News & Updates

Atezolizumab bests chemo in advanced NSCLC

First-line immunotherapy treatment with atezolizumab – a PD-L1 inhibitor – offers a survival advantage over single-agent chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are ineligible for platinum doublets in the phase III IPSOS trial.

EDS device with fluticasone cuts CRS exacerbations

The use of an exhalation delivery system with fluticasone (EDS-FLU) significantly reduces acute exacerbations of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), which may help drive down the need for antibiotics and prevent antibiotic resistance, in the ReOpen1 and 2 randomized controlled trials.

Cryotherapy safe, effective in paediatric airway

Cryotherapy for the paediatric airway is safe and demonstrates a high success rate, results of a study have shown. In addition, cryobiopsy is not inferior to the commonly used forceps biopsies and may be used as an alternative in the future.

PM2.5 exposure ups risk of lung cancer in women

Residential exposure to fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5) appear to elevate the risk of lung adenocarcinoma in women, suggests a Taiwan study.

Challenges in the diagnosis and management of multidrug-resistant gram-negative infections: Real-world evidence and experience

The diagnosis and treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-negative bacteria in critically ill patients present many clinical challenges. Selection of appropriate antibiotic therapy in a timely manner requires patients’ comprehensive medical history, updated local knowledge of microbiological epidemiology, efficient use of diagnostic tools, and balancing of information from clinical trial data, real-world evidence (RWE), and guidelines.

In a symposium Pfizer organized in conjunction with the Asia Pacific Intensive Care Symposium (APICS), Professor David Paterson from the National University of Singapore discussed the importance of RWE in the antibiotic armamentarium, using ceftazidime-avibactam (CAZ-AVI, Zavicefta^®) as an example. Dr Asok Kurup, Consultant Infectious Diseases Physician at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, Singapore, explained how rapid diagnostics can guide treatment choices to improve patient outcomes in MDR gram-negative infections.

Timely treatment of patients at risk for severe COVID-19 prevents severe outcomes

Despite widespread uptake of vaccinations, COVID-19 remains a serious health issue for high-risk patients, owing to the emergence of new variants of concern (VOCs), waning immunity, and breakthrough infections.

At a recent symposium in Singapore, esteemed experts Dr Asok Kurup, Consultant Infectious Diseases Physician at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, Singapore, and Dr Alex Soriano, Head of Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and Assistant Professor, University of Barcelona, Spain, gave insights on the evolution of global trends since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and discussed key challenges in managing high-risk patients with COVID-19 in the ICU. They also highlighted early treatment strategies to minimize the burden of COVID-19 on healthcare systems.