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A larger share of people are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer at a younger age and at a more dangerous stage of the disease, a report showed. Doctors aren’t sure why. The American Cancer Society said Wednesday that about 20% of new colorectal cancer diagnoses were in patients under 55 in 2019, compared with 11% in 1995. Some 60% of new colorectal cancers in 2019 were diagnosed at advanced stages, the research and advocacy group said, compared with 52% in the mid-2000s and 57% in 1995, before screening was widespread. (Abbott, 3/1)  

Sixty percent of new cases are advanced-stage disease. "Shockingly, 1 in 5 people who will be diagnosed presently are younger than 55 years of age, which is quite young for colorectal cancer," says American Cancer Society CEO Dr. Karen Knudsen. (3/1)

There is also an unexplained shift in the incidence of “left-sided” tumors, suggesting that the biology of the disease could be changing, prompting a need for a new approach in prevention and more research into targeted treatments. (Amenabar, 3/1)

The new report also says that more people are surviving colorectal cancer, with the relative survival rate at least five years after diagnosis rising from 50% in the mid-1970s to 65% from 2012 through 2018, partly due to advancements in treatment. That’s good news, said Dr. Paul Oberstein, a medical oncologist at NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center, who was not involved in the new report. The overall trends suggest that colorectal cancer incidence and death rates have been slowly declining. (Howard, 3/1)

Pharma is becoming a victim of its own success in oncology. Striving to keep pace with the progress of the industry’s well-stocked pipeline, oncologists are facing information overload on top of the continued fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pressures are creating a need for new marketing strategies. ... Oncologists are pulling double and triple shifts to cope with staff shortages that have intensified since the start of the pandemic. And with 22% of oncologists nearing retirement, the situation could get worse before it gets better. (Taylor, 3/1)    

A California couple sued a Pasadena-based fertility clinic on Wednesday, saying it allegedly implanted an embryo carrying a rare gene that causes deadly stomach cancer and then falsified records to cover up its mistake. In their lawsuit against HRC Fertility, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Jason and Melissa Diaz said their son, now a year old, will require total stomach removal surgery as a young adult to prevent or treat the cancer. They said they went to HRC Fertility specifically to avoid having a child with the gene, which Jason carries. (Pierson, 3/1)

News this week that U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro is undergoing cancer treatment drew renewed attention to congressional health insurance plans — gold-level Affordable Care Act coverage similar to that gaining popularity in Texas. (Wermund, 3/2)