In 2015, ASCO and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) introduced value frameworks that utilize algorithmic scales to evaluate the clinical benefit of cancer therapies and provide an objective assessment of outcomes and treatment toxicities experienced by patients.1,2 Although the two...
In the release of its annual report on progress against cancer, Clinical Cancer Advances 2019, ASCO recognized progress in treating rare cancers as the Advance of the Year. The report catalogs a year’s worth of remarkable research advancements, reinforces the need for continued federal research...
Over the past year, major research advances provided new treatment options for patients with rare, difficult-to-treat cancers. In recognition of these achievements, ASCO named “Progress in Treating Rare Cancers” as the Advance of the Year. To continue the forward momentum, ASCO also...
John Mendelsohn, MD, President Emeritus of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, died of glioblastoma on January 7, 2019, at his home in Houston at age 82. He was an internationally acclaimed leader in the field of medicine and scientist whose research helped pioneer a new type of...
Despite a recent study showing that patients with cancer who chose alternative therapies over conventional cancer treatment have a higher risk of death, nearly 4 in 10 Americans believe cancer can be cured by alternative remedies alone, according to the results of ASCO’s 2018 National Cancer...
Nearly 4 in 10 Americans believe cancer can be cured solely through alternative therapies, according to ASCO's second annual National Cancer Opinion Survey. This is despite research showing that patients who use alternative therapies instead of standard cancer treatments have much higher...
Recently, the term “personalized medicine” in oncology care has been overtaken by the more contemporary concept of “precision medicine.” According to the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the newer terminology shifts the focus to improving...
Cory Wiegert has been named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CancerLinQ LLC, a wholly owned nonprofit subsidiary of ASCO. Mr. Wiegert, a proven expert in building and successfully launching innovative technology solutions, began his new role on August 13, 2018, and is overseeing the continued...
In 2009, as Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, was preparing his Presidential Address for that year’s ASCO Annual Meeting, he came across his 6th grade essay titled “My Ambition,” which foretold with eerie specificity the career path he would follow over the next 6 decades. In the paper,...
Cory Wiegert has been named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CancerLinQ LLC, a wholly owned nonprofit subsidiary of ASCO. Mr. Wiegert, a proven expert in building and successfully launching innovative technology solutions, began his new role today (August 13, 2018), overseeing the continued...
WITH CONGRESS having recently passed federal “right-to-try” (RTT) legislation, ASCO has developed a suite of educational resources that will help members understand the impact of this law on cancer care and individuals with cancer. Educational resources include: Podcast THE LATEST ASCO in Action...
Over the years many great oncology leaders have served at the helm as ASCO President. We recognize these individuals here, and extend our gratitude for their service and efforts to champion high-quality cancer care. 2018-2019: Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD 2017-2018: Bruce E. Johnson, MD 2016-2017:...
The noninferiority phase III Persephone trial could shake up the standard of care for adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin), showing that patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer derived as much benefit from 6 months of trastuzumab as 12 months, according to research from the United Kingdom ...
Precision medicine is changing cancer care in profound ways. It is expected that the number of patients who benefit from precision medicine will continue to increase in the coming years, as treatments become more effective and research yields more insights on patient populations who are most likely ...
This past January, ASCO published Clinical Cancer Advances 2018,1 its 13th annual report on the progress being made against cancer. The report names chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy as ASCO’s Advance of the Year. In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two ...
At the heart of every ASCO program—every clinical practice guideline, every policy statement, every scientific meeting—is evidence. What do the data say? Evidence informs decision-making across the spectrum of cancer care, from the question a bench researcher will investigate to the treatment a...
In the not-so-distant past, clinical trials were considered an option only for the young and fit. Enrolling older people “used to be thought unethical,” said Janet Woodcock, MD, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), as she opened...
Although most Americans, 78%, recognize that smoking is a major risk factor for cancer, just 31% say obesity—the second-leading preventable cause of cancer after smoking—is a risk factor for the disease, according to the results of ASCO’s National Cancer Opinion Survey, which polled over 4,000...
ASCO SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT and Chief Medical Officer, Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FASCO, FSCT, will participate in a panel discussion at the ECRI Annual Conference "Workflow, Workarounds, and Overworked Health Systems: Innovations and Challenges for Quality, Safety, and Technology," on...
CONGRESS RECENTLY passed its fiscal year (FY) 2017 spending bill, which contains an additional $2 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This marks the first time in more than a dozen years that Congress funded back-to-back increases for the NIH, demonstrating the bipartisan...
ASCO has announced the launch of its Center for Research & Analytics (CENTRA), which aims to make an array of cancer data available to the oncology community and provide consultation and support for research and analysis. To help guide the program, ASCO has appointed Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer,...
When patients with metastatic cancer used a Web-based tool to self-report symptoms proactively during treatment, they lived 5 months longer than did patients assigned to usual care. In addition, they had improved quality of life and fewer emergency room visits and hospitalizations compared with...
Adjuvant therapy with gefitinib (Iressa), an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted agent, was more successful at preventing recurrence than standard-of-care chemotherapy, in a phase III study of patients with EGFR-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).1 Gefitinib extended...
ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study continues to expand and now has more than 300 participants enrolled on study drug, more than 100 sites, new partnerships, and a revised protocol to lower the age of eligibility. “We are very pleased with the...
Robert L. Comis, MD, FASCO, Co-Chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, succumbed to a sudden illness at his home and died on May 10, 2017, at the age of 71. A giant in national and international clinical research since 1977, Dr. Comis is known as a champion of patient access to cancer...
