Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer)

Former Director @icmr_NICPR, & CEO @icrcicmr1, Cancer researcher. Passionate abt. cancer prevention/survivorship. Founder @chipfoundation. @Tedx spkr.

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

Out-of-pocket medical costs for cancer therapy and other serious diseases can often be devastating.

Although Ayushman Bharat and private insurance have helped to some extent, many hurdles still exist and most people do not have access to the necessary funds.

Out-of-the-box strategies are urgently needed.

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

Promising in preventing recurrence, for now. Hope therapeutic vaccines work too.

[NBC News @NBCNews]

An experimental vaccine from Moderna shows promise in keeping deadly skin cancer from returning for years, according to new clinical trial results. https://t.co/UCVfhRE8na

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

WNTD 26. The proof of the pudding is in the doing!

Health and Nicotine awareness camp with our partners at Gautam Budha University, Gr. Noida was very attended. @chipfoundation

[CHIP Foundation India @chipfoundation]

World No Tobacco Day 2026

Thank you to everyone who joined the Health Camp & Awareness Session organized by CHIP Foundation in collaboration with GBU.

#WorldNoTobaccoDay #CHIPFoundation #GBU #NoTobacco #HealthCamp #CancerAwareness #HealthyCommunities #TobaccoFreeIndia #WNTD

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

A new study links GLP-1 drugs and 30-35% reduced incidence of breast cancer, using matched-pair propensity analysis
https://t.co/AjNYlDM3A3
Confirms other association studies but still no proof

[nature @Nature]

Scientists are developing a new wave of gene therapies to regenerate the heart — offering hope for treating heart failure, a debilitating and common condition.

https://t.co/7E5bL7WWe4

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

Progress though staggered, in the treatment, deadly cancers like pancreas and melanoma is so heartening.

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

Big progress vs cancer, folks.
The kind of event curves from randomized trials that we've not seen before for a couple of the most deadly cancers. Congrats to the oncology research community for getting these trial done. #ASCO26, @ASCO

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

Longevity update.

[Ole Lehmann @itsolelehmann]

if you're under 50 and you stay healthy, i think you will live to 150 years old minimum

the medical singularity is happening.

just in the past 2 months alone:

> revmed's pancreatic cancer drug (daraxonrasib) doubled survival in the deadliest cancer there is, 13.2 months vs 6.7 on chemo. it got a standing ovation from 40k+ doctors at the world's biggest cancer conference

> a one-time gene editing infusion (verve-102) permanently switched off the gene that drives bad cholesterol and cut it up to 62% from a single dose. one and done, no daily pill for life

> a lung cancer pill (lorlatinib) kept 60% of patients with spread cancer progression-free at 5 years. the longest anyone has ever held back a metastatic solid tumor with a single drug

> mayo built an ai that catches pancreatic cancer on routine ct scans up to 3 years before doctors can. it spotted 73% of the earliest cases vs 39% for human radiologists

> lilly's new weight loss drug (retatrutide) hit up to 30% body weight loss in its big phase 3 trial, and along the way it cut knee arthritis pain by 76% and dropped bad cholesterol about 20%

and we are still just at the beginning of the exponential

call me crazy but i'm a believer when Demis hassabis says we will cure all disease in the next 10 years

[Berci Meskó, MD, PhD @Berci]

The wearable health tracker landscape that spans 19 device categories across various body parts.

What's left? Which body part of health wearable category has not found its market yet?

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

“Scientists used a gene test called Prosigna to measure the activity of 50 genes involved in breast cancer growth and calculate a patient's risk of the disease returning.”

https://t.co/mdIrwEJA3C

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

"Quiet Emergency"
Surging levels of obesity, hypertension and diabetes (NCDs) signify the latest NHFS-6 report. Shouldn't India be worried and take corrective steps?

Yes, the National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6) report released in May 2026 has prompted urgent calls for intervention from health experts and policymakers. The data confirms a "dual burden" of disease where rising lifestyle disorders now coexist with persistent challenges like undernutrition.
1. The Evidence: Why India Should Be Worried The "worry" stems from the speed at which these Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are escalating, affecting both urban and rural populations.
• Obesity Epidemic: The prevalence of abdominal and generalized obesity has spiked significantly since NFHS-5 (2019-21).
• Women: Overweight/obesity rates rose from 24% to 30.7%.
• Men: Rates increased from 22.9% to 27.3%.
• Urban Crisis: In urban areas, 42.8% of women and 36.3% of men are now overweight or obese.
• Diabetes (High Blood Sugar):
• The proportion of men with high blood sugar (or on medication) jumped from 15.6% to 20.9%.
• For women, it rose from 13.5% to 17.8%.
• Regional Hotspots: States like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab are recording obesity prevalence exceeding 33-40% among men, signalling a geographic expansion of the crisis beyond just metros.
• The Dual Burden: India must now fund long-term chronic care for diabetes and heart disease while still battling child stunting (which remains high at ~29%) and anemia.
• Economic Impact: Unlike infectious diseases, NCDs require lifelong management/medication, which threatens to increase out-of-pocket expenditure for families despite insurance schemes like Ayushman Bharat.
• Hidden Risk: Experts warn that Indians develop diabetes and cardiovascular risks at lower BMI levels than global standards due to "metabolic obesity" (high body fat with normal weight), making the official numbers potentially conservative.
3. Corrective Steps & Recommendations The report and subsequent expert analysis suggest the following corrective measures are necessary:
• Regulatory Action: Accelerating Front-of-Pack Labelling (FOPL) regulations by FSSAI to warn consumers about high sugar, salt, and fat content in packaged foods.
• Preventive Screening: Shifting focus from "illness to wellness" by strengthening primary healthcare centers (Health and Wellness Centers) to screen for hypertension and diabetes early, rather than treating late-stage complications.
• Lifestyle Interventions: Promoting the Eat Right India movement and physical activity, specifically targeting the "sedentary shifts" caused by urbanization and desk jobs.
• Scrutinizing Medical Practices: Addressing the "over-medicalization" of healthcare, evidenced by the high rate of C-section deliveries (54.1% in private facilities), which is often linked to the commercialization of maternal care.

https://t.co/s78iMNqIM0

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

https://t.co/UPgmaeCkXg

[ScienceFocus @ScienceFocusonX]

Australia just did something no other country has ever done.

