Antigua Breaking News

Top Trusted News Source in Antigua

Search
Previous slide
Next slide

  • Home
  • Health
  • Vaccine for ‘silent killer’ pancreatic cancer shows promise: study

Vaccine for ‘silent killer’ pancreatic cancer shows promise: study

Share this article:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

There’s hope for treating one of the deadliest forms of cancer.

A pancreatic cancer vaccine has proven to be effective in half of patients treated in a small trial, according to a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

Pancreatic cancer — often called the “silent killer,” since symptoms don’t show up in most patients until it has spread to other organs — occurs when cells in the pancreas mutate and form a tumor.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York sent tumor samples from 16 patients to scientists at BioNTech in Germany, the same company Pfizer teamed up with to produce COVID-19 vaccines.

After scientists analyzed proteins in patient’s cancer cells, they used messenger RNA — a molecule that contains instructions to direct cells to make a protein — in a vaccine for each patient, attempting to tell the immune system to attack the cancer cells.

Along with the vaccine, subjects were also given chemotherapy and a drug meant to keep tumors from combatting immune responses.

Be part of the conversation.

Let us know what you think by adding a comment below. Click here to start now!

As a result, a shocking 8 out of the 16 patients in the trial were cancer-free 18 months after treatment.

What’s more, one patient’s cancer growth in their liver went away following the vaccine, imaging tests showed.

8 of of the 16 patients were cancer-free 18 months after treatment for pancreatic cancer.
Getty Images

It’s still unclear, however, how effective the vaccine alone is on the tumors as patients were also given chemo and the drug. Half of the patients treated reported the cancer returning in a year.

“Just establishing the proof of concept that vaccines in cancer can actually do something after, I don’t know, 30 years of failure is probably not a bad thing,” Ira Mellman, vice president of cancer immunology at Genentech, the developer of the pancreatic cancer vaccine with BioNTech, told the New York Times.

“We’ll start with that.”

Costs, however, remain a barrier, since each vaccine must be customized, Dr. Neeha Zaidi, a pancreatic cancer specialist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told the publication.

About 64,050 people will be diagnosed with the deadly disease this year. Pancreatic cancer accounts for about 3% of all cancers in the US, and around 7% of all cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society.

Make a donation to help support ABN, via PayPal: [email protected]. Follow Antigua Breaking News on Twitter @ABNAntigua and Instgram @AntiguaBreakingNews and on Facebook. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-868-704-9864 or email us at [email protected].

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES:  CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES: CLICK HERE.

Share this article:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

Join the Conversation!

Comments are closed.

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL SELECTION)

 

OECS MSME Guarantee Facility Project

Loan No.: IDA-62670, IDA-62660, IDA-62640, IBRD-88830, IDA-62650

Assignment Title: Senior Operating Officer (SOO)

Reference No. KN-ECPCGC-207852-CS-INDV

 

The Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have received financing in the amount of US$10 million equivalent from the World Bank towards the cost of establishing a partial credit guarantee scheme, and they intend to apply part of the proceeds to payments for goods, and consulting services to be procured under this project. 

The consultant will serve as the “Senior Operating Officer (SOO)” for the ECPCGC and should possess extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to Micro, small and medium-sized businesses, knowledge of the internal control processes necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk mitigation procedures. The ideal candidate should possess an Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Accounting, Banking or related field, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in lending, inclusive of MSME lending. The initial employment period will be for two years on a contractual basis. Renewal of the contract will be subject to a performance evaluation at the end of the contractual period. The assignment is expected to begin on September 30th, 2021.  The consultant will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the ECPCGC.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be viewed by following the attached link below. 

 

https://bit.ly/3iVannm

 

The Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECPCGC) now invites eligible “Consultants” to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have:

  • An Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Finance, Banking or related field; and
  • Minimum of 5 years’ experience in MSME lending. Applicants should also have:
  • The ability to design and implement risk management procedures 
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to small and medium-sized businesses
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME banking operations
  • Knowledge of the internal controls necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk management procedures
  • Experience developing and presenting information in public, including responding to questions in real-time
  • Experience lending to MSMEs located in the ECCU
  • Knowledge of marketing and communicating with the MSME sector
  • Ability to draft procedures to be used in a lending operation
  • Familiarity with the mechanics of a loan guarantee program
  • Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills, and
  • Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite.

The attention of interested Individual Consultants is drawn to Section III, Paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers July 2016, [revised November 2017] (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Approved Selection Method for Individual Consultants set out in the clause 7.34 of the World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers. 

 

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 0800 to 1700 hours:

Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation

Brid Rock, Basseterre,

St. Kitts.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form by e-mail by August 11th, 2021, to [email protected]

 

For further information, please contact:

Carmen Gomez-Trigg                                                            Bernard Thomas

Chief Executive Officer                                                          Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 868-620-8144                                                                  Tel: 869-765-2385

Email: [email protected]                                          [email protected]