Kidney cancer drug approved by FDA
Washington A new treatment that slows the spread of advanced kidney cancer won government approval Tuesday, offering potential relief from a disease that kills 12,000 Americans a year.
It’s the first new treatment option for kidney cancer patients in more than a decade.
In trials, patients treated with Nexavar, also known as sorafenib tosylate, went longer without their cancer progressing than those taking a placebo. The drug was developed by Bayer and Onyx Pharmaceuticals.
“We believe this represents, from a medical point of view, truly a major advance,” Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Oncology Drug Products, said in a conference call with reporters.
The medicine is for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer. The FDA said that in one trial, patients taking the drug went twice as long – a median of six months versus three months for those taking a placebo – without the cancer progressing or the patient dying.
American Taliban asks for reduced sentence
Washington American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh has asked President Bush again to reduce his 20-year prison sentence by an unspecified amount, Lindh’s attorney said Tuesday.
Lindh, now in his early 20s, wrote a first-person account to the Justice Department’s pardon attorneys arguing why he believes Bush should reduce his sentence.
Lindh, imprisoned in Southern California, was captured in Afghanistan weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He pleaded guilty in U.S. civilian court to supplying services to the Taliban government and carrying explosives for them, but the government dismissed terrorism-related charges against Lindh.
Houston pastor’s wife removed from flight
Houston The wife of the pastor of the nation’s largest church was asked to leave a plane after she failed to comply with a flight attendant’s instructions, the FBI said Tuesday.
Houston Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, his wife, Victoria, and their two children boarded a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Vail, Colo., Monday. The plane’s door had been closed when Victoria Osteen and a flight attendant had a disagreement.
“She failed to comply with the flight attendant’s instructions, and they were asked to leave the flight,” FBI spokeswoman Luz Garcia said without elaborating on the disagreement.
The FBI reviewed a report from Continental after the incident, Garcia said. No charges will be filed, she said.
The family took another flight to Colorado, where church spokesman Don Iloff said they were skiing Tuesday. Iloff called the disagreement with the flight attendant “minor” but would not say what happened.
Osteen’s sermons are broadcast across the country and his book “Your Best Life Now” has become a best seller. His church has more than 30,000 worshippers weekly and meets in a renovated arena where the Houston Rockets once played.
Jetliner lands safely despite faulty gear
Boston A jetliner with a landing gear problem touched down safely at Logan International late Tuesday after circling the airport for about two hours.
Sparks could be seen coming from an area near the right landing gear as the aircraft landed just before 10 p.m. EST, but the plane rolled to a stop without incident.
Midwest Airlines Flight 210 had 86 passengers and four crew members on board.
Air traffic controllers reported seeing sparks at the rear of the plane after it took off at about 8:15 p.m., bound for Milwaukee.
Carol Skornicka, a spokeswoman for Milwaukee-based Midwest, said the pilot noticed a problem with the right landing gear shortly after takeoff. She said the plane spent a couple of hours circling to burn off excess fuel.