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Latest Stories
How is the enterprise of cancer research doing after the first 100 days of the Trump administration?
Guest Editorial
The cancer center program of the NCI is a success that is admired not only within the NIH but worldwide. This is due, in large part, to the cancer center review process that has evolved and strengthened over the years.
Regulatory News
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.
Trials & Tribulations
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.
Sponsored
I joined Translational Genomics Research Institute, part of City of Hope, late last year to launch the Center for Accelerated Nanotherapeutics.
In the Archives
As the Trump administration reshapes the cancer research enterprise that was built on the foundation of the National Cancer Act of 1971, the Cancer History Project presents an eyewitness account of the impact of this landmark law.
Cancer Policy
Over $180 million in NCI grants have been terminated between Feb. 28 and April 8, according to a systematic review published in JAMA May 8.
Cancer Policy
In an interview with Science, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said that his time at the NIH has been a “tough period”—especially for him.
Cancer Policy
In a statement issued on May 1, NIH said it’s immediately halting most new grant awards to foreign partners working in US-led research consortia.
Cancer Policy
On April 21, investigators with the Women’s Health Initiative were notified that HHS planned to terminate the WHI Regional Center contracts at the end of the current fiscal year (The Cancer Letter, April 20, 2025).
Cancer Policy
The American Association for Cancer Research called on Congress to stand up in unified opposition to President Trump’s FY2026 budget proposal for NIH, and to instead allocate a robust funding increase to $51.3 billion for the NIH (The Cancer Letter, May 2, 2025).
Cancer Policy
Julie Fleshman, president and CEO of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, sent a letter to Congress in response to the proposed NIH budget cuts.
Cancer Policy
A coalition of 20 attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration challenging the unlawful mass firing of roughly 10,000 full-time HHS employees, the consolidation of 28 HHS divisions into 15 divisions, and the closing of half of HHS’s ten regional offices. (The Cancer Letter, May 2, 2025).
Cancer Policy
Scott Gottlieb, Mark McClellan warn of the major challenges created by planned reorganization of FDA
Scott GottliebMark B. McClellanTwo former FDA commissioners—Scott Gottlieb and , Mark B. McClellan—
Cancer Policy
Amid continued anticipation about tariffs on pharmaceuticals, President Trump has signed an executive order to prioritize the onshoring of prescription drug manufacturing as part of his “America First” agenda.
Cancer Policy
FDA announced a meeting of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee May 20 and 21. It will be the first ODAC meeting since President Trump was inaugurated.
Cancer Policy
President Trump nominated Casey Means as the U.S. surgeon general. Means, a wellness influencer, has “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials,” Trump wrote in a post on X.
In Brief
Timothy L. SwanJohnson B. LightfooteKurt A. SchoppeEric M. RubinTimothy L. Swan was elected president of the American College of Radiology during ACR 2025, the college’s annual meeting in Washington, DC.
In Brief
Cynthia Moran, American College of Radiology executive vice president, Government Relations, Economics and Health Policy, as the 2025 William T. Thorwarth Jr., Award recipient at ACR 2025, the college’s annual meeting in Washington, DC.
In Brief
Frank MinjaToma OmofoyeFrank Minja and Toma Omofoye received the American College of Radiology Foundation’s Global Humanitarian Award on May 4 at ACR 2025, the college’s annual meeting in Washington, DC.
In Brief
Kristin HigginsKarthik SundaramKristin Higgins and Karthik Sundaram were named chairs of NRG Oncology’s Lung Cancer Committee and Imaging Committee.
In Brief
The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia and the CRUK Scotland Institute entered into a partnership to advance cancer research, build capacity in cancer care, and support evidence-based health policies.
Funding Opportunities
The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025 provides $650 million in funding for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (The Cancer Letter, March 28, 2025). Congress provided further guidance for CDMRP program-level funding, including funding for the Rare Cancers Research Program.
Clinical Roundup
Researchers at NCI have completed a comprehensive analysis of cancer statistics for different age groups in the United States and found that from 2010 through 2019, the incidence of 14 cancer types increased among people under age 50.
Clinical Roundup
Positive high-level results from the POTOMAC phase III trial showed one year of treatment with Imfinzi (durvalumab) plus standard-of-care BCG induction and maintenance therapy demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in disease-free survival for patients with high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer compared to BCG induction and maintenance therapy alone.
Clinical Roundup
University of Oklahoma researchers have discovered one reason why the brain tumor glioblastoma is so aggressive.
