In two raucous back-to-back hearings on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, anti-vaccine crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was grilled by members of the United States Senate Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee as the Trump administration seeks his confirmation as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
This column is a love letter of sorts to our field, a recognition of all that we have accomplished and an acknowledgement that we need to find a path forward that supports and empowers the best of what it is to invest in cancer research.
The fight against cancer is complex. It’s global. And it’s indisputably expensive.
Over the past century, groundbreaking cancer research in the U.S. has led to life-saving medical advances that benefit patients worldwide. Scientists often devote their lives to making discoveries, putting their scientific endeavors ahead of status, income, or lifestyle. Investigators work tirelessly, often seven days a week, to solve complex medical problems. These efforts often lead to game-changing outcomes that help us understand difficult medical challenges, advance technologies and develop new therapies.
Over the last 45 years, prevention and screening interventions have made a greater contribution to averting cancer deaths than have improvements in treatment, according to a modeling study led by researchers at NCI.
Kathryn SchmitzJosé ZevallosUPMC Hillman Cancer Center and the University of Pittsburgh announced that Kathryn Schmitz was appointed interim director of UPMC Hillman. José P. Zevallos was appointed as interim deputy director of UPMC Hillman.
Weiran FengHanzhi LuoQing ChenWeiran Feng, Hanzhi Luo and Qing Chen will join Fox Chase Cancer Center as assistant professors.
Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center earned a three-year accreditation again from the Commission on Cancer of the ACS. MECCC earned “Comprehensive” status from NCI in 2023.
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer harboring BRAF V600E mutations benefitted from first-line treatment with the targeted therapies Braftovi(encorafenib) and Erbitux(cetuximab) plus a mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy regimen, according to results from the phase III BREAKWATER trial led by researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Bristol Myers Squibb announced results of an analysis from the three-arm phase III CheckMate-8HW trial evaluating Opdivo (nivolumab) plus Yervoy (ipilimumab) versus Opdivo monotherapy across all lines of therapy, including first-line, for the treatment of microsatellite instability-high/mismatch repair-deficient metastatic colorectal cancer. At a median follow-up of 47 months, Opdivo plus Yervoy demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in the dual-primary endpoint of progression-free survival as assessed by Blinded Independent Central Review versus Opdivo monotherapy (HR 0.62; 95% CI 0.48–0.81; P = 0.0003).
