An interim analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial of patients with human papillomavirus-positive oropharyngeal cancer found that treatment with radiation therapy and cetuximab is associated with worse overall and progression-free survival compared to the current standard treatment with radiation and cisplatin. The trial was designed to see if cetuximab with radiation would be less toxic than cisplatin with radiation without compromising survival for patients with the disease.
In his new book, “No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson,” Gardiner Harris, who was previously the public health and pharmaceutical business reporter for The New York Times, talks about the history of the overuse of red blood cell growth factors in oncology.
