'There must be a joke in this': British comedian Mark Steel on his cancer memoir
"It wasn't until later, I look back and think 'that is quite funny that a doctor is relying on superstitions'," he told us.
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France 24
7 hours ago
- France 24
Novartis first half net profits up 29 percent
The Basel-based firm's net sales increased 12 percent to nearly $27.3 billion between January and June, it said in a statement. Generic competition reduced its sales by two percent. In the first half of 2025, sales of Entresto -- its flagship drug to treat chronic heart failure -- reached $4.6 billion, up 22 percent. Generic versions are expected to hit the market in the second half of the year. Novartis chief executive Vas Narasimhan also pointed to the strong performance of other treatments such as Kisqali, for breast cancer, and Pluvicto, for prostate cancer. The group also announced a change in its financial leadership due to take place next year. Mukul Mehta, the head of business planning and analysis in digital finance and tax, will become the new chief financial officer in March. He will succeed Harry Kirsch, who has held the position since 2013. Kirsch is retiring after 22 years with the company.
France 24
20 hours ago
- France 24
World-first IVF trial reduces risk of babies inheriting diseases
The findings were hailed as a breakthrough which raises hopes that women with mutations in their mitochondrial DNA could one day have children without passing debilitating or deadly diseases on to the children. One out of every 5,000 births is affected by mitochondrial diseases, which cannot be treated, and include symptoms such as impaired vision, diabetes and muscle wasting. In 2015, Britain became the first country to approve an in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) technique that uses a small amount of healthy mitochondrial DNA from the egg of a donor -- along with the mother's egg and father's sperm. Some have called the result of this process "three-parent babies", though researchers have pushed back at this term because only roughly 0.1 percent of the newborn's DNA comes from the donor. The results of the much-awaited UK trial were published in several papers in the New England Journal of Medicine. 'Important reproductive option' Out of 22 women to undergo the treatment at the Newcastle Fertility Centre in northeast England, eight babies were born. The four boys and four girls now range from under six months to over two years old. The amount of mutated mitochondrial DNA -- which causes disease -- was reduced by 95-100 percent in six of the babies, according to the research. For the other two newborns, the amount fell by 77-88 percent, which is below the range that causes disease. This indicates the technique was "effective in reducing transmission" of diseases between mother and child, one of the studies said. The eight children are currently healthy, though one had a disturbance of their heart's rhythm which was successfully treated, the researchers said. Their health will be followed up over the coming years to see if problems arise. Nils-Goran Larsson, a Swedish reproductive expert not involved in the research, hailed the "breakthrough". The new technique offers a "very important reproductive option" for families affected by "devastating" mitochondrial diseases, he added. Ethical review Mitochondrial donation remains controversial and has not been approved in many countries, including the United States and France. Religious leaders have opposed the procedure because it involves the destruction of human embryos. Other opponents have expressed fears it could pave the way for genetically engineered "designer babies". An ethical review carried out by the UK's independent Nuffield Council on Bioethics was "instrumental" in conducting the new research, the council's director Danielle Hamm said Wednesday. Peter Thompson, head of the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority which approved the procedure, said only people with a "very high risk" of passing on a mitochondrial disease would be eligible for the treatment. Ethical concerns have also been raised over the use of mitochondrial donation for infertility in Greece and Ukraine. French mitochondrial disease specialist Julie Stefann told AFP that "it is a question of the risk-benefit ratio: for a mitochondrial disease, the benefit is obvious". "In the context of infertility, it has not been proven," she added. Oxford University reproductive genetics expert Dagan Wells observed that "some scientists will be a little disappointed that so much time and effort has, so far, only led to the birth of eight children". Among the children being closely monitored are three that showed some signs of what is known as "reversal", which is still little understood. It is "a phenomenon where the therapy initially succeeds in producing an embryo with very few defective mitochondria, but by the time the child is born the proportion of abnormal mitochondria in its cells has significantly increased," he explained.
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Global health aid sinks to 15-year low in 'era of austerity'
Money that provides healthcare to some of the poorest and most in-need people across the world has been dramatically slashed this year, led by the administration of US President Donald Trump. The new study published in the prestigious Lancet journal also pointed to recent steep aid cuts announced by the UK, France and Germany. After reaching an all-time high of $80 billion in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the total amount of global health aid will sink to $39 billion this year, the US-led team of researchers estimated. That would be the lowest level since 2009. Such a dramatic change will result in the world entering a new "era of global health austerity", the authors of the study warned. Sub-Saharan African countries such as Somalia, the war-torn Democratic of Congo and Malawi will be hit worst because most of their health funding currently comes from international aid, according to the study. The funding cuts will have a major impact on the treatment and prevention of a range of diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, it added The US slashed its global health funding by at least 67 percent in 2025 compared to last year, according to the research. The UK cut its funding by nearly 40 percent, following by France with 33 percent and Germany with 12 percent. The researchers at the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation called for the world to urgently ramp up health aid. They also warned that nations would likely need find other sources of funding. The study was released as AIDS experts meet in Rwanda's capital Kigali for an international conference on HIV science. The US foreign aid cuts alone are estimated to result in the preventable deaths of more than 14 million people by 2030, according to a different Lancet study published earlier this month.
