Plumbing the Core and Nibbling at the Margins of Cancer
Cancer Commons Contributing Editor George Lundberg, MD, is the face and curator of this invitation-only column
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July 1, 2019
Can Preclinical Data Guide Clinical Cancer Therapy?
With:A Q&A with Keith Flaherty, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Director of Developmental Therapeutics, Cancer Center, Massachusetts General Hospital; kflaherty@mgh.harvard.edu Originally published Aug 31, 2016 Q: Under what circumstances and to what extent are you willing to take clinical actions on a cancer patient based primarily on preclinical data? A: There are two scenarios that come to mind when thinking about… Read more »
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May 28, 2019
New Glioblastoma Trial Adds Whole-Brain Irradiation to Plerixafor
With:A Q&A with Martin Brown, D.Phil, FASTRO, Emeritus Professor (mbrown@stanford.edu), and Lawrence Recht, MD, Professor, at Stanford University’s Department of Neurology (lrecht@stanford.edu) Q: The treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a serious challenge. Recurrence after initial surgery is common and subsequent treatment almost always unsuccessful. Just as “an army marches on its stomach,” GBM growth depends on blood supply. Successful use of the FDA-approved… Read more »
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May 13, 2019
Serious Caveats in Screening for Pancreatic Cancer
With:A Q&A with Rama Gullapalli, MD, PhD; a physician-scientist in the departments of Pathology, Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of New Mexico. His research lab focuses on the role of the environment in hepatobiliary cancers. He is also a practicing molecular pathologist with an interest in emerging molecular diagnostics, next generation sequencing and bioinformatics. Email: rgullapalli@salud.unm.edu Q: A recent New York Times… Read more »
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April 29, 2019
Encouraging and Paying for Clinical Trials, Right to Try, and Expanded Access: Part Three
With: Mark Shapiro, PhDA Q&A with Mark Shapiro, PhD,Vice President of Clinical Development at xCures, Inc., Partner at Pharma Initiatives; mshapiro@xcures.com. This is the final installment in a three-part series in which Dr. Shapiro has shared his thoughts on the question below. Read part 1 and part 2. Q: Treatment of Americans with advanced cancer is complex and challenging and can be very expensive. Many urge greater participation of such patients… Read more »
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April 22, 2019
Encouraging and Paying for Clinical Trials, Right to Try, and Expanded Access: Part Two
With: Mark Shapiro, PhDA Q&A with Mark Shapiro, PhD,Vice President of Clinical Development at xCures, Inc., Partner at Pharma Initiatives; mshapiro@xcures.com. Last week, Dr. Shapiro shared his initial thoughts on the question below. Today, he discusses issues of cost and equitable access to care. Q: Treatment of Americans with advanced cancer is complex and challenging and can be very expensive. Many urge greater participation of such patients in clinical trials. In… Read more »
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April 15, 2019
Encouraging and Paying for Clinical Trials, Right to Try, and Expanded Access: Part One
With: Mark Shapiro, PhDA Q&A with Mark Shapiro, PhD, Vice President of Clinical Development at xCures, Inc., Partner at Pharma Initiatives; mshapiro@xcures.com Q: Treatment of Americans with advanced cancer is complex and challenging and can be very expensive. Many urge greater participation of such patients in clinical trials. In general, who pays the expenses of clinical trials? And, specifically, how are the costs for Right to Try and expanded-access approaches… Read more »
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March 19, 2019
At Diagnosis, What Do Cancer Patients Want?
With:A Q&A with Laura Benson, RN, MS, ANP, president of Conversations in Care, LLC; LauraBensonRN@Gmail.com Q: In our digital communication world of 2019, some patients may receive the initial message that YOU HAVE CANCER by cell phone, text, email, or even voice mail. When this happens, what do patients most want, and how can that best be accomplished? A: When I first read your question, I… Read more »
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February 18, 2019
Capturing Patients’ Real-World Experiences to Improve Cancer Research and Care
With:A Q&A with Grace Castillo-Soyao, founder and CEO of Self Care Catalysts; grace@selfcarecatalysts.com Q: You are well known as a visionary in the field of Real World Experience-Evidence (RWEE). As the founder and CEO of Self Care Catalysts, headquartered in Toronto, how do you see RWEE evolving to favorably impact the field of oncology? A: I started Self Care Catalysts with some very basic… Read more »
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February 11, 2019
The Crucial 90% Missed by Doctors on Computers
With: Kevin Knopf, MD, MPHA Q&A with Kevin B. Knopf MD, MPH, chairman of hematology and oncology at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California; kevinbknopf@gmail.com Q: A successful patient-physician relationship depends upon effective bidirectional attention and mutual understanding. Many patients and physicians believe that common current versions of mandated electronic health records (EHRs) severely impede that interaction, especially eye contact. How can a competent and caring clinical oncologist overcome… Read more »
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February 4, 2019
Challenging Oncology Therapies With Moonshot Price Tags
With:A Q&A with Pramod John, PhD, CEO of VIVIO Health, a specialty drug management company in San Leandro, CA, that aims to provide better outcomes at lower costs; pramod@viviohealth.com Originally published December 13, 2017 Q: Some American pharmaceutical companies are well-known for pricing drugs at “whatever the market will bear.” In oncology, some specialty drugs seem to have price tags completely unrelated to the… Read more »