Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Study: Blood Test Helps Target Which Colon Cancer Patients Need Chemo
A blood test under study may soon be able to help many patients with colon cancer decide whether they need chemotherapy after surgery, or if they can safely skip it. The results, which oncologists described as promising, were published in the journal Nature Medicine. (Nasser, 1/16)
They’re far too small to be seen by even the most sophisticated medical imaging device. But bits of tumor DNA adrift in a patient’s blood are an important bellwether for whether cancer will return — and, as a new study shows, can predict which treatments are likely to work. (Wosen, 1/16)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Catherine was getting nervous about her ADHD prescription. In 2022, the 29-year-old New Yorker had started using Done, a direct-to-consumer telehealth company that treats attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The medication her provider had prescribed, a stimulant called Vyvanse, was helping her manage distraction so severe that she frequently had car accidents. (Palmer, 1/17)
For generations people have associated the terms "lab rat" and "guinea pig" with scientific research. Animal testing remains a standard and has been required for drug approval. Just before Christmas, though, Congress ended the requirement that all new drugs must be tested in two species – usually mice and a "higher order" mammal like rabbits or primates – before being tried in people. (Weintraub, 1/15)
