Cancer-associated fibroblast phenotypes are associated with patient outcome in non-small cell lung cancer

F.D.A. Approves Drug For Persistently Deadly Form Of Lung Cancer

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved an innovative new treatment for patients with a form of lung cancer. It is to be used only by patients who have exhausted all other options to treat small cell lung cancer, and have a life expectancy of four to five months.

The drug tarlatamab, or Imdelltra, made by the company Amgen, tripled patients' life expectancy, giving them a median survival of 14 months after they took the drug. Forty percent of those who got the drug responded.

After decades with no real advances in treatments for small cell lung cancer, tarlatamab offers the first real hope, said Dr. Anish Thomas, a lung cancer specialist at the federal National Cancer Institute who was not involved in the trial.

"I feel it's a light after a long time," he added.

Dr. Timothy Burns, a lung cancer specialist at the University of Pittsburgh, said that the drug "will be practice-changing."

(Dr. Burns was not an investigator in the study but has served on an Amgen advisory committee for a different drug.)

The drug, though, has a side effect that can be serious — cytokine release syndrome. It's an overreaction of the immune system that can result in symptoms like a rash, a rapid heartbeat and low blood pressure.

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Health News Roundup: US FDA Approves Amgen Drug For Small Cell Lung Cancer; US Unveils Proposal To Ease Restrictions On Marijuana And More

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

EU regulator scraps approval for pregnancy drug over cancer risk

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday recommended scrapping approval for a drug used to prolong gestation, citing a "possible but unconfirmed" risk of cancer. The EU health regulator's Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC), which monitors drug-related side effects, considered new studies in its review that showed the treatment, 17-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17-OHPC), was not effective in preventing premature birth.

Moderna wins COVID shot patent case against Pfizer-BioNTech in Europe

Moderna said on Friday the European Patent Office had upheld the validity of one of the company's key patents, a win in an ongoing COVID-19 vaccine dispute with Pfizer and BioNTech.

The company has been locked in a legal battle with Pfizer-BioNTech over their COVID shot Comirnaty after suing them in 2022 for allegedly copying its mRNA technology.

GSK raises $1.5 billion from offloading Haleon stake at a discount

GSK has raised 1.25 billion pounds ($1.52 billion) from selling its entire remaining stake in consumer healthcare firm Haleon, the British drugmaker said on Friday. GSK sold around 385 million shares at 324 pence apiece, amounting to a 4.2% stake in Haleon. The company was formed in a merger of GSK and Pfizer's consumer healthcare businesses in 2019.

Ontario reports first death from measles in over a decade

An Ontario child under the age of five has died of measles, the first such case in the Canadian province in more than a decade, according to the provincial health agency. The child required hospitalization and was not vaccinated against the highly infectious respiratory virus, Public Health Ontario (PHO) said in a statement on Thursday, without specifying when or where the child died, or their actual age.

Americans divided as Supreme Court weighs abortion pill access, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Americans are divided on whether women should have to see a doctor in person before receiving abortion pills, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found, as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether to reimpose that restriction on medication abortion. But broad bipartisan majorities opposed the idea of allowing states with abortion bans in place to block access to the procedure in certain emergency cases when it is needed to protect the mother's health, at issue in another case before the court.

US FDA approves Amgen drug for small cell lung cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday granted accelerated approval to Amgen's tarlatamab, a targeted immunotherapy for adults in the advanced stages of hard-to-treat small cell lung cancer that has worsened despite chemotherapy. The drug, marketed under the name Imdelltra, is part of Amgen's pipeline of bispecific antibodies designed to attach to a cancer cell and an immune cell, bringing them together so that the body's immune system can kill the cancer.

Properly cooked hamburgers pose no bird flu risk, US study finds

No bird flu virus was found after cooking ground beef to medium to well done, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a briefing on Thursday after conducting a study as it addresses concerns over an outbreak of the disease in dairy cattle. The findings, in which scientists injected high levels of an H5N1 bird flu virus surrogate into ground beef, indicate that properly cooking hamburgers to a temperature of about 145 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit (63 to 71 degrees Celsius) keeps them safe for consumers.

US unveils proposal to ease restrictions on marijuana

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday unveiled a historic proposal to ease restrictions on marijuana, a rule that if enacted would also enable more research on its medicinal benefits. The proposal, first announced in April, would reclassify cannabis from a so-called schedule one drug to a schedule three. Schedule one drugs, such as heroin, are considered highly addictive with no medical benefits, while schedule three drugs are considered to have a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.

