Credit: Jonah Elkowitz/ShutterstockThat President Biden was diagnosed with prostate cancer is certainly unfortunate news, but it should come as no surprise. One in eight men in the U.S. will be told they have prostate cancer at some point in their lifetime: more than 300,000 new diagnoses occur annually, and the absolute numbers are rising.
True innovation in healthcare requires us to look beyond the obvious. For years, DNA sequencing has been the key pillar of precision medicine, offering insights into disease predispositions, mechanisms, and diagnosis that inform treatment.
As the number of cancer survivors in the U.S. continues to rise and the age at diagnosis for some cancers appears to be shifting younger, the need for long-term survivorship care is more urgent than ever.
In an effort to target the right patients, genetic screening is becoming more common in clinical trials. But incorporating it can be complex and add a significant burden for both patients and clinical trial sites. Genetic counseling can streamline that process and help drug and gene therapy developers expedite the recruitment of genetically-eligible participants for their trials and use genetic testing results to accelerate the speed and success of clinical trials.
The definition of “therapeutic imperative” is this: A treatment necessity that must be met in order to prevent death. Once the imperative is clearly defined, addressing it properly links correct diagnosis with therapy and favorable prognosis. On the other hand, misdiagnosis or inadequate diagnosis fails to provide a framework for highly effective or curative therapy.
As the chief scientific officer of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for the past eleven years, it has been a privilege to lead a group of scientists that has doled out more than $600 million for cutting-edge hematologic oncology research. These dollars went to more than 1,000 research projects through initiatives like our biomedical research grant programs and LLS’s venture philanthropy, the Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP).
Oncological clinical trials pave the way for better patient outcomes and accelerate critical cancer treatments. Their legacy structure, however, often stands in their own way.
I was a practicing pediatric hematologist oncologist and researcher for 21 years. As a doctor, it was a tremendous privilege to be invited into the lives of patients and families dealing with blood cancers and be entrusted with their care. As a researcher, it was incredibly rewarding to help bring more effective blood cancer therapies to kids.
Almost all of us who have practiced oncology for years have encountered situations where we have had to counsel caregivers and guide them throughout their loved ones’ journeys. We have faced patients who took complementary therapies to an extreme; some to a point where they wouldn’t share what they were taking for fear that we might demand they stop.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Accurate and early detection of CRC and precancerous lesions is critical for reducing incidence and preventing deaths from this disease.
