Noted

The FDA declined to approve the FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib (Daiichi Sankyo) for relapsed/refractory FLT3-mutant acute myeloid leukemia. The decision follows the recommendation of an advisory panel, which in May voted 8–3 against approval due to limited efficacy in the phase III QuANTUM-R trial. The agency does not need to adhere to the panel's recommendation but usually does so.

At the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, researchers announced that adding the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib (Kisqali; Novartis) to standard-of-care endocrine therapy may significantly improve survival for premenopausal women with advanced HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. After 42 months of follow-up in the phase III MONALEESA-7 trial, the overall survival rate was 70% for women who received the combination compared with 46% for women who received endocrine therapy alone.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has significantly decreased the rate of HPV infections and the incidence of precancerous cervical lesions (Lancet 2019 Jun 26 [Epub ahead of print]). An analysis of 65 studies from 14 high-income countries revealed that 5 to 8 years after their vaccination programs began, the rates of HPV 16 and 18 decreased by 83%, and the rates of HPV 31, 33, and 35 decreased by 54%, among girls ages 13 to 19; after 5 to 9 years of vaccination programs, the prevalence of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse decreased by 51% among girls ages 15 to 19.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the University of California inked a 5-year collaboration to establish the Laboratory for Genomics Research (LGR), which will explore how gene mutations cause disease and develop technologies using CRISPR to accelerate drug discovery. The LGR, which will receive $67 million in funding from GSK, will focus on immunology, oncology, and neuroscience.

San Francisco, CA, passed a bill to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), becoming the first city in the United States to do so. Under the law, which went into effect at the end of July, stores will have 6 months to sell their remaining stock of e-cigarettes. The law does not apply to combustible cigarettes or cannabis.

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