Study: Blood Test Helps Target Which Colon Cancer Patients Need Chemo
Media outlets report on how a system to detect tumor DNA in post-surgery colon cancer patients can help decide who would benefit from chemotherapy. In other news, the shortage of prescription ADHD medications is ongoing, and the implications of the FDA's lifted rule on animal testing for drugs.
ABC News:
Blood Test Could Help Predict Which Patients With Colon Cancer Need Chemotherapy After Surgery: Study
A blood test under study may soon be able to help many patients with colon cancer decide whether they need chemotherapy after surgery, or if they can safely skip it. The results, which oncologists described as promising, were published in the journal Nature Medicine. (Nasser, 1/16)
Stat:
Liquid Biopsy May Be Better Way To Decide Who Gets Chemo
They’re far too small to be seen by even the most sophisticated medical imaging device. But bits of tumor DNA adrift in a patient’s blood are an important bellwether for whether cancer will return — and, as a new study shows, can predict which treatments are likely to work. (Wosen, 1/16)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Stat:
Patients Scramble For Care Amid Online Prescribing Crackdown
Catherine was getting nervous about her ADHD prescription. In 2022, the 29-year-old New Yorker had started using Done, a direct-to-consumer telehealth company that treats attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The medication her provider had prescribed, a stimulant called Vyvanse, was helping her manage distraction so severe that she frequently had car accidents. (Palmer, 1/17)
USA Today:
FDA Rule Lifted On Animal Testing For Drugs; Substitutes Not Ready
For generations people have associated the terms "lab rat" and "guinea pig" with scientific research. Animal testing remains a standard and has been required for drug approval. Just before Christmas, though, Congress ended the requirement that all new drugs must be tested in two species – usually mice and a "higher order" mammal like rabbits or primates – before being tried in people. (Weintraub, 1/15)