Obesity and high blood sugar play ever growing role in ill-health, study shows

Obesity, high blood sugar and high blood pressure among other metabolic issues now lead to almost 50% more years of healthy life lost to either disease or premature death than in 2000, a major international study showed on Thursday. Over the same period, the number of years lost due to factors associated with undernutrition for mothers and children, such as stunting or wasting, dropped by 71.5%.

Investors demand clarity from Fresenius over dialysis group FMC

Investors demanded more clarity from German healthcare group Fresenius SE on Friday regarding its plans to cede strategic control over dialysis group Fresenius Medical Care. "The volatility at Fresenius Medical Care seems to repeatedly overshadow the recent positive operating developments at Fresenius and is also deterring many potential shareholders from investing in Fresenius," said Hendrik Schmidt, corporate governance expert at fund manager DWS.

(With inputs from agencies.)

Lung Cancer News

Nov. 17, 2023 — Research shows that some lung cancer cells retain a 'memory' of the healthy cell where they came from -- one that might be exploited to make an emerging type of lung cancer treatment ...

Nov. 14, 2023 — A new study has discovered asbestos exposure led to a higher incidence of asbestos-related lung cancers in British and Australian naval personnel than in other armed ...

Oct. 11, 2023 — Pleural mesothelioma (PM) is mainly caused by asbestos exposure and characterized by poor prognosis and limited therapeutic options. A recent research study identified the oncoprotein YB-1 as an ...

Sep. 22, 2023 — A novel drug target has been newly identified in the fight against drug resistance in cancer ...

Sep. 21, 2023 — Small cell lung cancer accounts for about 15 percent of all diagnosed lung cancers and is still associated with a high mortality rate. SCLC tumours often develop resistance to chemotherapy and thus ...

Sep. 12, 2023 — An international team of researchers has demonstrated that a combination of inhibitors may suppress tumor growth and prevent relapse in patients with certain cancers, including head and neck squamous ...

Sep. 4, 2023 — Scientists have discovered two new genes that cause head and neck cancer patients to be resistant to chemotherapy, and that silencing either gene can make cancer cells previously unresponsive to ...

Aug. 31, 2023 — Vitamin C and other antioxidants stimulate the formation of new blood vessels in lung cancer tumors, a new study shows. The discovery corroborates the idea that dietary supplements containing ...

Aug. 30, 2023 — Fresh discoveries about a type of immune cells could give lung cancer patients a more accurate prognosis and better identify who will benefit from immunotherapies. Researchers found that the location ...

Aug. 14, 2023 — Patients with localized prostate cancer have a good chance of survival, but mortality rates among those with advanced, metastatic forms of the condition remain high. Until now, the precise mechanism ...

Aug. 9, 2023 — New findings may lead to relapse-free treatment for a sizeable subgroup of lung cancer patients. In a study in mice, scientists have identified a biomarker that may help physicians select lung cancer ...

July 12, 2023 — Cancer therapies that target specific genetic abnormalities in tumors have revolutionized treatment possibilities over the past two decades. While quality of life and survival are improved with ...

June 22, 2023 — Small-cell lung cancer is a particularly aggressive type of tumor with a consistently high mortality rate. In recent years, the research of scientists has significantly contributed to a better ...

Mar. 28, 2023 — Researchers develop a 3D cell culture system to test how inhibiting fibroblast activities can help treat lung cancer. To simulate the tumor microenvironment and mimic real tissues, the team ...

Mar. 17, 2023 — A new study has revealed FDA-approved trametinib and entinostat (which is currently in clinical trials) can be given in tandem to produce fewer and smaller tumors in mice with LKB1-mutated non-small ...

Mar. 15, 2023 — A new study represents a first step towards generating highly detailed 3-dimensional maps of lung tumors using genetically engineered mouse ...

Mar. 13, 2023 — Scientists have discovered why breast cancer cells that have spread to the lungs may 'wake up' following years of sleep -- forming incurable secondary tumors. Their research reveals the ...

Feb. 13, 2023 — Researchers show how stimulating dendritic cells through certain pathways produces strong T cell activity against tumors and works in conjunction with immune checkpoint inhibitors to produce even ...

Feb. 1, 2023 — New data from a clinical trial shows improved rates of survival and reduced risk of recurrence in patients taking osimertinib, a targeted therapy for non-small cell lung cancer ...

Jan. 9, 2023 — A new study found that deleting a gene called KMT2D caused normal (basal) lung cells grown in complex cultures called organoids to transform into lung squamous carcinoma (LUSC) ...

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