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US OKs first drug aimed at women with inherited breast cancer

By Linda A. Johnson AP Medical Writer U.S. regulators have approved the first drug aimed at women with advanced breast cancer caused by†an inherited flawed gene. The Food and Drug Administration approved AstraZeneca PLC’s Lynparza for patients with inherited BRCA gene mutations who have undergone chemotherapy. The drug has been on the market since 2014 for ovarian cancer, and is the first in a new class of medicines called PARP inhibitors to be approved for breast cancer. PARP inhibitors prevent cancer cells from fixing problems in their DNA. Lynparza will cost $13,886 per ...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — If you skipped most of your workouts to be more “present” during the holiday festivities and aren’t looking forward to getting back on the treadmill, we feel you. We rounded some of the workouts that have fitness fans talking to keep you motivated. Do them at home, in the studio, on a trampoline or a lake (gasp) — whatever it takes to get moving. IF YOU LOVE WORKING OUT AT HOME There are tons of amazing streaming options out there and the new offering from former SLT star Bethany C. Meyers is worth checking out. be.come is a music driven mash-up ...

Price tag on gene therapy for rare form of blindness: $850K

WASHINGTON (AP) — A first-of-its kind genetic treatment for blindness will cost $850,000, less than the $1 million price tag that had been expected, but it’s still among the most expensive genetic therapies in the world. Spark Therapeutics says it decided on the lower price tag for Luxturna (Lux-turn-a) after hearing concerns from health insurers about their ability to cover the injectable treatment. Consternation over skyrocketing drug prices, especially in the U.S., has led to intense scrutiny from patients, Congress, insurers and hospitals. “We wanted to balance the value ...

In a milestone year, gene therapy finds a place in medicine

By Marilynn Marchione AP Chief Medical Writer After decades of hope and high promise, this was the year scientists really showed they could doctor DNA to successfully treat diseases. Gene therapies to treat cancer and even pull off the biblical-sounding feat of helping the blind to see were approved by U.S. regulators, establishing gene manipulation as a new mode of medicine. Almost 20 years ago, a teen’s death in a gene experiment put a chill on what had been a field full of outsized expectations. Now, a series of jaw-dropping successes have renewed hopes that some one-time fixes ...

Soaring overdose deaths cut US life expectancy again

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. deaths from drug overdoses skyrocketed 21 percent last year, and for the second straight year dragged down how long Americans are expected to live. The government figures released Thursday put drug deaths at 63,600, up from about 52,000 in 2015. For the first time, the powerful painkiller fentanyl and its close opioid cousins played a bigger role in the deaths than any other legal or illegal drug, surpassing prescription pain pills and heroin. “This is urgent and deadly,” said Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the Centers for Disease Control and ...

Scientists tune into brain to uncover music’s healing power

WASHINGTON (AP) — Like a friendly Pied Piper, the violinist keeps up a toe-tapping beat as dancers weave through busy hospital hallways and into the chemotherapy unit, patients looking up in surprised delight. Upstairs, a cellist strums an Irish folk tune for a patient in intensive care. Music increasingly is becoming a part of patient care — although it’s still pretty unusual to see roving performers captivating entire wards, like at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital one fall morning. “It takes them away for just a few minutes to some other place where they don’t have ...