Romney announces Utah Senate bid

WASHINGTON - Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, announced on Friday he would run for a U.S. Senate seat in Utah, confirming months of speculation about a return to national politics.

"I've decided to run for United States Senate because I've decided I can help bring Utah's values and Utah's lessons to Washington," Romney, who is seeking to replace retiring Senator Orrin Hatch, said in a video posted to Twitter.

Much of Romney's video focused on Utah values versus the Washington culture.

"Utah has a lot to teach the politicians in Washington," he said. "... Utah welcomes legal immigrants from around the world. Washington sends immigrants a message of exclusion. And on Utah's Capitol Hill, people treat one another with respect."

Trump has called for building a wall on the country's border with Mexico and limiting legal migration.

Romney, the son of former Michigan Governor George Romney, served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. Before that, he helped found the buyout firm Bain Capital and gained prominence after stepping in to lead the organizing committee for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics after a bribery scandal.

Romney first sought the presidency in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination to Arizona Senator John McCain. Four years later, Romney won the party's nomination but was defeated by incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama.

Romney is the front-runner in the November election in Republican-dominated Utah. According to the Federal Election Commission, the field includes five other people, including a Salt Lake City councilwoman and a Marine Corps veteran.

The race will be Romney's second for the Senate. In 1994, he failed to oust Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy from his seat in Massachusetts.

Hatch, 83, the most senior Republican in the Senate, said last month he would not seek an eighth term. Trump had urged Hatch to run again in an apparent attempt to head off Romney.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Romney excoriated Trump as a "fraud" who was "playing the American public for suckers." Trump responded that Romney had "choked like a dog" in his race against Obama.

However, after Trump won the presidency in November 2016, he briefly considered whether to pick Romney as his secretary of state.

Trump had lobbied Hatch to run for re-election in 2018 in what was viewed as an effort to prevent Romney from getting into the Senate. Trump and Romney spoke in January after Hatch announced his retirement, a White House official said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, who had been Romney's vice presidential running mate in 2012, said in a statement on Friday that he was thrilled with Romney's decision to run for Senate.

"His campaign has my unwavering support and the people of Utah will be getting an accomplished and decent man when they make him their next Senator," Ryan said.

Republicans hold 52 of the Senate's 100 seats but that majority is not always big enough to pass the Trump agenda.

Romney had successful treatment for prostate cancer in 2017, a source close to him said in January.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Prostate cancer test saves lives, risks remain

Men who get a controversial blood test that looks for signs of prostate cancer appear to have a reduced risk of death from the malignancy, according to a new analysis by an international group of researchers.

The analysis re-examined data from two earlier studies that had led experts to recommend against routine use of the test, which measures levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

“The trials taken together indicate there is an important benefit,” said Ruth Etzioni, who is the senior author of the analysis from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.

A flaw of the earlier trials is that some men who were assigned to a no-screening group actually did get the PSA test on their own, making it difficult to identify differences between the screening group and the no-screening group.

The unclear results - and the risk that the blood tests could lead to unnecessary biopsies and treatments - led the government-backed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) to recommend against PSA screening.

The new analysis attempts to clear up the confusion by reexamining the data in computer models, to account for the men who got PSA tests when they weren’t supposed to. Etzioni’s team compared men in the two trials based on the intensity of screening they received.

In one of the trials, PSA testing was tied to a 25 percent to 31 percent reduced risk of death from prostate cancer, the researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

In the other trial, PSA testing was tied to a 27 percent to 32 percent reduced risk of death from prostate cancer, they found.

Etzioni said the new results don’t mean all men should be screened for prostate cancer.

In the U.S., about one in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, but most men with the slow-growing cancer won’t die from it.

As a result, it’s often reasonable to monitor prostate cancers instead of treating them, since the side effects of treatment - which can include incontinence and impotence - may be more harmful than helpful.

In a proposed update to its recommendation, the USPSTF suggests that men ages 55 to 69 should be able to decide if they want PSA testing based on a discussion with their doctors about the possible benefits and risks, such as biopsies and unneeded treatment.

“This finding confirms or reinforces what everybody has been moving to over the last 5 to 8 years,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. “There is some benefit to prostate cancer screening and there are some harms associated with it.”

Brawley, who wasn’t involved in the new analysis, told Reuters Health that the benefits of screening are becoming more apparent as doctors move away from aggressively treating all prostate cancers and instead decide to monitor the many that will likely never advance and cause death.

In an editorial published with the new analysis, Dr. Andrew Vickers of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City identified ways to help ensure the benefits of prostate cancer screening outweigh the harms.

For example, he advises shared decision-making between doctors and patients, carefully selecting which men to biopsy and not screening elderly men, who are unlikely to benefit.

“The controversy about PSA-based screening should no longer be whether it can do good but whether we can change our behavior so that it does more good than harm,” wrote Vickers.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Pfizer nears deal to acquire Medivation for close to $14-B -sources

NEW YORK - Pfizer Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire U.S. cancer drug company Medivation Inc. for close to $14 billion, as it seeks to boost its oncology portfolio, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

Pfizer has agreed to pay a little more than $80 per share for Medivation, one of the people said, a substantial premium to the $52.50 offer for Medivation that France's Sanofi made in April, which eventually resulted in the company putting itself up for sale.

Medivation shares ended trading in New York on Friday at $67.16.

