Vol. 17/No. 7

Harold P. Freeman, MD, who developed the patient navigation concept now used widely in cancer care, was honored in the Community Outreach/Education category with a 2015 Giants of Cancer Care® award, a program that the Intellisphere® Oncology Specialty Group launched to honor leaders in the field.

After nearly 30 years of research, tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte technology is being investigated as a means of producing personalized immunotherapy for patients with metastatic melanoma in a small clinical trial that may help open the door for broader application in other solid tumor types.

Early expectations of antitumor activity across all cancer types have been tempered by clinical disappointment in many cases and only modest efficacy in others. Nonetheless, VEGF signaling continues to present a promising target.

Researchers have designed a recently launched clinical study into entrectinib, a first-in-class inhibitor of tropomyosin receptor kinases, as a basket trial in which the drug can be evaluated simultaneously for activity against three gene alterations and multiple tumor types.

Vincent T. DeVita Jr, MD, discusses his insights into the operations of the FDA and the National Cancer Institute will hold a special appeal for oncology specialists and healthcare providers in his book, "The Death of Cancer."

Rehabilitation is medical care that cancer patients should expect and that it should be delivered by trained rehabilitation professionals: physiatrists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, or speech language pathologists.

Experts debated whether platinum-based or other additional systemic agents be used in high-risk triple-negative breast cancer, as well as other treatment discussions in breast cancer.

During the past several years, a wealth of positive clinical trials coupled with an evolution in understanding of neuroendocrine tumors has altered the treatment landscape.

To address the unmet need for better diagnostic and therapeutic modalities in pancreatic cancer, investigators at the Indiana University School of Medicine have established the Pancreatic Cancer Signature Center at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center.

One hopes that the infrastructure established to support the Moonshot initiative will serve as an effective counterbalance to the efforts to derail activities critical to improving cancer outcomes.

There are many reasons why we should change the way we approach cancer research and evaluate potential new drugs.