FDA Approves First-of-a-Kind Test for Cancer-Gene Profiling Bookmark

Excerpt:

“U.S. regulators have approved a first-of-a-kind test that looks for mutations in hundreds of cancer genes at once, giving a more complete picture of what’s driving a patient’s tumor and aiding efforts to match treatments to those flaws.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Foundation Medicine’s test for patients with advanced or widely spread cancers, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed covering it.

“The dual decisions, announced late Thursday, will make tumor-gene profiling available to far more cancer patients than the few who get it now and will lead more insurers to cover it.”

Go to full article by Houston Chronicle on Dec 2, 2017.

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FDA Aims to Expand Early-Approval Program for Promising Drugs Bookmark

Excerpt:

“The Food and Drug Administration wants to help patients get faster access to promising cancer treatments.

“The agency is preparing proposals that would expand an accelerated-approval program for lifesaving medications, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told House lawmakers on Thursday.

“Drugmakers can seek rapid conditional approval for treatments for cancer or other serious diseases based on evidence that a drug is likely to extend patient survival. Later trials once such a drug is on the market are necessary to prove the survival benefit.”

Go to full article published by Bloomberg on Nov 30, 2017.

If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

Study Questions Exclusion of Cancer Survivors from Trials Bookmark

Excerpt:

“A quarter of newly diagnosed cancer patients 65 or older are survivors who had a prior cancer — often preventing them from participating in clinical trials, researchers from UT Southwestern’s Simmons Cancer Center have found.

“The UT Southwestern scientists found that 11 percent of individuals ages 20-64 had a history of a prior cancer, and 25 percent of individuals 65 or older had a history of a prior cancer.

“As the number of cancer survivors grows, more individuals are being excluded from cancer clinical trials that could benefit them when diagnosed with a second cancer.”

Go to full article published by ScienceDaily on Nov 22, 2017.

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A Cancer Doctor Weighs In On CAR-T, Precision Medicine And Pricing Debates Bookmark

Excerpt:

“Yesterday’s historic FDA approval of the first engineered T-cell treatment for cancer, Novartis’ Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), was accompanied by inevitable questions about how the product would be priced. In the end, Novartis set the price at $475,000, which was lower than many analysts had predicted, considering the treatment is designed to cure some forms of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)—and in clinical trials it did just that for most patients.”

Go to full article published by Forbes on Aug 31, 2017.

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A Cancer Conundrum: Too Many Drug Trials, Too Few Patients Bookmark

Excerpt:

“With the arrival of two revolutionary treatment strategies, immunotherapy and personalized medicine, cancer researchers have found new hope — and a problem that is perhaps unprecedented in medical research.

“There are too many experimental cancer drugs in too many clinical trials, and not enough patients to test them on.

“The logjam is caused partly by companies hoping to rush profitable new cancer drugs to market, and partly by the nature of these therapies, which can be spectacularly effective but only in select patients.”

Go to full article published by The New York Times on Aug 12, 2017.

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Using Alternative Medicine Only for Cancer Linked to Lower Survival Rate Bookmark

Excerpt:

“Patients who choose to receive alternative therapy as treatment for curable cancers instead of conventional cancer treatment have a higher risk of death, according to researchers from the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research (COPPER) Center at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center. The findings were reported online by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

“There is increasing interest by patients and families in pursuing alternative medicine as opposed to conventional cancer treatment. This trend has created a difficult situation for patients and providers. Although it is widely believed that conventional cancer treatment will provide the greatest chance at cure, there is limited research evaluating the effectiveness of alternative medicine for cancer.”

Go to full article published by Medical Xpress on Aug 10, 2017.

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New Online Navigator Helps Patients and Doctors Access Experimental Treatments Bookmark

Excerpt:

“When approved therapies don’t work, or stop working, for people with serious or life-threatening illnesses, it puts them in a difficult position. Some turn to clinical trials that are testing experimental treatments. But many can’t do that because they are too sick, don’t meet the requirements of the trial, or can’t afford to travel to the site of a trial. That doesn’t mean they are out of options.”

Go to full article published by STAT on Aug 2, 2017.

If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.