Every week, we round up articles from reputable sources, linking you to the latest news and commentary related to recent discoveries, new trends in cancer research, government policy and more.

This week’s roundup includes the following and more:

Editorial: Faltering cancer trials - New York Times
“The nation’s most important system for judging the clinical effectiveness of cancer treatments is approaching “a state of crisis.””

A cancer field ‘conundrum’: comparative effectiveness research - Wall Street Journal  Health Blog
“A Duke oncologist is warning that the emphasis on comparative effectiveness studies may present obstacles for the field of cancer research, Scientific American’s Observations blog reports.”

Doctor groups set new policy to curb industry sway - Associated Press via New York Times
Dozens of leading medical groups announced a new ethics code Wednesday “aimed at limiting the influence that drug and device makers have over patient care. It’s the most sweeping move ever taken by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies to curb conflict of interest.”

5-minute colon cancer test could save thousands - Associated Press via New York Times
“A five-minute colon cancer test could reduce the number of deaths from the disease by about 40 percent, a new study says.”

> Read the full roundup

Every week, we round up articles from reputable sources, linking you to the latest news and commentary related to recent discoveries, new trends in cancer research, government policy and more.

This week’s roundup includes the following and more:

Federal cancer research is ‘at a breaking point,’ IOM study finds - Kaiser Health News
“The government’s cancer research network is ‘approaching a state of crisis’ as waste and inefficiency cause 40 percent of late-stage trials it funds to be abandoned before completion, according to a report released yesterday.”

Licenses drive gene debate - Wall Street Journal
“Genetic research holds the promise of pinpointing a person’s risks for diseases. But Duke University researchers, in a study published Wednesday, said the practice of granting exclusive licenses on individual genes could slow down or even derail that promise.”

Study: Two good choices to prevent breast cancer - Associated Press via New York Times
“Older women at higher risk for breast cancer now have two good drug options for preventing the disease, but they will have to weigh the trade-offs, a major study shows.”

Hope for targeted lung-cancer treatment - Wall Street Journal
“An unusual clinical trial involving four different drugs offered promise that guiding treatment based on the molecular traits of a tumor can improve survival from lung cancer. ”

> Read the full roundup

by: Lorraine W. Egan, Executive Director
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation

Almost 40 years after President Nixon declared a “war on cancer” many
are questioning how far we’ve come.  Gina Kolata of the New York Times
has written a series of articles on the subject.  I believe that while
many of these articles raise important points, the question, “are we
winning the war on cancer?” is actually the wrong one.

Is this really a “war”?

The phrase “War on Cancer” was coined back in the 1970’s at a time when little was known about cancer. It gave the impression that there was a single enemy that could be defeated if we simply devoted more money to the fight.

Since then, our understanding of cancer has advanced by quantum leaps.  That knowledge makes it crystal clear that “defeating” cancer is one of the most complex scientific challenges we have ever faced. 

Unlike other diseases like polio, which are caused by outside invaders that we can identify, cancer is the breakdown of our own basic cellular processes.  Moreover, cancer is many diseases.  We do not know how many because we continue to learn that even cancers with the same name vary significantly from person to person at the molecular level.  For example, one person’s colorectal cancer is not genetically the same as another person’s colorectal cancer.

> Read the whole post: The ‘War on Cancer’ - Where We Stand Now

Every week, we will be rounding up articles from reputable sources, linking you to the latest news and commentary related to recent discoveries, new trends in cancer research, government policy and more.

This week’s roundup includes the following and more:

Merck’s Zolina shows good signs in pelvic cancer - Dow Jones via Wall Street Journal
“Merck’s new oral cancer drug Zolina shows promising antitumor activity and is well tolerated when combined with short-term palliative radiotherapy in patients with advanced pelvic cancer, according to research published Wednesday in The Lancet.”

Some cancer patients more likely to get blood clot - Associated Press via New York Times
“Men with prostate cancer being treated with hormone therapy have a slightly higher risk of developing a blood clot, new research says.”

FDA toughens process for radiation equipment - New York Times
The FDA “said Thursday that it was taking steps to reduce overdoses, underdoses and other errors in radiation therapy by strengthening the agency’s approval process for new radiotherapy equipment.”  

Counterpoint: Data First - Nature
Large, unbiased genomic surveys are taking cancer therapeutics in directions that could never have been predicted by traditional molecular biology, says cancer researcher Todd Golub.  

> Read the full roundup

Three years ago, Andy Rachleff, a highly-successful investor, decided that he wanted to apply a venture capitalist approach to cancer research funding.  He and his wife Debra shared the belief that the vast majority of true breakthroughs will likely come from high risk, high reward research – unlike the safe, incremental research preferred by traditional funding institutions.  Andy also believed that this research should be carried out by young investigators, because they have the creativity, drive and open-mindedness to ask new questions.  

The resulting partnership is the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award, an annual grant of $1.35 million divided between three winning ideas by early career scientists.

Continue Reading…

We’re blogging about the key issues in cancer research today

Welcome to the Damon Runyon Blog, a place to discuss and learn about the most pressing needs for and obstacles to finding new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat all forms of cancer.  We will be addressing issues such as the proposed federal research budget, ways to accelerate innovation in cancer research and research funding gaps.  We will also be identifying promising areas of research.  We welcome your comments and feedback.

You can also keep up to date on new discoveries and progress of the cancer researchers we fund by following us on Twitter or Facebook, or by signing up online for our email newsletters.