Issue 24 – The Cancer Letter

Guest Editoral
Working to end cancer in the time of COVID-19
Since the dawn of man: when a novel virus is introduced to the human species, the world is changed forever. Despite all of our advances—we can share information around the globe in seconds and we can fly to the moon—a never-before-seen virus can stop us all in our tracks and steal people’s lives too soon.
#WhiteCoats4BlackLives aims to lead to real change in oncology
“I’ve never been more hopeful in my entire life”
A movement that began with a fatal chokehold on a Minneapolis street grew into demands for police reform, but outrage didn’t stop there. Amplifying, reverberating, it became a call for racial justice in medicine, in oncology.
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
BTK inhibitors improve COVID-19 outcomes by targeting upstream switch for inflammation, early data suggest
Pondering hyperinflammation related to SARS-CoV-2, two NCI scientists had a hunch:
“It just dawned upon us, ‘Hey, we know how to block inflammation,’” recalls Louis Staudt, chief of NCI’s Lymphoid Malignancies Branch and director of the Center for Center Genomics.
Fajgenbaum gained insight into COVID-19 while seeking treatment for Castleman disease (which he has)
David C. Fajgenbaum knows all about facing the unknown.
Fajgenbaum wasn’t expected to live more than 5 years once he was diagnosed with idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease in 2010. He experienced multiple organ failure, he’s been through cytokine storm syndrome, and he has had chemotherapy.
Guest Editorial
Impact of COVID-19 on Georgia’s community providers: a snapshot from Georgia NCORP
As we approach the middle of June, Georgia appears to have come to the other side of its COVID-19 curve. Available information from the Georgia Department of Health reveals Georgia has nearly 54,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with the heaviest concentration of cases in the metro Atlanta area (as a result of population size, not density).
COVID-19 Updates
- Guidance helps select breast cancer patients for urgent surgery or chemotherapy during pandemic
- ChristianaCare develops COVID-19 symptom monitoring, testing program for businesses and employers
- HealthTree recruits over 1,000 participants for study on impact of COVID-19 on MM
In Brief
- ACS eliminates 1,000 positions due to fundraising drop
- ASCO’s CancerLinQ launches SmartLinQ QOPI Certification Pathway
- UCLA Health launches telehealth genitourinary cancer genetics program
- Rogel Cancer Center team gets $2M grant to train researchers in cancer care delivery
- Zakrzewski, Gyurkocza, Feinman receive MSK/Hackensack Meridian Health funding for immunology research
- TGen’s Ashion Analytics certified for NCI’s MATCH cancer clinical trials
Funding Opportunities
EGFR Resisters/LUNGevity issues RFA for FY21 award program in EGFR-positive lung cancer research
EGFR Resisters and LUNGevity Foundation have issued a Request for Application for the EGFR-Positive lung cancer research program.
Trials & Tribulations
As screening declines amid COVID-19, at-home stool DNA test for CRC gets high adherence in Medicare population
In the midst of the heavy burden COVID-19 has placed on the health care system, cancer remains relentless. The already difficult journey for cancer patients has become more uncertain as the ways we provide and access healthcare have changed to accommodate measures that protect both health care providers and cancer patients from COVID-19.
Clinical Roundup
- Keytruda fails to meet PFS, OS, in UCC trial
- Inherited mutation associated with higher prostate cancer risk in African Americans
- Many hospitalized people with advanced cancer struggle with daily tasks
- NIH scientists develop blood test to help improve HCC screening
- Yale scientists develop experimental method to study infection and disease, including COVID-19
Drugs & Targets
- Nivolumab approved by FDA for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
- Supportive care biosimilar Nyvepria approved by FDA
- Berubicin receives FDA Orphan Drug status for gliomas
The Cancer Letter receives investigative, design awards
The Cancer Letter received five 2020 Dateline Awards from the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.