Vital Care Express

stethoscopeOncology

The latest oncology news and research from Vital Care Express, with the questions patients and clinicians actually ask.

A personalized mRNA cancer vaccine just passed its first phase 3 test in melanoma, and that has never happened before

Merck and Moderna say their custom-built mRNA vaccine, added to Keytruda, cut the chance of melanoma coming back in a 1,137-patient phase 3 trial, the first time an individualized cancer vaccine has won a trial this size, though the companies have not yet shown the actual numbers

A gene test just spared two thirds of high-risk breast cancer patients from chemotherapy, and the cancer came back no more often

A 4,429-patient international trial let a 50-gene tumour test decide who needed chemotherapy for hormone-driven early breast cancer, and 68% safely skipped it with almost identical survival five years on

STAR-TREC Trial Shows 5-Week Chemoradiotherapy Spares 80% of Rectal Cancer Surgery

An international trial of more than 500 early-stage rectal cancer patients found that a five-week course of chemoradiotherapy let four in five keep their rectum and avoid radical surgery at one year, sparing many a permanent stoma, though the long-term results are still to come