Clinical Roundup
Dxcover Limited on April 30 announced the presentation of real-world data showing a clear and consistent association between increased tumor size and mortality for patients with brain cancer.
Drugs & Targets
FDA granted accelerated approval to the combination of avutometinib and defactinib (Avmapki Fakzynja Co-pack) for adult patients with KRAS-mutated recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer who have received prior systemic therapy.
Drugs & Targets
The European Medicines Agency approved Calquence (acalabrutinib) in combination with bendamustine and rituximab for the treatment of adult patients with previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma who are not eligible for autologous stem cell transplant.
NCI Trials
The National Cancer Institute approved the following clinical research studies last month.
Podcast
The Cancer Letter has covered—and will continue to cover—all the ways in which the current administration is fundamentally reshaping cancer research in the U.S. But this week, The Cancer Letter and the podcast focused on a patient story.
Clinical
Three years ago, researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center published stunning results: For the 5% of rectal cancer patients whose tumors are mismatch-repair deficient, neoadjuvant dostarlimab-gxly (Jemperli) has the makings of a silver bullet.
Free
When Kelly Spill was eight months pregnant, she experienced some constipation and noticed blood in her stool. Her OBGYN wasn’t worried.
White House
An updated version of President Trump’s budget request published on May 2 comes as a disappointment for those who hoped that the White House would rethink the draconian cuts contained in an earlier, confidential version of the document that ended up being leaked to the press.
News Analysis
After nearly three decades of reviewing NCI-funded extramural projects and sometimes saving NCI from its own folly, the Board of Scientific Advisors has been terminated as part of the Trump administration’s drive to reduce the size of the federal government.
Capitol Hill
In the starkest opposition yet by Republicans to the Trump administration’s attacks on HHS agencies, senators from both parties sounded an alarm about the damage being done to biomedical research in the U.S.
“We stand at the edge of discovery, and on the brink of losing it,” said Patricia M. LoRusso, the 2024-2025 president of the American Association for Cancer Research. “I believe this is the most scientifically promising moment in the history of cancer research.”
Sponsored
The recent ASCO guideline update on palliative care for cancer patients represents a significant milestone in our field’s evolution. This evidence-based guidance emphasizes what I’ve advocated throughout my career—that palliative care must be integrated early and concurrently throughout the cancer journey. This holistic approach to cancer care has been my life’s work and passion.
Cancer Policy
The Association of American Cancer Institutes sent a letter to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya expressing concern about the proposed NIH policy change that would centralize all grant reviews to the Center for Scientific Review (The Cancer Letter, March 7, 2025).
Cancer Policy
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told NPR that HHS will reduce all contracts by 35%.
Cancer Policy
The National Cancer Registrars Association launched an advocacy campaign asking the public to contact their representatives and insist upon the protection of essential public health professionals and adequate funding of cancer prevention and research.
In Brief
David Ryan was named the inaugural president of the Mass General Brigham’s Cancer Institute following a national search process.
In Brief
Diane Reidy-Lagunes joined Duke University School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine as chief of the Division of Medical Oncology, effective April 1.
In Brief
UVA Health opened an expanded cancer infusion and clinic space at Pantops in Albemarle County.
In Brief
Brian Druker ran the marathon with his daughter, Julia, to celebrate her May 2025 college graduation and law school applications (The Cancer Letter, April 4, 2025).
Funding Opportunities
The American Association for Cancer Research has established the AACR Trailblazer Cancer Research Grant Program.
Clinical Roundup
A novel combination therapy offers better outcomes for patients with KRAS G12C metastatic colorectal cancer that have stopped responding to chemotherapy, according to a phase III clinical trial by researchers at City of Hope.
Clinical Roundup
Pfizer Inc. on April 26 announced results from the pivotal phase III CREST trial of sasanlimab, an investigational anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, in combination with standard-of-care Bacillus Calmette-Guérin as induction therapy with or without maintenance in patients with BCG-naïve, high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
Clinical Roundup
An international clinical trial co-led by WashU Medicine found that the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) added to standard-of-care therapy improved survival for patients with locally advanced head-and-neck cancer.
Clinical Roundup
Johnson & Johnson on April 26 announced new data from cohort 2 of the pivotal phase IIB SunRISe-1 study evaluating TAR-200—an intravesical gemcitabine releasing system—for patients with certain types of bladder cancer.
Clinical Roundup
Zongertinib, a human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, elicited durable responses in patients with advanced, previously treated non-small cell lung cancer that harbored a HER2 mutation, according to results from the phase IA/IB Beamion LUNG-1 trial.
