The Cancer Letter

As USPSTF falters and FDA ignores clinical benefit, “the idea that screening is always good is probably gaining traction right now”

With the pope’s lung cancer diagnosis jumpstarting conversations about lung cancer screening, and the constant buzz surrounding multi-cancer detection tests, evidence-bas

The Directors: VCU’s Baskin and UNC’s Ferris weigh oncology’s looming dilemma—MCDs

As the Galleri test is advancing toward becoming the first multi-cancer detection test to secure FDA approval, cancer care providers are coming up with strategies for usi

As FDA sidesteps the question of Galleri’s clinical benefit, NCI’s Letai has “some concerns”

As the oncology community waits with bated breath for a possible FDA approval of GRAIL’s Galleri test, NCI Director Anthony Letai has a lot to say about multi-cancer dete

Anthony Letai reflects on Year One as NCI Director: “The NCI is in business”

“I don’t know of a single grant that left my desk that was not approved and funded,” NCI Director Anthony G. Letai said on this episode of The Cancer Letter Podcast. Let

The Galleri MCD vote: What FDA asked its advisors to ignore

In this episode of The Cancer Letter Podcast, Paul Goldberg, editor and publisher of The Cancer Letter, Jacquelyn Cobb, managing editor, discuss the Sept. 23 meeting of t

The Directors: Two Gulf Coast cancer center directors on why NCI designation matters—and why they want it

What should a cancer center look like in an era of AI, genomics, complex patient populations, rising costs, and declining public trust in science? Two directors—both pur

36 months to live, 29 months to wait. Why is Congress withholding lifesaving benefits from breast cancer patients?

In this episode of The Cancer Letter Podcast, Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, and Jacquelyn Cobb, managing editor of The Cancer Letter, dis

9/11, mRNA, musical chairs—and an assassination attempt

This week’s oncology headlines run the gamut—from a discussion on the long-term consequences of 9/11 on lung cancer incidence, to the promise—and limits—of cutting edge m

As daraxonrasib hits the clinic, Frank McCormick says RAS is bigger than pancreatic cancer

Last month, FDA approved the RAS inhibitor, daraxonrasib, sponsored by Revolution Medicines Inc. and also known as Rasonque, for patients with metastatic pancreatic adeno

Brian Wolpin celebrates FDA approval of daraxonrasib in pancreatic cancer as the future of the field

On Aug. 26, FDA approved the RAS inhibitor, daraxonrasib, sponsored by Revolution Medicines Inc. and also known as Rasonque, for patients with metastatic pancreatic adeno

Trump’s tariffs on generic drugs are “another wrinkle in an already unstable system”

On July 21, President Donald Trump announced his latest set of sweeping tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry: a 200% levy on imported generic drugs by the year 2029. 

Raja Flores says oncology is loose with staging jargon, and now “it’s confusing my patients.”

In last week’s issue of The Cancer Letter, Raja Flores wrote a guest editorial explaining how he, with his expertise in thoracic surgery, took issue with a nuance in a re

What happened at FDA? Replimune approval raises questions

Last week, FDA granted accelerated approval to Replimune Group Inc. for it’s biologic, RP1 (vusolimogene oderparepvec), following the FDA Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Thera

The Directors: New directors Herbst and Gius chart a future built on AI, collaboration, and rural access

New pressures notwithstanding, being a cancer center director is still a dream job, two of the nation’s newest cancer center directors say. In their first weeks in the t

Pour a Scotch, we’re talking clinical trials and prediction markets

In last week’s issue of The Cancer Letter, the cover story featured coverage of Kalshi, an online prediction market exchange, launching a pilot program in which one can p

Hegseth offers soldiers testosterone and FDA loosens safety warnings. Is the science there?

Last week, the Pentagon posted a video on X announcing they will be mandating testosterone screening for troops in the military aged 30 and above. If they test low, they

How will FDA regulate psychedelics?

FDA has been taking a look at psychedelics as a potential treatment for psychiatric and substance abuse disorders, recently publishing a final guidance for drug sponsors

Two leaders in data science have a warp speed vision for AI, with cancer clinical trials leading the way

The United States has a translation problem. Scientific breakthroughs in oncology are accelerating, but clinical trial infrastructure hasn’t kept pace.  The solution: Sp

Did peer review fail? Nature Medicine’s chronotherapy paper retraction raises questions

The cover story in last week’s issue of The Cancer Letter featured a retraction of a Nature Medicine paper demonstrating that giving patients immunochemotherapy before 3:

A new diagnostic lens—and a lasting scientific legacy

In this week's episode of The Cancer Letter Podcast, editor and publisher Paul Goldberg, and associate editor Jacquelyn Cobb revisit two of last week’s most-read stories: