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Global conference pushes plain cigarette packaging

Ministers from 10 countries gathered in Paris Monday to launch a common drive to introduce plain cigarette packaging with the aim of stubbing out high smoking rates among young people. Representatives from nations as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Uruguay issued a joint statement saying that “significant scientific proof justified … plain cigarette packaging”. The ministers said plain packaging had been shown to “reduce the attractiveness

Last four Ebola cases in Liberia discharged from clinic

The last four cases of Ebola in Liberia were discharged from a treatment clinic in the capital Monrovia on Monday, meaning there were no more confirmed carriers of the deadly virus in the West African country. More than 11,200 people have died from Ebola since an epidemic broke out in December 2013 in neighbouring Guinea. Liberia was declared Ebola-free on May 9 but reported a new case nearly two months

Bristol-Myers' Opdivo found effective in kidney cancer

(Reuters) – Bristol-Myers Squibb Co said a late-stage trial of its drug, Opdivo, was stopped early after the immunotherapy was found to be effective in patients with the most common form of kidney cancer. The U.S. drugmaker said on Monday the study, Checkmate-025, was stopped early after an independent data monitoring committee concluded that Opdivo provided a survival advantage over the cancer drug, everolimus, among patients with advanced or metastatic