Many of today’s new drug approvals and standard-of-care treatments have a companion diagnostic test that identifies biomarkers in a patient’s tumor tissue or blood to determine whether they are an appropriate candidate for the therapy. When those results show that they’re not a good match for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatment, the findings may identify a biomarker-directed clinical trial as an alternative option. Here’s how oncology nurses can help patients understand which clinical trials listed on their test results might be an option for them.

Katrina A.B. Goddard, PhD, a genetic epidemiologist who worked on 25 federally funded research studies, is the director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) as of October 2021, where she oversees a range of cancer-related research.

Patients with cancer are more likely to contract the COVID-19 coronavirus and experience complications from the infection—and the risk is highest for Black patients, study findings show. Researchers published the report in JAMA Oncology.

Clinical trials are led by a principal investigator (PI) with a research team that may include physicians, nurses, social workers, and other healthcare professionals. PIs can represent a variety of disciplines, and nurse scientists often hold that role.

Racial inequality persists across the entire healthcare spectrum—from patient disparities to the healthcare workforce’s current makeup and even to the education of the next generation of practitioners. But nurse scientists conducting clinical trials have the opportunity to change that.

Under a newly refreshed strategy, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Innovation Center is expanding models in the healthcare industry that reduce program costs and improving quality and outcomes for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, the agency announced in an October 2021 white paper.

Adolescent and young adults (AYAs)—those diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 39—comprise about 5% of all annual cancer diagnoses. The population has unique challenges that must be considered as part of patient-centered survivorship care planning.

Among the many online resources for identifying cancer clinical trials, including the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NCI-designated cancer centers or academic cancer centers, and drug and biotechnology companies, ClinicalTrials.gov may be the most comprehensive as a one-stop shop for patients and providers to find publicly and privately supported trials for patients.

The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) is calling all oncology nurses to become fluent in the ONS Genomics Taxonomy terms and to use them in their practice. Using consistent and correct genomics terminology minimizes confusion and misconceptions and contributes to the high quality and safe delivery of cancer care.

On December 7, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported Teligent Pharma’s voluntary recall of two lots of lidocaine HCl topical solution 4% in a 50 ml screw cap glass bottle to the user level. The manufacturer’s testing found that the product is super potent based on an out-of-specification result at the 9-month (lot 16345) and 18-month (lot 15594) stability timepoint.