Reuters reported earlier this week that Pfizer, Sanofi, Merck & Co Inc., Celgene Corp. and Gilead Sciences Inc. had submitted expressions of interest to acquire Medivation.

The strong acquisition interest in the San Francisco-based company illustrates how demand for new cancer treatments, which can possibly add years to patients' lives, could spell billions of dollars in revenue to the companies that own them.

Pfizer has so far prevailed in the auction for Medivation and could announce a deal as early as Monday, although the negotiations still could fall apart at the last minute, the people said. The deal is expected to be paid for by Pfizer in its entirety, or at least mostly, with cash, one of the people said.

The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. Pfizer and Medivation declined to comment. The Financial Times first reported on Pfizer nearing a deal for Medivation on Sunday.

Pfizer, whose oncology offerings include breast cancer drug Ibrance and several other promising immuno-oncology products, is now set to get access to Medivation's successful prostate cancer drug Xtandi, as well as Talazoparib, another breast cancer treatment under development by Medivation.

Medivation earlier this year rejected two acquisition offers from Sanofi, the latest for $58 per share in cash and $3 per share in the form of a contingent value right relating to the sales performance of Talazoparib.

However, Medivation agreed in July to share confidential information with potential buyers after Sanofi agreed to drop a campaign to oust Medivation's board of directors.

In its second-quarter earnings call earlier this month, Medivation reported continued double-digit year-over-year growth for Xtandi, affirming the company’s expectations of more than 50 percent revenue growth for the year.

Medivation also cited positive late-stage data for Talazoparib, a drug the company believes will account for a significant part of its long-term value.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Singapore PM has successful operation for cancer

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has successfully undergone surgery for prostate cancer and is expected to make a full recovery, his office said on Monday.

On Sunday, Lee's office announced he would have an operation on Monday to remove his prostate gland and would take a week of medical leave, with Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean heading the government.

"The surgery went very smoothly, and he is expected to recover fully," Professor Christopher Cheng, the lead urologist at the Singapore General Hospital, was quoted as saying in a statement.

Lee, 63, was previously diagnosed with lymphoma in 1992 but the cancer went into remission after successful chemotherapy.

Cheng said there was no relationship between the previous lymphoma and the current prostate cancer.

Lee's illness raises questions about the need for a public succession plan should he step down in future, as his ruling People's Action Party has not named a successor.

"Given that prostate cancer is not uncommon among people of a certain age and is, indeed, easily treated, the issue is not urgent," said Manu Bhaskaran, Singapore-based partner at Centennial Asia Advisors, a policy advisory group based in Washington, D.C.

"However, more people could well focus on the issue now."

But the strength of political institutions and the durability of the national consensus was more important to political stability, he said.

"On both these scores, Singapore does well," Bhaskaran said.

Singapore's two previous changes of prime minister since independence in 1965 involved well-flagged transitions to previously anointed successors.

Lee hinted in an interview with domestic media last month that his successor could be a member of his cabinet.

"Yes, he may already be in the Cabinet, but it is not entirely certain, because I will bring in some MPs and some new people with leadership calibre in the next general election," he said.

The next election must be held by January 2017, but media and internet blogs have speculated it could come as early as this year, after celebrations in August of Singapore's 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Johnny Midnight dies at 73

MANILA - Radio broadcaster John William Joseph, Jr., more popularly known as Johnny Midnight, died on Monday due to prostate cancer, according to a relative. He was 73.

Joseph died at the Paranaque Hospital, where had been confined, his cousin Robert Joseph told ABS-CBN News.

Joseph's family has yet to announce details of his funeral.

A radio broadcaster of DZRJ, Joseph became popular for advocating a kind of "toning water" that he claimed could heal many illnesses.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Why an annual prostate checkup is important

MANILA -- Men who are already in their 40s must get their prostate checked for any irregularity or enlargement, according to a urologist.

The prostate is a small gland located near the bladder, which secretes hormones that are essential for reproduction.

Just like other types of cancer, early detection of prostate cancer gives a patient a higher chance of cure.

On Tuesday's episode of DZMM radio show "Magandang Gabi Dok," Dr. Samuel Yrastorza, a urologist and chairman of the Prostate Health Awareness Committee, Philippine Urological Association, Inc., said the prostate gland normally gets bigger when men reach the age of 40.

"Mayroon tayong tinatawag na benign prostatic hyperplasia, lumalaki ang prostate gland pero hindi siya cancer," he said.

Yraztorza added that the risk for prostate cancer peaks around the age of 60 to 70.

The problem with prostate cancer, however, is that it does not exhibit symptoms in its early stages.

"Kapag maliit pa (ang prostate), pwede pang gamutin, pwedeng tanggalin ang cancer," Yrastorza said.

He added that recent studies showed that prostate cancer can be genetic. "Kung meron kang tatay, kapatid na lalaki, lolo na may prostate cancer, mataas ang chances mo na magkaroon din ng cancer," he said.

Thus Yrastorza encouraged men above the age of 40 to go on an annual exam to have their prostate checked, noting that most men refuse to do this because they find the digital examination painful and even awkward.

Although there are other ways to have the prostate checked, he said a digital examination, or inserting the fingers through the anus, is the best way to check the prostate for any regularity.

"Ang daliri naming mga urologist, mas sensitive pa kaysa sa ultrasound o MRI," Yrastorza boasted.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com