Robert L. Comis, MD, FASCO, Co-Chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, succumbed to a sudden illness at his home and died on May 10, 2017, at the age of 71. A giant in national and international clinical research since 1977, Dr. Comis is known as a champion of patient access to cancer...
ASCO and the oncology community are deeply saddened by the loss of Robert L. Comis, MD, FASCO, who passed away on May 10, 2017, at the age of 71. Dr. Comis was a powerful voice in support of clinical trials, cooperative group research, and patient advocacy throughout his career. “Bob helped...
ASCO strongly supports increasing access to investigational new treatment options for patients with cancer, while raising serious concerns about recently proposed federal “right-to-try” legislation as well as state-enacted right-to-try laws. In a position statement released April 4, 2017, ASCO said ...
In 1959, my 5-year-old cousin, Kim, was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). As an 8-year-old, I didn’t really understand what was happening to him, except that he had to go to the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Indiana, for treatment. The haunting vision of his looking...
More than 100 participants are now enrolled on study drug in ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study. The trial launched in March 2016 at 37 sites, and in November, it welcomed its newest participating clinical sites: Cancer Treatment Centers of America®,...
More than 100 participants are now enrolled on study drug in ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study. The trial launched in March 2016 at 37 sites, and in November, it welcomed its newest participating clinical sites: Cancer Treatment Centers of America,...
The ASCO Research Community Forum held its 2016 Annual Meeting from September 25–26, at ASCO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Nearly 100 physician investigators and research staff from all types of research sites across the United States attended the meeting. Each year, the ASCO Research...
The Cancer Moonshot initiative is bringing together scientists, oncologists, patient advocates, and representatives of the biopharmaceutical industry with renewed collaborative focus and the ambitious objective of consolidating 10 years of cancer research in 5 years. Achieving this outcome will...
ASCO announced that Bayer and Merck are the most recent companies to sign on to provide study drugs at no cost to patients enrolled in the Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study, joining six other companies in ASCO’s first-ever clinical trial. Since opening on March...
This is an exciting time to be an oncologist. I often say I wish I were 30 again and just starting out in my oncology career. Never before have we had such sophisticated technology for evaluation of the tumor or such a potent arsenal of targeted and effective therapies to treat cancer. Further, the ...
ASCO has announced the two physicians selected for its new Health Policy Fellowship, which kicked off this past October. Robert M. Daly, MD, and Steve Y. Lee, MD, will be the fellows for the inaugural class, which runs from July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017. The program, aimed at oncologists in the...
“We commend the U.S. Senate for confirming Robert M. Califf, MD, as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Califf brings extraordinary expertise and vision to this position and we are confident that his appointment will positively impact cancer care. “Dr. Califf's...
ASCO has announced the creation of the Ellen L. Stovall Award and Lecture for Advancement of Cancer Survivorship Care, intended to recognize and promote the work of pioneers and leaders in the growing field of survivorship. The first award will be presented at the 2017 Cancer Survivorship...
ASCO applauds President Obama for his bold vision to launch a national effort on cancer, which he described during his State of the Union address on January 12, 2016. We also join him in recognizing Vice President Biden’s leadership in calling for a “moonshot” that will reduce the cancer-related...
ASCO has announced the creation of the Ellen L. Stovall Award and Lecture for Advancement of Cancer Survivorship Care, intended to recognize and promote the work of pioneers and leaders in the growing field of survivorship. The first award will be presented at the 2017 Cancer Survivorship...
Formerly called the ASCO Statesman Award, which launched in 2007, the new distinction of Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO) is designed to honor ASCO’s most active volunteer members. “The FASCO status represents recognition for the most dedicated volunteer members inside...
Richard L. Schilsky, MD, Chief of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine and Deputy Director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been named to the newly created position of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of ASCO. A former ASCO President and Fellow of the American...
Patients with stage II colon cancer generally have a favorable prognosis, with about 80% of patients surviving 5 years after surgery and the majority of these long-term survivors presumed to be cured. Clearly though, some patients are destined to recur after surgery, and there is an urgent need to...
As 2014 rolls in, ASCO is calling for a renewed commitment to federal funding of cancer research. In a letter sent to House and Senate Appropriations leaders, ASCO urged Congress to use spending levels in the recently passed budget to set the highest possible funding level for the National...
“The GAO report identifies production lapses due to quality problems and constrained manufacturing capacity as being the central causes of the widespread incidence and persistence of drug shortages. “The report also emphasizes that the FDA has made significant progress in preventing shortages by ...
Over the past 5 decades, National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Trials Cooperative Groups have played an enormous role in the fight against cancer, tackling a broad social agenda, including cancer prevention, quality-of-life issues for patients with cancer, and comparison of benefits among...
Project Data Sphere, which launched on April 8, is a “giant digital laboratory, an enormous library containing data about tens of thousands of patients and hundreds of clinical trials, all of which will be in the public domain,” said Martin J. Murphy, Jr, DMedSc, PhD, FASCO, Chief Executive Officer ...
All four studies presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting Plenary Session were at least partially funded by federal dollars, bringing long overdue attention to the value of federally supported cancer research. Perhaps because of this high visibility, ASCO leaders took to the soapbox to sound the...
In the 50 years since the American Society of Clinical Oncology was founded, the treatment of cancer has advanced dramatically, due to the work of researchers making important scientific breakthroughs, physicians responsible for delivering those advances to patients, and countless others who...
The workforce numbers show a disturbing trend. According to a recent study by ASCO, by 2025, overall demand for oncology services is projected to grow by 40%, but physician supply is predicted to increase by only 25%, generating a shortage of 2,258 oncologists providing full-time equivalent...