FDA Panel To Decide Whether New Breast, Prostate Cancer Drugs Are Worth The Risks
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA staff have expressed concerns about the use of camizestrant to treat metastatic breast cancer and capivasertib for patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. The Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee will vote on these two drug applications Thursday.
MedPage Today:
FDA Staff Raises Concerns On Two Cancer Drug Applications
For the first time since last July the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) will meet on Thursday to evaluate two cancer drugs after FDA staff voiced concerns about benefit-risk assessments, despite positive trial results. (Bassett, 4/28)
More about cancer research —
The Baltimore Sun:
New Research Suggests Skipping This Vitamin If You Have Cancer
Vitamins are supposedly good for you, but some might also be good for cancer, Swiss researchers at the University of Lausanne found. Cancer cells have a weakness. They depend on the protein glutamine to produce the energy needed to divide and grow. The Swiss researchers found that cancer cells can escape this weakness with the help of Vitamin B7, or biotin. Without biotin, a protein produced mainly in muscle tissue, cancer cells lose that flexibility and stop growing. (Hille, 4/28)
The Baltimore Sun:
Hidden Master Switch Driving Skin Cancer Growth Exposed
Tumors need two things to thrive: a good blood supply and a way to keep the immune system at bay. Scientists have discovered the protein that helps skin cancer achieve both, and proved that disabling it shrinks tumors and reactivates the immune system. (Hille, 4/28)
HealthDay:
Pooled Umbilical Cord Blood Improves Stem Cell Transplant Success
A new way of using umbilical cord blood — by pooling blood from multiple donors — could make it easier to receive a stem cell transplant for leukemia, a new study says. Nearly everyone in a small group of patients who received these pooled transplants survived at least one year without severe signs of rejection, researchers reported April 27 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. (Thompson, 4/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
Married Adults Are Less Likely To Get Cancer Than Singles, Study Suggests
Marriage is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer, recent research found. A study of more than 4 million cancer cases in the U.S. found that cancer rates were about 68% higher among men who have never married compared with those who have. For never-married women, the relationship was even more pronounced, with cancer rates roughly 83% higher, according to research published recently in the journal Cancer Research Communications. (Woodward, 4/29)
MedPage Today:
Lung Cancer Screening Rates In Eligible Adults Remain Low, Uneven
Lung cancer screening uptake with low-dose CT increased from 2022 to 2024, but remains low, according to a cross-sectional study. Across the U.S., 24.49% of survey respondents who met U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) eligibility criteria were up to date on their lung cancer screening in 2024 — an increase in prevalence of 6 percentage points since 2022, with significant increases across most subgroups and no declines, reported Todd Burus, PhD, of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, and colleagues. (Bassett, 4/28)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Her Cancer ‘Nightmare’ At 29 Reflects Trend Driving New UCSF Clinic
Megan McNair was 29 and had just given birth to her second child in July when she learned she had Stage 4 colon cancer. Doctors initially told her she had five years to live. “My first thought was, ‘I’m dead. This is it,’” said McNair, who is from Alameda and now lives in Pollock Pines, about an hour outside Tahoe. “I just prayed for my health.” (Ho, 4/28)
Modern Healthcare:
Radiotherapy Expands Beyond Cancer To Osteoarthritis Treatment
Radiotherapy is best known as a cancer treatment, but a growing number of health systems and cancer centers are using it for a very different kind of disease. Osteoarthritis and other non-cancerous musculoskeletal conditions are increasingly being treated with radiation, opening up a new revenue stream for providers. About 33 million adults in the U.S. have osteoarthritis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Dubinsky, 4/28)
