Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Radiation Drug Shown To Boost Survival Rates For Prostate Cancer
AP: 'Next Big Wave': Radiation Drugs Track And Kill Cancer Cells
Doctors are reporting improved survival in men with advanced prostate cancer from an experimental drug that delivers radiation directly to tumor cells. Few such drugs are approved now, but the approach may become a new way to treat patients with other hard-to-reach or inoperable cancers. The study tested an emerging class of medicine called radiopharmaceuticals, drugs that deliver radiation directly to cancer cells. The drug in this case is a molecule that contains two parts: a tracker and a cancer-killing payload. (Johnson, 6/3)
NBC News: New Radiation Therapy For Prostate Cancer Reduces Deaths, Study Shows
By the time Michael Rosenblum’s prostate cancer was discovered, it was already at a late stage. He’d initially sought medical help because of excruciating back pain, but, during an exam, doctors found a tumor on his spine and tests revealed a skyrocketing prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, score. Chemotherapy didn’t help much, so when doctors offered the opportunity to be in a clinical trial for a new experimental treatment, Rosenblum jumped at it. The trial was investigating a new, potentially groundbreaking type of treatment for prostate cancer, a therapy that specifically targets a protein on the cancer cells. The treatment, part of a new class of liquid radiation drugs, obliterates most prostate cancer cells without hurting the surrounding tissue. (Carroll, 6/3)
In other cancer research developments —
Stat: For First Time, Keytruda After Surgery Shows Benefit In Early Kidney Cancer
Merck said Thursday that giving its drug Keytruda immediately after surgery significantly reduced the risk of relapse of kidney cancer in patients who had their tumors removed. The new clinical trial results make Keytruda the first immunotherapy to show a benefit for this early stage of kidney cancer treatment called the adjuvant setting. Currently, the class of drugs called checkpoint inhibitors are used for patients with more advanced kidney cancer — after it has recurred and spread to other parts of the body. (Feuerstein, 6/3)
New York Post: Israeli Scientists Extend Mice's Lives By 23%, Aim For Humans Next
Israeli scientists have found a way to increase the life expectancy of mice by 23 percent, in groundbreaking research that they hope to replicate in humans — who could then reach an average age of 120 years old. The researchers boosted the life expectancy of 250 rodents by increasing the supply of SIRT6, a protein that normally wanes in the aging process, the Times of Israel reported. In the peer-reviewed research published in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists also said the protein-enriched animals were less prone to cancer. (Steinbuch, 6/2)
