Value Propositions

The FDA has reversed its long-standing policy regarding breast cancer trials that could greatly reduce the time and cost of new drug development for early-stage breast cancer.

The recent trend in drug development of shifting away from one-size-fits-all cancer medications to targeted therapies, which is the key to personalized medicine, points to the value of and monetary benefits of developing drugs that target the molecular levels of cancer cells.

The Mevion S250 Proton Therapy System has received marketing approval in Europe but is still pending clearance by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Injecting antibodies and T cells with cancer stem cells may signal a new paradigm for anticancer immunotherapy, according to a recent study.

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded $10.5 million to 10 researchers to develop technologies that will assist research on millions of genomic elements that play a role in determining what genes are expressed, and at what levels in different cells.

Genomic Health announced it has formed an alliance with OncoMed Pharmaceuticals to support the development of DNA-sequencing technologies in the search for diagnostic biomarkers that could identify patients who will best benefit from targeted drugs currently in development by OncoMed.

A recent survey of US and Canadian oncologists explored how they perceive cost-effectiveness of the new and costly cancer treatments, and whether providers are considering value questions of quality versus cost in their clinical decisions.

Professor Jonathan Waxman, of Imperial College London, an expert in prostate cancer who founded the Prostate Cancer Charity in England and helped garner support for cancer treatment, has denounced the refusal of the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to approve the 2 new and expensive prostate cancer drugs approved last year in the United States, saying that NICE "has overregulated and proscribed drugs that offer real advances to people with cancer.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is expanding its efforts to encourage innovation in prostate cancer research.

An online tool launched by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will help patients, providers, and researchers navigate the rapidly growing landscape of genetic testing, many of them associated with cancer therapy.