ES on precision oncology

For patients with metastatic breast cancer, doctors don’t yet know how to predict long-term responses to this PARP drug...

What’s at issue is the right of all cancer patients—regardless of wealth—to obtain high-quality information about their conditions...

Few doctors, even oncologists who subspecialize, can keep up with developments in the field...

The paradigm for using chemo first to treat advanced breast cancer may change, as we gain experience with these new drugs...

Perhaps the literature fails to capture the clinical value of oncology drugs. This could happen for several reasons...

A new type of cancer medication, called PARP inhibitors, is gaining traction in clinical practice...

  The key to the positive results is molecular matching. Patients received larotrectinib, a TRK inhibitor, only if their cancers were marked by a switch…It’s a perfect example of how precision medicine can benefit patients with rare conditions...

The FDA’s accelerated approval of this drug might surprise traditional oncologists. It suggests the agency may be ditching an archaic system for classifying cancers based on body parts—like breast or liver or colon cancer—and instead will focus...

My enthusiasm for this new drug, Stivarga, is tempered by the low response rate and toxicity...

It’s possible that tumor mutation burden (TMB) predicts if cancer―of any type―will respond to treatment with immune drugs, but this remains to be tested...

Lynparza—a PARP inhibitor taken as an oral tablet, daily— keeps qualified cases of advanced ovarian cancer in check for two years, as compared to placebo...

Ribociclib is one of several CDK inhibitors being tried in breast cancer and other malignancies...

If these data pan out, this first-in-class antibody might be likened to Herceptin, or Rituxan… a precise treatment that works on malignant cells that have tested positive for the relevant molecule...

This paper offers the clearest demonstration, yet, of the value – to patients – of precision medicine in oncology...

Today, Walter White might not be doomed by his lung cancer. The harder problem is how to pay for his care...

Evaluation of circulating tumor cells enables monitoring of some cancers from blood samples. This form of liquid biopsy offers…...

If there’s one thing that’s become clear about precision medicine – and the delivery of optimal care based in science – it will require super technology. This need is especially urgent in oncology...

These biomarkers should link patients to optimal therapy (when such exists), and lead some to decline therapy that’s unlikely to help. The CDx field is moving forward rapidly in oncology...

A common misconception is that precision medicine is about one drug for one disease. But for most cancer types, it will involve combining medications in effective cocktails...

Over time, the costs should drop, like for smartphone tech, what my Dad – a chemistry major and retired physician – called “magic.”...

Taken together, the findings raise many possibilities – and questions about strategy, and expense – for testing and prescribing new small drugs and immune-targeting antibodies to patients with kidney and, potentially, other advanced cancer forms...

So far, the studies demonstrate that Lynparza has activity in cancer patients with and without inherited BRCA mutations...

We’re in the 1950s of precision medicine, so to speak. Modern oncology care helps some, many but not all...

The FDA’s decision on palbociclib immediately expands treatment options for a large fraction of people living with metastatic breast cancer. What limits enthusiasm is how much this oral drug will cost...

The kinase inhibitor offers a new option for people with polycythemia vera, a condition for which few drugs have been available...

Perjeta extends survival in patients with Her2 positive breast cancer. Might drugs targeting Her2 be effective in other malignancies?...

Genome sequencing is not routine in oncology practice. But maybe it should be, advocates suggest...

CLL patients face an astonishing array of new medical options. These terrific advances, while beneficial for some, raise the possibility of overtreatment...

The Lung-MAP trial will identify molecular abnormalities in tumors specimens from thousands of patients with squamous cell lung cancer...

With an ordinary blood sample, a device can monitor cancerous cells for spread or resistance to treatment...