Ryan McDonald, Associate Editorial Director for CURE®, has been with the team since February 2020 and has previously covered medical news across several specialties prior to joining MJH Life Sciences. He is a graduate of Temple University, where he studied journalism and minored in political science and history. He considers himself a craft beer snob and would like to open a brewery in the future. During his spare time, he can be found rooting for all major Philadelphia sports teams. Follow Ryan on Twitter @RMcDonald11 or email him at rmcdonald@curetoday.com.
FDA Grants Investigational Therapy Breakthrough Designation for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
February 10th 2021The Food and Drug Administration has granted the investigational therapy asciminib a breakthrough therapy designation for the treatment of certain adults with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia. The designation may allow for expedited review of the drug.
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FDA Approves Libtayo, The First Immunotherapy for Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma
February 9th 2021The Food and Drug Administration has granted an accelerated approval to Libtayo for the treatment of patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, who were previously treated with a hedgehog pathway inhibitor (HHI) or for whom an HHI was not appropriate.
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FDA Lifts Hold on Trial Assessing Novel Therapy in Pancreatic and Prostate Cancer
February 4th 2021The Food and Drug Administration has given the greenlight for Bellicum Pharmaceuticals to continue enrolling patients on a trial assessing a novel therapy patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic or prostate cancer.
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How 10 Cancer Diagnosis ‘Misses’ Led One Patient to Advocate For Herself, Others
February 4th 2021In this episode of the “CURE® Talks Cancer” podcast, we spoke with a patient who was blindsided by her stage 3 ovarian cancer diagnosis several years ago. We talk about how she spent months going from specialist to specialist before finally receiving her diagnosis, and why she dedicates much of her time to advocating for others.
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Novel Therapy in Combination With Opdivo Shows Promise for Lung Cancer Subset
January 29th 2021Treatment with Opdivo (nivolumab) in combination with the novel therapy BMS-986012 demonstrated a median overall survival of 18.7 months and a median progression-free survival of 2.1 months among a group of patients with relapsed/refractory small cell lung cancer.
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How One Patient With Cancer is Paying it Forward From ‘Chemo to Kindness’
January 28th 2021In this episode of the “CURE Talks Cancer” podcast, we spoke with a patient who is receiving treatment for grade 3 triple-negative breast cancer. We talk about how a nurse’s question during a routine physical “saved her life”, and a kindness challenge she started to help lift her up during the dark days of treatment.
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Novel Therapy Granted Priority Review By FDA for Treatment of Anal Cancer Subset
January 22nd 2021The priority review will focus on retifanlimab for the treatment of certain adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal who did not tolerate platinum-based chemotherapy. Currently, according to Incyte, there are no approved treatments for this patient population.
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Novel Therapy Shows Promise in Liver Cancer Subset, May Address ‘Urgent Need for New Therapies’
January 21st 2021“Along with a tolerable safety profile and supportive quality of life, these final efficacy results demonstrate the clinical benefit of (Tibsovo) in (previously treated patients with IDH1-mutant cholangiocarcinoma), for which there is an urgent need for new therapies,” said an expert from Massachusetts General Hospital, who presented the data.
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The combination of Inlyta (axitinib) and the synthetic hormone octreotide acetate failed to significantly improve progression-free survival, compared to placebo with the synthetic hormone. However, the results indicated the Inlyta-based combination did improve disease response in patients versus the placebo-based combination.
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Novel Artificial Intelligence Tool May Help Patients with Cancer Find, Understand Clinical Trials
January 18th 2021A group of patients with gastrointestinal cancers reported that a novel artificial intelligence-based search tool made it easier for them to find and understand cancer clinical trials. The tool, according to study authors, would not only help with trial accrual, but could also help improve trial diversity.
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