Issue 34 – The Cancer Letter

Letter from the Editor
The Summer Issue of The Cancer Letter
You are looking at The Cancer Letter’s summer issue, a collection of stories we have compiled for you as we (and, we hope, you) go off on a brief summer recess.
Guest Editorial
Learning from suramin: A case study of NCI’s much-hyped cancer drug that crashed and burned—35 years ago
Almost 35 years ago, while the nation suffered in the vicious grip of the HIV epidemic, a young man from South Carolina with AIDS named Boyd Helton found his way to the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda. While there, he was recruited into a clinical research protocol designed to lower the expression of viral proteins in his blood, and, ideally, to increase the numbers of his circulating CD4+ T-cells.
Robert Peter Gale’s series of stories on the HBO drama Chernobyl
Gale was there, in Moscow’s Hospital Number 6, famously taking care of people injured in the nuclear plant disaster. He is also the author of two books that address Chernobyl, other nuclear accidents and radiation in general: “Final Warning” and “Radiation: What It Is, What You Need to Know.”
When Surgical Innovation Kills
Over the past six years, The Cancer Letter has been investigating the hidden hazards in minimally invasive surgery, finding that in some cases, machines and surgical techniques that inadvertently spread cancer cells go into routine use without anyone bothering to ask life and death questions.
Slamming the Door
On Nov. 5, Texas voters will decide on Proposition 6, which would authorize a second installment of $3 billion in General Obligation Bonds for Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. CPRIT is a unique state-funded initiative that is distributing $300 million a year to cancer research and other cancer causes in Texas.
To the Moon
For the past three years, The Cancer Letter has been covering the U.S. government’s Cancer Moonshot initiative.
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
Indiana University Simon Cancer Center becomes 51st NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center
The Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center has achieved comprehensive status—becoming the only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center in Indiana.
Trials and Tribulations
Measures to improve clinical trial enrollment: Marshfield Clinic Cancer Care and research approach
Part II of a two-part series
It is estimated that, each year, as few as 2–3% of cancer patients enter clinical trials. In part I of this series, we discussed four key barriers to participation: physician barriers, protocol barriers, research team barriers, and insurance barriers. In part II, we will look at solutions to these barriers and how to implement them in the clinical setting.