People who don't follow cancer research often ask me why we haven't cured cancer. That perception masks a wonderful reality: We make amazing, stepwise progress every year, and the result is that many people live much longer today than they would have previously.
Right now we're in the thick of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the biggest research meeting on new cancer medicines, and this morning a bunch of really important studies dropped. I'm going to review them here.
This first image is the result for daraxonrasib, a treatment for pancreatic cancer that is generating consdirable excitement. The green line is the probability of living for patients who got the new drug; the gray one is the chemo control group.
If you follow cancer drugs, a chart like this will make your breath hitch a little. I'm going to review these and some other data here.
PSA screening for prostate cancer reduces disease-specific deaths, new Cochran review shows. The benefit, though small, represents a significant change from a 2013 review https://t.co/RPL21WROw9 via @statnews
With a ‘misleading’ name, polycystic ovary syndrome is both over- and under-diagnosed:
Why an ovary syndrome may get a new name: Men seem to have PCOS, too https://t.co/FxyjGEnlxm via @statnews
NIH restrictions on research partnerships with foreign institutions significantly impacted 1 in 4 U.S. scientists https://t.co/Z2JKViYPht via @statnews
“Lost in the focus on ‘me’ rather than ‘we’ has been discussion of vaccines’ wider benefits: The indirect — and sometimes surprising — benefits of vaccines https://t.co/sKLU0a5QXH via @statnews
It's time to VOTE!
#STATMadness is back! Our bracket-style contest to find the best innovation in science and medicine.
Help us crown a new champ! Vote now: https://t.co/GncreYUf1g
Trump touts lower drug costs and anti-fraud measures in lengthy State of the Union, even as more than half of Americans say health care has become more unaffordable https://t.co/YJO0y8RYkG via @statnews
Nature Medicine to investigate study that found cancer treatment is better in morning, after sleuths find inconsistencies in data https://t.co/gpfswozdcV via @statnews
Should routine semen analysis become a biomarker of general men’s health? Some men’s health experts say yes, but there’s also skepticism about the idea https://t.co/lFxLxSIixy via @statnews
I took part in a 2012 psilocybin trial. What I’m seeing now horrifies me: “Despite the marketing hype that puts the drugs themselves at the center of the story, psychedelics are therapeutic accelerants, not panaceas”https://t.co/j3oMD7qMjr via @statnews