Health trends

Eastern Imaging Associates opens in Morant Bay

Eastern Imaging Associates, a new company offering CT scan and X-ray services at the Dynamic Imaging Centre, recently opened in Morant Bay, St Thomas. At the opening, Minister of Health Fenton Ferguson, within whose constituency the facility is located, expressed appreciation at the entrepreneurship that enhances the health care available in Morant Bay and southeastern Jamaica in general.

Dr Sharon Earle Edwards, consultant radiologist and medical director of Eastern Imaging Associates, gave thanks to God and told the audience of the challenges faced in the realisation of her vision. She also spoke of the partnership between investors, specialists, team members and, most important, the public, for whom the facility is designed.

Both CT and X-ray can make use of modern technology to produce images which can be stored on CDs and/or transmitted via the Internet. This facilitates remote reporting by other radiologists and means prompt service delivered by some of the best radiologists in the country.

Source: Eastern Imaging Associates

Drug for rare brain tumour

The United States Food and Drug Administration last week approved Afinitor Disperz (everolimus tablets for oral suspension), a new paediatric dosage form of the anti-cancer drug Afinitor (everolimus) used to treat a rare brain tumour called subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA). Afinitor Disperz is the first approved paediatric-specific dosage form developed for the treatment of a paediatric tumour.

Source: The US Food and Drug Administration

New combination pill for HIV

The United States Food and Drug Administration recently approved Stribild (elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), a new once-a-day combination pill to treat HIV-1 infection in adults who have never been treated for HIV infection.

Stribild contains two previously approved HIV drugs plus two new drugs, elvitegravir and cobicistat. Elvitegravir is an HIV integrase strand transfer inhibitor, a drug that interferes with one of the enzymes that HIV needs to multiply.

Cobicistat, a pharmacokinetic enhancer, inhibits an enzyme that metabolises certain HIV drugs and is used to prolong the effect of elvitegravir. The combination of emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, approved in 2004 and marketed as Truvada, blocks the action of another enzyme that HIV needs to replicate in a person's body. Together, these drugs provide a complete treatment regimen for HIV infection.

Common side effects observed in clinical trials include nausea and diarrhoea. Serious side effects include new or worsening kidney problems, decreased bone mineral density, fat redistribution and changes in the immune system (immune reconstitution syndrome). Stribild's label gives advice to health-care providers on how to monitor patients for kidney or bone side effects.

Source: The US Food and Drug Administration