Abstract
A collection of recently published news items.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended against screening for thyroid cancer in asymptomatic adults. The federal oversight group found inadequate evidence that population-based or targeted screening could decrease mortality rates (JAMA 2017;317:1888–903). They noted that “screening that results in the identification of indolent thyroid cancers, and treatment of those overdiagnosed cancers, may increase the risk of patient harms.”
Nearly one third of 222 drugs approved by the FDA from 2001 through 2010 were affected by postmarket safety events—withdrawal, boxed warnings, or agency announcements about new risks—a median of 4.2 years later (JAMA 2017;317:1854–63). Eleven cancer therapies were among the 71 affected drugs, including cetuximab (Erbitux; Eli Lilly), lenalidomide (Revlimid; Celgene), and sunitinib (Sutent; Pfizer).
The University of Nebraska's Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha got a new $323 million building. Key features include a 10-story, 98-laboratory research tower, as well as a sanctuary for patients, their families, and staff. The center opened to patients in early June.
At New York, NY's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, researchers established a prospective clinical sequencing initiative to reveal the mutational landscape of metastatic cancer by molecularly profiling more than 10,000 patients. Their comprehensive assay, MSK-IMPACT, helped pinpoint clinically relevant somatic mutations, novel noncoding alterations, and mutational signatures shared by common and rare tumor types.
A report from the American Cancer Society estimates that 20% of cancers could be prevented (see “ Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts & Figures 2017–2018,” available at www.cancer.org). The associated suffering and death could be avoided by “more systematic efforts to reduce tobacco use and obesity, improve diet, and increase physical activity and the use of established screening tests,” the authors write.
For more news on cancer research, visit Cancer Discovery online at http://cancerdiscovery.aacrjournals.org/content/early/by/section.
