ASCO AND PROGRESS

At the Whitman Mission

ASCO codes for American Society of Clinical Oncologists.  ASCO recently held its annual meeting, in Chicago.  About 30,000 abstracts were submitted, from 80 countries around the world.  How many were accepted, I do not know, but I would guess – a slew.  In addition there were workshops, panel discussions, ceremonial dinners, etc.  Maybe even tickets to Wrigley Field.  In other words, ASCO is a big deal.

As you would guess, my OVCA news sources have been jammed with articles summarizing goings on at ASCO.  Many of them describe new drugs said to be “breakthroughs”, or at the very least important new developments.  Alas, on closer inspection most of these fall into the category “seven of ten women experienced significant PFS (Progression-Free Survival)”.  In other words, “this stuff looks promising.  Check back in a few years.”

As you might guess, lots of this chatter emanates from drug companies or stock-market analysts.  Nothing necessarily wrong about this; in fact, it can be useful, because these folks are trying to communicate with you and me, not cancer biologists.  The result often is something a person without an M.D. or PhD can hope to understand.  This is illustrated by the link below.  Notice that it was written by Fierce Biotech – definitely not a cancer research laboratory!

All that aside, I am encouraged that so many smart people are striving to cure cancer.  It will happen, piecemeal - all in good time.

http://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/first-class-drug-for-ovarian-cancer-shows-promise-at-asco