Clinical Roundup
The University of California Lung Cancer Consortium and AstraZeneca announced a five-year partnership to expand the Healthy Lungs California initiative, which is aimed at increasing early lung cancer detection and reducing deaths from the disease.
Clinical Roundup
A team of researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC has developed an advanced tool for analyzing chimeric antigen receptor T cells, including how they evolve during manufacturing and which ones are most effective at killing cancer.
Clinical Roundup
Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found that individuals with colon cancer and a documented history of high cannabis use were more than 20 times more likely to die within five years of diagnosis compared to those without such a history.
Clinical Roundup
An artificial intelligence-based model developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers can accurately predict which kidney cancer patients will benefit from anti-angiogenic therapy, a class of treatments that’s only effective in some patients.
Clinical Roundup
Avenda Health has announced study results showing that its cancer mapping tool, Unfold AI, predicts cancer spread more accurately than MRI.
Drugs & Targets
The European Commission granted conditional marketing approval of Lynozyfic (linvoseltamab) to treat adults with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.
Drugs & Targets
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has adopted a positive opinion for the extension of the marketing authorization of Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) and recommended its approval in combination with etoposide, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, dacarbazine, and dexamethasone, a chemotherapy regimen, in adult patients with newly diagnosed stage 2b with risk factors/3/4 Hodgkin lymphoma.
Drugs & Targets
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency recommended a fixed-duration regimen of Calquence (acalabrutinib) in combination with venetoclax, with or without obinutuzumab for approval in the EU for the treatment of adult patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
Podcast
The National Cancer Registries Program, or NPCR, is a relatively small but highly impactful 33-year-old CDC program that gauges disparities in cancer and tracks progress against the disease. So, why was it left out of the Trump administration’s preliminary budget?
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
Steven Libutti tells us about building a $900 million cancer hospital for Rutgers RWJBarnabas Health
Over the past seven years, as Steven K. Libutti was designing the 12-story, $900-plus million cancer hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, he often thought of the functionality of the building that inspired it: Building 10, the NIH Clinical Center.
Guest Editorial
I did not find the process of being suddenly without employment as refreshing as one might think. It did, however, provide a forced opportunity to engage in self-reflection, to critically analyze the situation around cancer, and to face the complex set of problems that cancer, and society, present to us.
Regulatory News
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.
Sponsored
We are at a transformational period in oncology; the overall mortality from cancer is gradually declining in the United States.
Sponsored
Peritoneal metastases arise from gastrointestinal and gynecologic malignancies, leading to debilitating symptoms and poor prognoses. They remain one of the most challenging manifestations of advanced malignancies, often leading to significant morbidity and limited treatment options.
Guest Editorial
The American Cancer Society’s recent report on the increasing incidence rates of colorectal cancer in young adults once again rang an alarm bell for adults over 45 to get checked, especially if they are having symptoms. But as an oncologist with more than 40 years of experience, I also believe that this should be a clarion call to scientists and researchers, and for regulators at the FDA.
Cancer Policy
Over the past week, as cancer control experts scoured through a confidential budget document called the “passback” budget, they haven’t been able to find any trace of a relatively small but highly impactful program that funds state cancer registries.
Cancer Policy
On April 21, Women’s Health Initiative investigators were informed that HHS would be terminating the WHI Regional Center contracts at the end of the current fiscal year.
Cancer Policy
At least two medical journals have received letters from the Trump administration accusing them of political bias.
Cancer Policy
The Association for Clinical Oncology has reached out to the new leaders of federal health agencies to ensure continued progress in cancer care, research, and patient access, the organization said.
Cancer Policy
The Department of Government Efficiency has started requiring HHS grantees to provide justifications in order to receive payouts for already awarded grant money.
Cancer Policy
NIH, in a recent notice, prohibits grant recipients from operating programs that promote DEI or “discriminatory equity ideology,” or engage in “discriminatory prohibited boycott.”
Cancer Policy
Federal judges in Maryland, New Hampshire and Washington, DC, blocked the Trump administration from following through on threats to cut off funding to universities that engage in DEI efforts.
Cancer Policy
Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of the National Science Foundation, will resign from the position 16 months before the scheduled end of his six-year term.
In Brief
W. Kimryn Rathmell, former director of the NCI, has accepted the role as CEO of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James).
In Brief
William N. Hait was named as chief scientific advisor to the American Association for Cancer Research.
In Brief
The 2025 AACR Enduring Impact Award for Transformative Service to Cancer Science and Medicine will be presented to FDA’s Richard Pazdur during the AACR Annual Meeting 2025, to be held April 25-30 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.
