

Auckland City Hospital’s Oncology Department has just been gifted 2,500 copies of the country’s most popular cancer patient support book Life, Happiness… & Cancer authored by six-time cancer survivor Phil Kerslake. All new cancer patients at the hospital can receive a copy of the support resource free of charge if they choose to, under a program established by the author and called the ‘Book-to-Patients Scheme.’

September is the month when women all across New Zealand will be talking about things previously set aside for the relative safety and security of the doctor’s surgery.

Treatment for a form of cancer is about to take a forward step with the widening of funded access to the in-hospital drug rituximab (Mabthera).

New Zealanders diagnosed with indolent (low grade) non Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) now have expanded funding for a cutting edge biotherapy, MabThera® (rituximab), increasing their chances of beating this slowly progressing but often fatal disease.

NEW YORK CITY (SEPTEMBER 15, 2009) – Despite fast-growing evidence that immunologic therapies can be effective cancer treatments, research support for this field hardly matches its potential, a leading expert says in the latest Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

PHARMAC is funding a new medication for patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia, called dasatinib (Sprycel).

The cancer therapy Nexavar® (sorafenib), initially registered in New Zealand last year for treating advanced kidney cancer, has been approved by Medsafe for treating patients with liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma).

A study carried out in time for Gynaecological Cancer Awareness Month, which begins today 01 September, has shown that New Zealand women frequently lack awareness of the signs and symptoms of the gynaecological cancers.