By Peggy Orenstein New York Times July 26, 2014 BERKELEY, Calif. — ONE of the nastier aspects of breast cancer is that it doesn’t have the five-year sell-by date of some other malignancies: you’re not considered “cured” until you die of something else. Although it becomes less likely, the disease can come back eight, 10, […]
Read the text of the letter, signed by dozens of health and cancer related organizations, below: July 9, 2014 The Honorable Lois Capps 2231 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Grace Meng 1317 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Representative Capps and Representative Meng, The undersigned organizations are pleased to […]
ANDREW POLLACK, New York Times APRIL 24, 2014 The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first alternative to the long-used Pap test as a primary screening method for cervical cancer, in the face of opposition from some women’s groups and health organizations. The new test, developed by Roche, detects the DNA of the […]
WASHINGTON POST, APRIL 24, 2014 The April 22 front-page article “FDA relents in battle against a cruel disease,” about parents urging the Food and Drug Administration to approve a promising drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, pulled on the heartstrings. However, there is a better way to get an experimental drug to patients than lowering approval standards. […]
BY MATTHEW PERRONE AP HEALTH WRITER April 24, 2014 WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health regulators have cleared a genetic test from Roche as a first-choice screening option for cervical cancer. It was a role previously reserved for the Pap smear, the decades-old mainstay of women’s health. The Food and Drug Administration approved Roche’s cobas HPV […]
Moving to a DNA-based testing model would be a “radical shift” in medical practice that could lead to confusion, higher costs and overtreatment.