In Brief
Lisa MontezStephen WhisnantLisa Montez and Stephen Whisnant were appointed to the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship board of directors. Montez and Whisnant are cancer survivors who bring exceptional experience in philanthropy, nonprofit leadership, and a deep commitment to improving the lives of others.
In Brief
Joseph FraiettaPietro GenoveseSwim Across America, the nonprofit funding innovative clinical trials and patient-centered programs for cancer, awarded $450,000 grants to two of its beneficiaries, Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, to support the work of novel gene and base editing techniques used in advanced cancer research, including targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and cellular therapies.
Funding Opportunities
The American Association for Cancer Research-Novocure Career Development Award for Cancer Research represents a joint effort to promote and support early-career investigators who are conducting innovative research focused on Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields; intermediate frequency, low intensity, alternating electric fields that disrupt cell division in cancer cells) as well as to encourage early-career investigators to enter the TTFields research field.
Clinical Roundup
The DESTINY-Breast09 phase III trial of AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Enhertu is the first trial in more than a decade to demonstrate superior efficacy across a broad HER2-positive metastatic patient population versus current first-line standard of care.
Clinical Roundup
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with experts from Cleveland Clinic in the U.S., performed the world’s first remotely conducted transcontinental robotic-assisted focal therapy for prostate cancer.
Clinical Roundup
Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York have found a link between two genetic mutations in a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia, which could lead to new ways to treat the disease.
Clinical Roundup
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and collaborating institutions revealed in Nature Cell Biology a strategy that helps medulloblastoma, the most prevalent malignant brain tumor in children, spread and grow on the leptomeninges, the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Clinical Roundup
Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have made a key discovery about how human cells make RNA, a molecule that carries important instructions inside our bodies.
Clinical Roundup
Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a potential new way to monitor the progression of high-grade gliomas, one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer.
Drugs & Targets
FDA approved penpulimab-kcqx with cisplatin or carboplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adults with recurrent or metastatic non-keratinizing nasopharyngeal carcinoma. FDA also approved penpulimab-kcqx as a single agent for adults with metastatic non-keratinizing NPC with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy and at least one other prior line of therapy.
Drugs & Targets
BrainChild Bio Inc. announced that its investigational B7-H3 targeting autologous CAR T-cell therapy has been granted Breakthrough Therapy designation by FDA for the treatment of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, an incurable pediatric brain tumor.
Podcast
A confidential Trump administration budget document obtained by The Cancer Letter called for a 40% budget cut to NIH and a restructuring of the 27 existing NIH institutes and centers down to just eight. But what else is in it?
The Directors
Speaking on The Cancer Letter Podcast, Taofeek Kunle Owonikoko recalled recent conversations with two junior faculty members at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Confidential Trump administration budget documents show that the upcoming FY26 Budget Request will radically cut about $50 billion out of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, reshuffling agency components, and slashing the number of NIH institutes and centers to just eight.
Regulatory News
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.”
Clinical
Immunotherapy has changed the course of blood cancers and melanomas, but is stubbornly ineffective for the treatment of most epithelial solid cancers—the cancers that kill about 90% of the more than 600,000 Americans who die of cancer each year.
Guest Editorial
A diagnosis of cancer brings with it fear and uncertainty. Changes proposed by the Trump administration pose a grave new risk to those who suffer from cancer today or will suffer from cancer in the future. A future which was increasingly optimistic is suddenly far more threatening.
Sponsored
This year marks the 49th anniversary of the City of Hope bone marrow transplant program, which was conceived and developed by Ernest Beutler and Karl Blume in 1975, with help and inspiration from E. Donnall Thomas, the 1990 Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine.
Cancer Policy
In an email sent to directors and deputy directors of NCI-designated cancer centers, Krzysztof Ptak, director of the NCI Office of Cancer Centers, provided a comparison between the newly issued Cancer Center Support Grant Notice of Funding Opportunity with the previous version of the document.
Cancer Policy
John Burklow, a near-40-year veteran of NIH, will work his last day as chief of staff on April 25.
Cancer Policy
On April 15, President Trump signed a wide-ranging executive order that aims to lower drug prices, boost transparency into fees charged by middlemen, and limit Medicare payments for outpatient services provided by hospitals.
Cancer Policy
Harvard University lawyers rejected the Trump administration’s demand to change the school’s leadership, student disciplinary policies, admissions and hiring, and end diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
In Brief
The American Association for Cancer Research will honor the following cancer researchers and physician-scientists during the AACR Annual Meeting 2025, to be held April 25-30 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.