Doctors in Sydney are now killing cancer tumours by freezing them solid — no scalpel, no stitches, no surgery at all.

It's happening at Liverpool Hospital in southwest Sydney, home to Australia's first MRI-guided cryoablation machine.

Here's how it works.

A needle thinner than a few millimetres is threaded into the tumour while doctors watch every move in real time on the MRI.

Then gas shoots through it, dropping the temperature to around minus 180°C in seconds.

The tumour freezes into a tiny "ice ball." The cancer cells rupture. The blood supply chokes off. The tumour dies.

No cutting. No bleeding. No weeks of recovery.

One of the first patients was Josephine Cordina, 64, who'd been living with a 9mm tumour buried in her spine. The pain stole her sleep. Painkillers barely touched it. Open surgery would've meant screws in her spine and weeks flat on her back.

Instead, doctors froze it.

One day later, she walked out of the hospital pain-free.

That's the part that sounds impossible — most patients go home within 24 hours and skip the long hospital stay entirely.

It works on tumours in the spine, the liver, the kidneys. And it gives hope to people who were told they were too old, too sick, or too high-risk for traditional surgery.

The future of cancer treatment might not involve a single cut.

Source: Liverpool Hospital, Sydney (Australia's first MRI-guided cryoablation procedure)

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

Appropriate No tobacco day video message. https://t.co/N2NY5i9Bbj

[Avi Roy @agingroy]

The active ingredient in a weekly Ozempic shot costs about 20 cents to make.

Not a typo. Andrew Hill’s team at the @LivUni tracked the real ingredient shipments and ran the numbers. A full year of generic semaglutide, packaged, taxed, profit built in, lands between $28 and $140. For the year.

Then the patent math kicks in.

@novonordisk Indian patent expired on March 20th. Within weeks, generics showed up at roughly $15 a month. Natco sells thirty days for 1,250 rupees, less than most people spend on coffee.

Americans can’t touch that price. The cash plan through Novo runs $349 a month ($199 to start), the list price tops $1,000, and US generics stay locked out until 2031.

Same molecule. Same 20 cents of ingredient. What you pay comes down to one thing: when the patent expires where you happen to live.

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

DYK: 'Ever-married status may serve as a useful social indicator for cancer risk stratification and prevention.'

While the study highlights a significant statistical correlation, researchers and public health experts emphasize several crucial points to avoid misinterpretation: Correlation vs. Causation: The study does not suggest that marriage itself is a biological "cure" or a direct preventative measure for cancer. Social & Behavioral Factors: The disparity is likely driven by social and behavioral pathways. Married individuals often benefit from stronger social support systems, economic stability, shared healthier habits (e.g., diet, exercise), and more consistent engagement with healthcare (screening, timely medical attention). Selection Bias: Experts note that healthier individuals—or those with more social resources—may be more likely to marry in the first place, which is a factor the researchers acknowledged. Targeted Prevention: The authors conclude that marital status is a useful "social stratifier" that public health officials can use to identify populations that may need more targeted outreach, cancer education, and access to screenings.
Marriage and Cancer Risk: A Contemporary Population-Based Study Across Demographic Groups and Cancer Types. https://t.co/S8LkYwOoAS

[Ravi Mehrotra, MD (Prevent Cancer) @StopCancerDoc]

Evaluation of secondary prevention methods by the IARC Working Group on Oral Cancer Prevention (i.e. interventions that detect precancerous lesions or cancer at a very early stage, by screening and by early diagnosis).
https://t.co/Jy3QT270RZ

[ScienceFocus @ScienceFocusonX]

Reading glasses might be done.

The FDA just approved a once-daily eye drop called VIZZ that sharpens near vision in about 30 minutes and keeps it sharp for up to 10 hours.

One drop. Each eye. Per day.

That's it.

The active ingredient is aceclidine, a compound first used back in 1975 to treat glaucoma. Scientists figured out it could be repurposed to gently shrink the pupil, creating a "pinhole effect" that pulls close-up text back into focus, the same trick your eye does when you squint.

Unlike Vuity, the 2021 drop that came before it, VIZZ doesn't mess with your focusing muscles. So no blurry distance vision. No brow ache. No weird zoom effect.

It was tested across more than 30,000 treatment days with no major complications.

Cost is roughly $2 a day.

This matters because presbyopia, the age-related slide that hits most people between 40 and 45, already affects more than 120 million Americans. By 2030, the World Health Organization expects around 2 billion people worldwide to have it.

LENZ Therapeutics, the maker, started rolling out samples in October.

The squint era is ending.

Source: Ynetnews, FOX 26 Houston, Yahoo News

[Crémieux @cremieuxrecueil]

Eli Lilly has done it.

They've gone and made what seems to be a powerful, permanent gene therapy for LDL cholesterol.

That means they'll be able to effectively prevent most heart disease with a single infusion!