Since the discovery of BRCA1 and BRCA2, investigators have sought to determine whether the presence of a germline mutation independently influences the outcome of a breast cancer diagnosed in a woman with an inherited mutation. The question is highly relevant to an unaffected woman with a mutation, ...
On October 8, 1904, a group of Philadelphia physicians and businessmen who were concerned about the escalating incidence of cancer in the city signed a charter that established the American Oncologic Hospital, one of the nation’s first hospitals solely devoted to cancer care. Seven decades later—2...
More active support and interventions by physicians are required to get patients who still smoke to stop, according to two articles published online by the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP),1,2 and to prevent school-aged children and adolescents from starting to use tobacco, according to a U.S....
All nonessential government services were suspended at midnight on October 1, 2013, after Congress failed to reach a budget compromise to keep the government funded before the start of the new fiscal year beginning on October 1, 2013. ASCO issued a statement in response to the government shutdown...
The study by Lund and colleagues discussed in this issue of The ASCO Post reinforces concerns about psychosocial health in long-term survivors of childhood cancer. Taking advantage of national registries, these investigators demonstrated that, when compared to the general population, survivors are...
“It was a very exciting session this year, particularly for cervical cancers,” said Paul Haluska MD, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, in speaking of the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting’s gynecologic oncology session and the abstracts highlighted recently at Best of ASCO in Chicago. In one...
At the Best of ASCO Meeting in Los Angeles, Tony Reid, MD, PhD, Director of the Early Phase Clinical Research Program and Professor of Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, San Diego, reviewed important findings in metastatic colorectal cancer presented at the 2013 ASCO Annual...
Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated entinostat as a Breakthrough Therapy for the treatment of locally recurrent or metastatic estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer when added to exemestane in postmenopausal women whose disease ...
Cancer cells are known to have short telomeres, but just how short they are from cancer cell to cancer cell may be a determining factor in a prostate cancer patient’s prognosis, according to a study1 led by scientists at Johns Hopkins. “Doctors are looking for new ways to accurately predict...
A “new kind of pathology,” with anatomy and histology being supplemented by molecular etiology, has been emerging over the past decade and promises better response rates among patients with cancer, as genomic alterations continue to be identified and treated with targeted therapies. “The list of...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved uses of paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injectable suspension, albumin-bound (nab-paclitaxel, Abraxane) to treat patients with late-stage pancreatic cancer. “Patients with pancreatic cancer are often diagnosed after the...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first generic version of capecitabine (Xeloda), an oral chemotherapy agent used in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer and breast cancers. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA has gained FDA approval to market generic capecitabine in 150...
Pathologic complete response as assessed surgically after neoadjuvant treatment is being touted by some researchers as a stand-alone endpoint justifying early drug approval for breast cancer. They argue that it provides a more efficient means of testing the value of agents that might be useful in...
Radiation therapy as part of the management of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) did not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease 10 years after treatment, according to a large retrospective study presented at a press conference held just prior to the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium.1 Longer...
In an e-mail interview, E. Shelley Hwang, MD, an expert who has coauthored several papers on ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), weighed in on the two abstracts about management of DCIS featured in this issue of The ASCO Post—one presented by Melissa L. Pilewskie, MD (perioperative MRI in DCIS, page...
Perioperative MRI for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) was not associated with a reduction in locoregional recurrence or contralateral breast cancer development in a large single-center study reported at the 2013 ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium. The study also was presented at a...
Larry Norton, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, is the recipient of the 2013 Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award, which he received at the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium. The Symposium is sponsored by ASCO, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the American Society of Radiation...
In Keynote Lectures during the 2013 ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium, experts George Sledge, MD, and Monica Morrow, MD, offered their opinions and outlook on how the medical and surgical management of breast cancer may continue to evolve over the next 5 to 10 years.1 Dr. Sledge is Chief of Oncology at...
Physicians were considered the most important source of information about contralateral prophylactic mastectomy in a survey of 123 women who were diagnosed with cancer in one breast and chose to have the contralateral procedure. While 80% of the women reported that they spoke with their physicians...
Overestimating the risk that cancer in one breast will affect the other breast may cause many young women with breast cancer to choose contralateral prophylactic mastectomy even though most know it does not clearly improve survival. In a survey of 123 women who were diagnosed with cancer in one...
Ten cancer programs that have developed pioneering solutions to address the challenges of treating cancer patients have received the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ (ACCC) 2013 Innovator Awards. Established in 2011, ACCC’s Innovator Awards are sponsored by GE Healthcare. The award...
November Graft vs Host Disease National SymposiumNovember 1 • Independence, OhioFor more information: www.cowdenfoundation.org/gvhd-home/ Washington State Medical Oncology Society Fall 2013 Oncology ConferenceNovember 1 • Seattle, WashingtonFor more information: www.wsmos.org Quality Care...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recently announced the appointment of Napoleone Ferrara, MD, to Editor-in-Chief of the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. Dr. Ferrara presently serves as Professor of Pathology and Senior Deputy Director for Basic Sciences at the Moores Cancer ...
CancerCare recently announced the launch of a new edition of A Helping Hand: The Resource Guide for People With Cancer, Financial Edition, a reference guide to assist patients with cancer and their families in navigating the financial resources available to them. A Helping Hand is a comprehensive...
