PPIs Linked to Worse Outcomes With Widely Used Breast Cancer Drug
Using proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) during treatment with palbociclib (Ibrance) was linked to higher risks of progression and death among patients with breast cancer, according to a retrospective cohort study from South Korea. Among over 1,300 women, the median clinical progression-free survival (PFS) in the group taking both a PPI and palbociclib was 25.3 months […]
Some NSCLC Patients on ICI Therapy Fare Worse With Proton Pump Inhibitor Use
Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use was independently associated with worse treatment outcomes in some patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) on immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy with pembrolizumab (Keytruda), according to a Japanese multicenter cohort study. Among patients with a PD-L1 tumor proportion score (TPS) of 50% or more, a history of PPI use […]
Alzheimer’s Drug Wins Full FDA Approval
Lecanemab (Leqembi) became the first Alzheimer’s treatment targeted at the disease process to win full FDA approval, the agency announced today. “Today’s action is the first verification that a drug targeting the underlying disease process of Alzheimer’s disease has shown clinical benefit in this devastating disease,” said Teresa Buracchio, MD, acting director of the Office […]
FDA Gives Nod to Gene Therapy for Hemophilia A
The FDA approved valoctocogene roxaparvovec (Roctavian) as the first gene therapy for the treatment of adults with severe hemophilia A, drug developer Biomarin announced on Thursday. Patients with severe disease are eligible for the one-time, single-dose treatment if they don’t have antibodies to adeno-associated virus serotype 5 (AAV5), as detected by an FDA-approved test. FDA […]
Pete Davidson Enters Rehab For Mental Health Struggles
Pete Davidson has entered treatment for his mental health. The “Saturday Night Live” alum is receiving inpatient care at a Pennsylvania rehab facility for issues around his post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder, Page Six reported on Wednesday. A source close to the star confirmed the news to People, telling the magazine Davidson was […]
Shorter Antibiotic Course Not as Effective for Children With UTIs
Abbreviated antibiotic treatment didn’t measure up for children with urinary tract infection (UTI), the SCOUT trial found. Stopping antibiotics when symptoms improved after an initial 5-day course yielded a 4.1% rate of persistent symptomatic UTI by follow-up at day 11-14 compared with 0.6% when kids had the full 10-day course, Nader Shaikh, MD, MPH, of […]
Dexamethasone or Surgery for Chronic Subdural Hematoma?
Dexamethasone treatment failed to demonstrate noninferiority to surgery for chronic subdural hematoma and was associated with more complications and a greater risk of later surgery, according to results of a randomized study terminated early due to safety and outcome concerns. In the DECSA trial, the odds ratio of a better functional outcome score with dexamethasone […]
High-Dose Leptin Reversed Severe Genetic Obesity in Two Patients
Personalized recombinant leptin treatment helped reverse severe, early-onset obesity in two children carrying rare antagonistic leptin genetic variants, a study showed. In the double case report, two unrelated children — a 14-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl — presented with what appeared to be leptin dysfunction, marked by intense hyperphagia, lack of satiety, and severe […]
Chemo-Free Approach Works in Subset of Patients With HER2+ Early Breast Cancer
CHICAGO — An “adaptive response” treatment strategy identified a subset of patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer who benefited from a chemotherapy-free treatment plan, according to the phase II PHERGain trial. The strategy is based on evaluating an early response to a dual HER2 blockade with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and pertuzumab (Perjeta) with 18F-FDG PET imaging […]
Certain Toxic Effects Higher With Newer Prostate Cancer Therapies
Second-generation anti-androgens (AAs) for the treatment of prostate cancer are associated with an increased risk of cognitive and functional toxic effects, according to results from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Across 12 randomized trials involving over 13,000 patients, increased risks of cognitive toxic effects (risk ratio [RR] 2.10, 95% CI 1.30-3.38, P=0.002) and fatigue (RR […]