Issue 6 – The Cancer Letter

Guest Editorial
Two singular men shared an uncommon greatness: Waun Ki Hong and John Mendelsohn
Waun Ki Hong and John Mendelsohn were singular forces who combined to change the world of oncology and, in the process, the lives of countless trainees, faculty, patients, and families.
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
NYU receives NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center designation
The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health received the Comprehensive Cancer Center designation from NCI.
Trump to dedicate $500M over 10 years to childhood cancer
In his State of the Union address Feb. 5, President Donald Trump said he plans to ask Congress for $500 million over 10 years to fund pediatric cancer research—an amount Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said is insufficient.
In Brief
- Foundation Medicine gets genomic profiling contract from Veterans Affairs
- Higgins, King, Kilmer, Fitzpatrick to serve as co-chairs of House Cancer Caucus
- NETRF announces $2.5 million research grants to treat tumors
- Chien-Chi Lin wins $1.5M grant in pancreatic cancer
- ADEPT System Cancer Imager wins Illinois Tech’s $1 million Nayar Prize Competition
- Christiana’s Boman receives $900K grant for stem cell research
Clinical Roundup
- Study finds HIV+ cancer patients benefit from immunotherapy
- High-dose radiation therapy improves long-term survival in stage IV cancers
- Combination of Veyonda/radiotherapy delivers clinical benefits
- Prolonged time sitting shown to increase risk of colorectal cancer
Drugs & Targets
- FDA approves therapy for adult patients with blood clotting disorder
- Pfizer given positive CHMP opinion for Vizimpro in NSCLC
- Genentech submits sBLA for Kadcyla for breast cancer
- Merck KGaA and GSK to co-develop immunotherapy M7824
- FDA pursues order to bar some retailers from selling tobacco in efforts to target tobacco use by minors
NCI Trials
NCI Trials for February
The National Cancer Institute Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program approved the following clinical research studies last month.