Cancer History Project

Conversation with The Cancer Letter

Viral oncology’s complicated path—from cancer as contagion to today’s immunotherapy
Cancer History ProjectConversation with The Cancer Letter

Viral oncology’s complicated path—from cancer as contagion to today’s immunotherapy

In the late 1960s, NCI received the modern-day equivalent of billions of dollars to establish a viral oncology program.  At the time, the study of the role viruses played in cancer (or whether they played any role at all) was unknown.  This could have been either a triumph or a huge and embarrassing waste of... […]
By Alexandria Carolan
Thyme Care founders talk about the business of patient navigation
Conversation with The Cancer Letter

Thyme Care founders talk about the business of patient navigation

Patient navigation didn’t start out as a business idea. The concept—and the adaptation of the nautical term—are attributed to the surgeon Harold Freeman, when he started to practice in Harlem after finishing his residency at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 1968. “If people meet barriers in getting through the healthcare system with cancer and... […]
By Paul Goldberg
Ben Ho Park wants Vanderbilt to deliver precision oncology in Tennessee—and globally
Conversation with The Cancer Letter

Ben Ho Park wants Vanderbilt to deliver precision oncology in Tennessee—and globally

As Ben Ho Park sees it, the mission of a cancer researcher doesn’t stop at the water’s edge. It follows that Park’s new role as director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is inseparable from his role as an executive of the Global Cancer Institute, a nonprofit that works with healthcare providers in low- and middle-income countries to improve survival rates for underserved cancer patients.
By Paul Goldberg
FDA spells out new systematic approach to giving out–and taking away–accelerated approvals in oncology
Conversation with The Cancer Letter

FDA spells out new systematic approach to giving out–and taking away–accelerated approvals in oncology

Companies vying for accelerated approval and devising strategies for confirmatory trials would be best served by seeking prospective sign-off from FDA, agency officials say.  Officials from the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence described these best practices in a perspective piece in the Sept. 21 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine and discussed the […]
By Paul Goldberg