This recent paper in The New England Journal of Medicine outlines the details of the clinical outcomes with two incidence screens that were conducted as part of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST).1 In the wake of the positive review of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) draft...
Celgene Corporation recently announced the two recipients of Celgene’s inaugural Innovation Impact Awards: The Aplastic Anemia & Myelodysplastic Syndromes International Foundation (AA&MDSIF) and the Lung Cancer Alliance. The Innovation Impact Awards program recognizes effective, innovative, ...
Cancer advocates and clinical trialists, for some time, have been proposing a radical change to the laborious drug development process—that industry, academia, funding sources, and other stakeholders actually pool their brain power and financial means and work together, not separately, to develop...
Dubbed “Cancer Czar” by the media, Richard Pazdur, MD, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Hematology and Oncology Products, said he has the “best job in oncology, with a unique vantage point in cancer drug development.” An oncologist for more than 30 years—including...
Cost of Care and Federal Funding How can ASCO address the high cost of cancer care and diminishing federal resources for basic and translational research? We need to work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, private insurers, and health-care systems to encourage evidence-based...
Cost of Care and Federal Funding How can ASCO address the high cost of cancer care and diminishing federal resources for basic and translational research? In answer to the first part of this question, the rising cost of cancer care has certainly become a focus of national conversation given the...
In September, ASCO announced the names of 14 ASCO members who have been selected by the ASCO Nominating Committee as candidates for open leadership positions within the Society for the 2014 ASCO Election. The two candidates nominated for President-Elect are Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO, and Julie...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recently announced the election of three new members to its Executive Committee for terms beginning after the ASH Annual Meeting in December. Charles S. Abrams, MD, will serve a 1-year term as Vice President, followed by successive terms as President-Elect...
David W. Chang, MD, FACS, an authority on the surgical treatment of lymphedema, was recently appointed Professor of Plastic Surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine. Dr. Chang has played a key role in introducing the procedure known as lymphaticovenular bypass, a novel treatment for...
Dr. Gary Gilliland, MD, PhD, has been named the inaugural Vice Dean and Vice President for Precision Medicine, at Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Dr. Gilliland is a cancer genetics expert and pioneer in the development of targeted therapies. “We are proud to be among the...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced class-wide safety labeling changes and new postmarketing study requirements for all extended-release and long-acting opioid analgesics intended to treat pain. “The FDA is invoking its authority to require safety labeling changes and postmarket...
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc, has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to volasertib, an investigational inhibitor of polo-like kinase (Plk), which being evaluated for the treatment of patients aged 65 or older with...
During this and the coming year, ASCO is ramping up its advocacy efforts in calling for increased federal funding to support clinical cancer trials. As part of an extensive effort to educate and mobilize its membership to call for a renewed national investment in federally funded cancer research,...
Zhe-Bin Liu, MD, PhD, of Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, China, is the recipient of the 2013 Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Long-Term International Fellowship (LIFe) in Breast Cancer, generously supported by The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The LIFe provides early-career...
ASCO helps shape the regulatory framework in which oncologists practice by reviewing and commenting on a wide range of rules, guidelines, and system changes issued by federal agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and...
In advance of the 2013 Quality Care Symposium, ASCO released a second Top Five List in Oncology, as part of the ongoing Choosing Wisely® campaign that brings together the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, ASCO, and other medical specialty organizations. Cancer.Net provides...
Through a new initiative and partnership with the GetWell Network, ASCO has begun to offer patient education content from its patient information website, Cancer.Net, to patients treated at hospitals within the GetWell Network community. The GetWell Network provides tools to hospitals to help...
Even as oncologists try to tackle the changing landscape of health care in the United States, many realize that both physicians and patients in this country are still in a better position than those fighting cancer abroad in low- and middle-income countries. In 2009, ASCO joined with Health...
As the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 8th Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies was drawing to a close, The ASCO Post spoke with Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, about the themes of the meeting and the take-home messages for attendees and for our readers. Dr. Zelenetz is Vice Chair...
The National Cancer Institute has awarded more than $11 million in funding to Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), to begin an aggressive, multipronged search into preventing and treating ovarian cancer. Distributed over 5 ...
The Gastric Cancer Foundation recently announced the formation of a research partnership with the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and a confirmed timeline for awarding newly funded research grants for upper gastrointestinal tract cancers. Wayne Feinstein, Chairman of the Board of...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Cunningham and colleagues and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, the AVEX trial was an open-label randomized phase III trial limited to patients over the age of 70 years with previously untreated, unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer who were not...
More than 90% of women undergoing mammography screening could not give an accurate estimate of their personal risk of developing breast cancer, according to results of a large survey reported at the 2013 ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium and featured in a premeeting presscast. The survey showed that a...
The primacy of science and the overwhelming belief in medical research by the American people has sustained the research community and improved quality of life roughly since the turn of the 20th century. Almost without exception, the American people have voted for politicians who promise improved...
We are just 7 months into the $1 trillion in automatic federal budget spending cuts known as sequestration, and the impact on scientists in all areas of research is already so great, some say its full effects may be irreversible. The ASCO Post recently interviewed ASCO President Clifford A. Hudis, ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved obinutuzumab (Gazyva) for use in combination with chlorambucil (Leukeran) to treat patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Obinutuzumab is the first drug with Breakthrough Therapy designation to receive FDA...