New research led by Friends of Cancer Research demonstrates that decreases in circulating tumor DNA after initiation of treatment are associated with improved overall survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with immunotherapy or chemotherapy.
In April 2025, announcements from the two most influential biomedical agencies in the US, the FDA and the NIH, declared that both will seek to reduce and minimize animal-based testing and experimentation. These declarations sparked joy in some circles, and deep concern in others that was reflected in a 28% fall in the share price of Charles River Labs (NYSE: NYSE:CRL).
Bowing to the growing animal rights movement, FDA and NIH have made policy changes to discourage animal testing, instead favoring alternative research models.
FDA has initiated the approval of leucovorin calcium tablets, rushing them to market as part of a push from the Trump administration to identify potential treatments for autism spectrum disorder.
The FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee July 17 recommended against approval of a Blenrep-based regimen for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, citing unacceptable rates of ocular toxicity and overall poor tolerability of the drug.
In the first meeting of the National Cancer Advisory Board since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, NCI Principal Deputy Director Douglas R. Lowy addressed many of the burning questions the oncology field has for the institute. On indirect costs: NCI will continue to use previously negotiated and approved indirect cost rates, with the exception... […]
In two back-to-back, all-day meetings, the FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee considered four thorny applications that the agency appeared to have been saving up as a result of the pause in activity that followed President Trump’s return to office.
Vinay Prasad, a MAHA-aligned hematologist-oncologist with an avid cyber following, was named director of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, where he will be responsible for the agency’s regulation of vaccines and biologics, including cell and gene therapies.
In his first sit-down interview since beginning his role as FDA commissioner 17 days earlier, Marty Makary, a former Johns Hopkins surgeon and the only Trump pick for HHS whose confirmation received Democratic support, said he would speed up approvals for rare-disease treatments by reducing reliance on animal testing and shifting towards organoids and computational models.
As he addressed FDA employees, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described the Trump era as a “generational opportunity to make the regulatory agency live up to its foundational ideals” and emerge from the morass of what he described as the “deep state.”
