Category: Big Pharma

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Personalized cancer vaccines are having a moment

Fernando Kaskais

Vaccines targeting some of our deadliest cancers are showing promise in early trials. KEY TAKEAWAYS By Kristin Houser Promising personalized cancer vaccines were a recurring theme at the American Association for Cancer Research’s (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego, earlier this month. A multitude of companies are pushing forward with shots designed to help the immune system fight patients’ specific tumors. Personalized cancer vaccines: Cancer cells are covered in mutated proteins, called “neoantigens,” that are not found on healthy cells. Personalized cancer vaccines train the immune system to recognize a patient’s unique neoantigens and then find and destroy the cancer cells. Because researchers … Continue reading Personalized cancer vaccines are having a moment

Big Pharma, Drugs, Health, LivingLeave a comment

A Common Gene Test Could Save Lives From Chemo Drug Overdose

Fernando Kaskais

Top: Women receive intravenous chemotherapy. Visual: E+ via Getty Images Fluorouracil can be deadly for patients who slowly metabolize it. But U.S. doctors don’t often test for those at risk. BY ARTHUR ALLEN ONE JANUARY morning in 2021, Carol Rosen took a standard treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Three gruesome weeks later, she died in excruciating pain from the very drug meant to prolong her life. Rosen, a 70-year-old retired schoolteacher, passed her final days in anguish, enduring severe diarrhea and nausea and terrible sores in her mouth that kept her from eating, drinking, and, eventually, speaking. Skin peeled off her body. Her … Continue reading A Common Gene Test Could Save Lives From Chemo Drug Overdose

Big Pharma, Drugs, Health, ScienceLeave a comment

Your Child’s Medicine Probably Wasn’t Fully Vetted. Here’s Why.

Fernando Kaskais

Visual: Milos Dimic/E+ via Getty Images Most pharmaceuticals are developed and approved for use only in adults. Researchers are working to create change. BY FRIEDA KLOTZ MARK TURNER has worked in pediatrics for more than 30 years, and he’s tired of telling parents there’s nothing he can do for their children. Very few medicines are developed with young people in mind, he said. “It’s just very difficult, watching them be sick, watching babies die.” Turner is referring to the lack of research into how different medications perform in children. When drugs get approved, it’s usually on the basis of how they function … Continue reading Your Child’s Medicine Probably Wasn’t Fully Vetted. Here’s Why.

Big Pharma, Drugs, Health, ScienceLeave a comment

The Side Effect Roulette of Cancer Treatment

Fernando Kaskais

Visual: E+ via Getty Images Some researchers and advocates strive to offer patients a more accurate window into a drug’s impact on daily life. BY CHARLOTTE HUFF THE STOMACH PAIN STOPPED Vickie-Lee Wall in her tracks. “The first time the pain got that bad, I honestly thought something had burst in my gut,” said the 64-year-old New Jersey woman, who has stage 4 lobular breast cancer. Her oncologist had prescribed two drugs, including a targeted medication called abemaciclib, after the cancer spread to Wall’s spine in 2018. Initially the pain was relatively mild. But then it ratcheted up until, three months later, … Continue reading The Side Effect Roulette of Cancer Treatment

Big Pharma, Health, Psychology, ScienceLeave a comment

Curing cancerphobia: How the psychology of fear distorts our view of cancer

Fernando Kaskais

The evidence that pollution causes cancer is weak. Lifestyle factors, like smoking, obesity, and alcohol, matter far more. KEY TAKEAWAYS By David Ropeik We are more afraid of risks that are human-made than those that arise naturally. When the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) in 2001 asked people what they thought increased their risk of getting cancer, 80% believed that pesticides and food additives raised their risk, and 88% said pollution. In a 2019 version of the survey, 79% agreed a lot or somewhat that “everything causes cancer.” The widespread fear that many modern products and processes cause cancer … Continue reading Curing cancerphobia: How the psychology of fear distorts our view of cancer

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Why Cancer Treatments Might Not Work Very Well for Older Adults

Fernando Kaskais

Top: A senior cancer patient receives chemotherapy. Many forms of chemotherapy have proven to be more toxic in older adults, a discovery that came only after the drugs were approved for use in this population. Visual: E+ via Getty Images People over 70 have a heightened risk of cancer, yet they are under-represented in clinical trials of new drugs. BY JYOTI MADHUSOODANAN IN OCTOBER 2021, 84-year-old Jim Yeldell was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. The first drug he tried disrupted his balance and coordination, so his doctor halved the dose to minimize these side effects, Yeldell recalled. In addition, his physician … Continue reading Why Cancer Treatments Might Not Work Very Well for Older Adults

Big Pharma, Health, History, ScienceLeave a comment

The war on cancer

Fernando Kaskais

A 1938 poster from the Women’s Field Army of the American Society for the Control of Cancer. Courtesy the Library of Congress Is it time to abandon the century-old idea that cancer is best met with a ‘fight’ from patients and their doctors alike? Elaine Schattner is a writer, cancer survivor, and former oncologist. She is the author of From Whispers to Shouts: The Ways We Talk About Cancer (2023). She is a clinical associate professor of medicine at Weill Medical College in New York City. The likening of cancer to a hostile enemy goes back more than a century. ‘To have a … Continue reading The war on cancer

Big Pharma, Drugs, Health, Manipulation, PsychologyLeave a comment

Why Regulators Can’t Curb Social Media Hype for Weight Loss Drugs

Fernando Kaskais

Online influencers are driving demand for new weight loss drugs. Regulators have limited power to rein them in. BY DARIUS TAHIR & HANNAH NORMAN, KHN SUZETTE ZUENA IS her own best advertisement for weight loss. Zuena, the “founder/visionary” of LH Spa & Rejuvenation in Livingston and Madison, New Jersey, has dropped 30 pounds. Her husband has lost 42 pounds. “We go out a lot,” Zuena said of the pair’s social routine. “People saw us basically shrinking.” They would ask how the couple did it. Her response: point people to her spa and a relatively new type of medication — GLP-1 agonists, a … Continue reading Why Regulators Can’t Curb Social Media Hype for Weight Loss Drugs

Big Pharma, Health, Living, PsychologyLeave a comment

In the Age of Ozempic, What’s the Point of Working Out?

Fernando Kaskais

The idea that we exercise to get thin may be more dangerous than ever. By Xochitl Gonzalez In the summer of 2015, one of my best friends died at work. Shannon was 38, childless, single and thriving, and working as an executive at a global public-relations firm, where she handled a major client. She was set to take a family vacation—treating her nephews to a Disney trip or some such—when her boss sent down an edict that no one on her account was allowed to take time off. Saying no to your boss is hard, but disappointing your nephews is even harder, … Continue reading In the Age of Ozempic, What’s the Point of Working Out?