Category: In the News

ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) are calling for the use of more inclusive eligibility criteria for cancer clinical trials in a new Special Series in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). The series provides a comprehensive examination of eligibility criteria for cancer clinical trials with recommendations to address eligibility criteria in five specific…

The U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing this week on the so-called “Right to Try” legislation, and the discussion made clear three things in the debate over whether to allow patients broader access to unapproved therapies: first, Americans’ distrust of experts extends to the very regulatory agency that is charged with ensuring…

Two right-to-try bills in the House of Representatives that would make it easier for terminally ill patients to use experimental drugs as a last resort have put the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a hot seat. The FDA’s predicament was evident yesterday as the agency announced two improvements to its “compassionate use” program…

Clinical trials researching cancer therapies should be more inclusive of a broader range of patients, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Friends of Cancer Research. The 2 organizations issued a joint research statement published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. According to an ASCO press release, it is the result of…

Evidence of cancer has been found since the beginning of recorded history, with the oldest description of the disease dating back to around 3000 BC. While various advances in the understanding of cancer have occurred throughout the ages, it was in the mid-Eighteenth Century that Italian anatomist, Giovanni Morgagni, laid the first foundations for the…

The American Society of Clinical Oncology and Friends of Cancer Research published recommendations on how to achieve more inclusive enrollment in cancer clinical trials.   The recommendations, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), are in line with those first unveiled at the ASCO annual meeting and discussed at a stakeholders’ meeting with FDA…

ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research today released recommendations to broaden eligibility criteria for cancer clinical trials.   These recommendations — and a corresponding special series of articles published in Journal of Clinical Oncology — specifically focus on minimum age requirements, HIV/AIDS status, brain metastases, organ dysfunction, and prior and concurrent malignancies.   “This joint…

Troy Cox says “The Emperor of All Maladies”—Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “biography” of cancer—is the best and most difficult book he’s ever read.   The sequel should be an easier read—according to Cox, we’re living through a major plot point (to the extent a nonfiction book has a plot).   “When ‘The Emperor of All…

Emerging genetic testing technologies must have performance standards, limber FDA oversight, and dependable insurance coverage to advance the burgeoning field of tailored medical treatment, cancer-advocacy and industry representatives said.   Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) testing is the foundation of precision medicine, an innovative approach that narrowly tailors disease prevention and treatment based on an individual’s…

The FDA commissioner was busy last week, appearing not just at the POLITICO Pro Policy Summit, but at several other events around town. At Friends of Cancer Research, for example, Gottlieb said he thinks Congress should legislate lab-developed test regulation, as opposed to FDA issuing guidance on the topic. Gottlieb said Congress has done a…