People who lived alone had a significantly higher mortality from cancer and multiple other conditions. (American Cancer Society)
The FDA warned Amgen that a promotional video for its colorectal cancer drug panitumumab (Vectibix) “creates a misleading impression regarding the safety and effectiveness” of the drug. A company spokesperson told MedPage Today the video was never publicly disseminated.
The agency also expanded the approval of talazoparib (Talzenna) plus enzalutamide (Xtandi) in metastatic prostate cancer to include treating androgen pathway modulation-naive or -sensitive disease in patients with homologous recombination repair mutations.
A study of recent trends in prostate cancer management showed a shift away from overdiagnosis and overtreatment, including diagnosis of fewer early-stage cancers and increased use of active surveillance. (Cancer)
And in other prostate cancer news, an updated guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology offers more evidence-based guidance on the use of shorter-course radiation therapy protocols to treat localized disease.
Oscar-nominated actress Barbara Barrie died with medical assistance at age 95 following a recent diagnosis of terminal rectal cancer. (People)
And longtime football coach June Jones, who helped introduce the run-and-shoot offense at the college and professional level, died at age 73, 2 weeks after entering hospice care after a year of health issues that included a spinal tumor diagnosis. (KHON)
“The silence was deafening.” Actress Constance Zimmer’s reaction to learning she had breast cancer. (WBAL)
Cerebrospinal fluid DNA testing may help with brain cancer diagnosis when MRI results are inconclusive. (Mayo Clinic)
Meanwhile, the treatment of aggressive brain tumors might be improved by an implantable drug-delivery device that uses ultrasound to guide drug dispersal in the brain. (MIT News)
Pfizer announced that patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma had significantly better progression-free survival with the bispecific antibody elranatamab (Elrexfio) compared with standard therapy.
An analysis of almost 200 colorectal cancers turned up new clues to help explain why cancers that occur in younger people are more aggressive and difficult to treat. (Nature Medicine)
Starting survivorship care earlier was associated with improved outcomes in head and neck cancer. (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center)
A strategy to reprogram the tumor microenvironment, thus far limited to laboratory studies, might offer a path to more effective treatment for pancreatic cancer and other aggressive malignancies. (Cell Death & Disease)
An investigational cancer vaccine that targets driver mutations for the most common type of pancreatic cancer stimulated an immune response and was associated with a non-significant improvement in disease-free survival in a preliminary clinical study. (Mayo Clinic)
Patients with cancer and mental health disorders had significantly higher mortality 2 to 5 years after their cancer diagnosis. (Stanford Medicine)
