End Out-of-Pocket Costs; Reducing Cancer-Related Fatigue; One-and-Done HPV Vax?

Noting that financial toxicity is “uniquely American,” oncologist and medical ethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, called for an end to holding patients with cancer and their families responsible for out-of-pocket costs. (STAT)

A study of 1,403 patients with cancer showed that 14% were current smokers and 3% vaped, which was associated with greater fatigue, pain, and emotional problems, and, in the case of smoking, worse quality of life as well. The “cost” of smoking and vaping was not associated with a patient’s desire to stop smoking. (Cancer)

Differences in cancer treatment and access to treatment, not genetics, may be the driving force in racial disparities in prostate cancer outcomes. (Lancet Digital Health)

Lack of educational materials and training hampers clinicians’ ability to help patients who have cancer-associated loss of taste. (Supportive Care in Cancer)

A program of low-impact meditative movement that involves the Chinese traditional practice of qigong showed promise for relieving cancer-related fatigue. (Integrative Cancer Therapies)

Women lacking certain types of fruits and vegetables in their diet had an increased risk of high-risk HPV infections. (LSU Health, Journal of Infectious Diseases)

Growing evidence supports a single dose of HPV vaccine — as opposed to the currently recommended two to three doses — for protection lasting as long as 3 years. (CNN)

Durvalumab (Imfinzi) plus platinum-based chemotherapy, with or without subsequent olaparib (Lynparza) as maintenance therapy, significantly improved progression-free survival in advanced endometrial cancer in the phase III DUO-E trial, AstraZeneca announced.

Blueprint Medicines announced that the FDA expanded approval of avapritinib (Ayvakit) to include indolent systemic mastocytosis (SM), in addition to advanced SM.

MEI Pharma announced an “encouraging preliminary efficacy signal” from a phase I trial of the company’s CDK9 inhibitor voruciclib, alone or in combination with venetoclax (Venclexta), in acute myeloid leukemia and B-cell malignancies.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting begins a week from today in Chicago, and MedPage Today has advance coverage of some of the key studies that will be reported at the meeting.