Nov 25th, 2022 - With recent expansions in its breast cancer indications, there has been an increase in the use of trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd; Enhertu). "A lot of us are using this more frequently now than we were in the past," explained Sid Yadav, MD, a breast and gynecologic cancer specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. However, he added that managing its adverse events has been a "bit of a...

Acute vibriosis led to serious adverse events in more than one third of patients with underlying conditions.

Nov 23rd, 2022 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved etranacogene dezaparvovec (Hemgenix), the first gene therapy option for adults with hemophilia B who currently use factor IX prophylaxis therapy, have current or historical life-threatening hemorrhage, or have repeated, serious spontaneous bleeding episodes. "Gene therapy for hemophilia has been on the horizon for more than 2 decades. Despite a...

Nov 23rd, 2022 - High-density lipoprotein cholesterol may not be as effective a biomarker of cardiovascular disease risk as once thought, particularly in Black adults, according to results from a large biracial cohort study that also raised questions about the validity of high HDL cholesterol as a potentially protective factor in White and Black adults alike. "I think this opens the door to suggest that every b...

Nov 22nd, 2022 - The FDA said it's looking into the risk of severe hypocalcemia among patients on dialysis receiving denosumab (Prolia), citing the potential for severe outcomes, including hospitalization and death. In a safety alert issued on Tuesday, the agency referred to interim results from maker Amgen's ongoing safety study of denosumab, which suggested an increased risk of hypocalcemia in patients with a...

Nov 22nd, 2022 - Nov 22 (Reuters) - Global vaccine alliance Gavi said on Tuesday it was not in breach of a deal to buy Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine and that it reserved all rights, including the recovery of advance payments to the company. Novavax said on Monday it delivered a notice to Gavi to terminate the COVID-19 vaccine sale agreement with immediate effect, citing the alliance’s failure to procure the 350 mi...

Nov 22nd, 2022 - Nearly half of patients with celiac disease experienced clinically relevant events even while highly adherent to a gluten-free diet (GFD), according to a retrospective follow-up study in Italy. These events were rarely caused by poor adherence to the diet (4%) or complications (2%), reported Annalisa Schiepatti, MD, of the University of Pavia in Italy, and colleagues. The leading causes of thos...

Nov 22nd, 2022 - (For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.) Futures: Dow up 0.09%, S&P up 0.08%, Nasdaq down 0.04% Nov 22 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were trading flat on Tuesday after starting the week lower due to worries around stricter COVID-19 curbs in China, while drawing comfort from less-hawkish comments on interest-rate hikes from po...

Nov 22nd, 2022 - Among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and severe chronic breathlessness, short-term daily treatment with low doses of extended-release morphine did not significantly reduce the intensity of worst breathlessness, a randomized trial showed. At 1 week, change in the intensity of worst breathlessness was not significantly different between patients who received 8 mg/day o...

Nov 21st, 2022 - An increase in liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) may be predictive of poor clinical outcomes in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), according to new findings presented at The Liver Meeting, the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Dr Samer Gawrieh Although previous retrospective stud...

Nov 21st, 2022 - Sleeve gastrectomy may have an advantage over gastric bypass in terms of post-procedure healthcare use, according to a study of Medicaid-insured adolescents with severe obesity. Researchers found significantly lower rates of emergency department (ED) use and hospitalization 5 years after sleeve gastrectomy compared to gastric bypass, and similarly low rates of adverse events. The study, by rese...

Nov 21st, 2022 - The number of skin cancer cases in men and women increases by 10% every year. Experts have drawn a correlation between this increase and the increased intensity of UV radiation in Germany. Skin cancer is already one of the most common forms of cancer. In Germany, around 260,000 people develop skin cancer each year, regardless of whether they have light or dark skin. It became clear at the press...

Nov 21st, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. While studies have generally alleviated concerns that COVID-19 vaccination could compromise the effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors, new research offers a twist: COVID-19 vaccination could improve outcomes for certain patients with cancer. Specifically, compared with nonvaccinated patients, ...

Nov 21st, 2022 - PHILADELPHIA — Treatment with the interleukin-6 receptor antagonist sarilumab (Kevzara), along with a 14-week taper of glucocorticoids, proved to have significant efficacy in patients with relapsing polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) who were resistant to glucocorticoids in a phase 3 trial. No new safety concerns were found with sarilumab, in the multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-control...

Nov 18th, 2022 - Background Larotrectinib is a highly selective TRK inhibitor which has shown a 71% overall response rate (ORR) in 28 investigator-evaluable patients with TRK fusion-positive thyroid carcinoma (TC) as of July 2020. We report data on an expanded dataset of patients with TRK fusion-positive TC treated with larotrectinib. Methods Patients from 3 larotrectinib clinical trials (NCT02576431, NCT02...

Nov 18th, 2022 - Treatment developments in advanced prostate cancer are hinging on the benefits of triplet therapy and individualized care, the results of which are also informing treatment sequencing, according to Jason M. Hafron, MD. In an interview during the 2022 LUGPA Annual Meeting, Hafron shared advice on optimizing advanced prostate cancer clinics, recapped the biggest advances in urologic cancer trea...

Nov 18th, 2022 - Autologous tumor lysate-loaded dendritic cell vaccination (DCVax-L) used in combination with standard-of-care treatment extended overall survival (OS) for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM) as well as those with recurrent disease. The phase 3 trial (NCT00045968) met its primary and secondary end points.1,2 JAMA Oncology published the topline results on November 17, 2022. The medi...

Nov 18th, 2022 - GENEVA (Reuters) - Negotiations on new rules for dealing with pandemics are underway at the World Health Organization (WHO), with a target date of May 2024 for a legally binding agreement to be adopted by the U.N. health agency's 194 member countries. A new pact is a priority for WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as his second five-year term at the head of the global health agency gets under...

Nov 18th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. After recovery from acute infection with SARS-CoV-2, major stressful life events such as the death of a loved one or financial insecurity can have a significant impact on the development of long COVID symptoms, new research suggests. Major life stressors in the year after hospital discharge for ...

Nov 18th, 2022 - The study covered in this summary was published on Research Square as a preprint and has not yet been peer reviewed. Key Takeaway Among patients with recurrent or new primary breast cancer, a second breast conserving surgery followed by re-irradiation was safe and effective across a range of radiation fractionation regimens. Why This Matters Salvage mastectomy has been the standard of care when...