Issue 25 – The Cancer Letter

NCI Director’s Report
Sharpless: COVID-19 expected to increase mortality by at least 10,000 deaths from breast and colorectal cancers over 10 years
The COVID-19 pandemic will likely cause at least 10,000 excess deaths from breast cancer and colorectal cancer over the next 10 years in the United States.
ACS faces precipitous drop in fundraising
Uncertainty surrounds fall round of grants
The American Cancer Society has raised $160 million so far this year, an astonishingly low number for an organization that historically has booked about half of its funds from walks, runs, and relays that take place in the spring and early summer.
Guest Editorial
Conquest of COVID-19: Publish it to death?
Early in the War Against Cancer, when huge amounts of federal funds were suddenly funneled into cancer research, many scientists and clinicians working in other fields suddenly found it convenient—if not essential—to incorporate cancer into the title of their grant applications.
COVID-19 Updates
- FDA joins Reagan-Udall, Friends of Cancer Research to form COVID-19 Diagnostics Evidence Accelerator
- Research!America seeks $26 billion boost to NIH, CDC, FDA funding in FY21
- Algorithm helps select breast cancer patients for urgent surgery or chemotherapy during pandemic
- FDA issues warning letters to companies marketing antibody tests
- TERAVOLT registry tracks outcomes of treatments among thoracic cancer patients with COVID-19
- Immunotherapy clinical trial for COVID-19 open at Mount Sinai
In Brief
- Siteman Cancer Center earns highest NCI rating
- MSK’s Charles L. Sawyers named AACR Academy president-elect
- Postow, Merea, named to new positions at MSK
- Kunle Odunsi named SITC board member
- Glenn D. Steele Jr. named chair of City of Hope board of directors
- David Cortez named associate director of basic science research at VICC
- Jessica Karen Wong joins Fox Chase
- OSUCCC – James Cancer Diagnostic Center speeds up diagnosis, treatment
- Roswell Park dermatology expert Oscar Colegio dies at 47
Trials & Tribulations
Mobile pharmacies—driving down rural cancer care disparities
People living in rural communities are often located far away from the major cancer centers that offer a full spectrum of treatments, including clinical trials.
Clinical Roundup
- LLS, NCI and Children’s Oncology Group collaborate on global master clinical trial for acute leukemia
- Research and framework for genetic testing in prostate cancer supports broader use of panels, testing in early stage disease
- Berzosertib shows promise in first clinical trial
- Tecentriq improves response rate in early TNBC
- ACE-CL-001, ASCEND trials demonstrate long-term efficacy and tolerability of Calquence in CLL
- Blood test to monitor cancer is up to 10 times more sensitive than current methods
Drugs & Targets
- Keytruda receives second biomarker-based indication from FDA, regardless of tumor type
- FoundationOne CDx receives FDA approval as companion diagnostic with Keytruda
- Lurbinectedin receives accelerated approval by FDA for metastatic SCLC
- Gemtuzumab ozogamicin receives extended indication for CD33-positive AML in pediatric patients
- City of Hope signs licensing agreement with Scopus BioPharma to develop novel, targeted IO gene therapy
- Royal Philips and MD Anderson to facilitate personalized oncology treatments and clinical trial matching based on genomic markers
- Isoray, University of Cincinnati physicians company sign research agreement to study head and neck cancers