Biden Cancer Update; ‘Big Bet’ on Vaccines; Tucatinib Breast Cancer Approval Expands

The treatment for former President Joe Biden’s metastatic prostate cancer, which has spread to the bone, has been “like torture,” according to an update from his son, Hunter Biden. (OK!)

Republican congressional candidate Doug Ollivant from Virginia said he’s been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. (Fredericksburg Free Press)

How did cancer develop in newborn twins? (Nature Communications)

The NIH is placing a “big bet” on an accelerated initiative for therapeutic cancer vaccines, most of which use mRNA technology. (New York Times)

In combination with daratumumab (Darzalex) and dexamethasone, iberdomide (Zenbexus) significantly improved minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative complete response rates over bortezomib (Velcade) for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma in the first stage of the phase III EXCALIBER-RRMM study. (Lancet Oncology)

A phase III trial of investigational firmonertinib as first-line treatment for nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer harboring EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations failed to meet its primary endpoint of progression-free survival, ArriVent announced.

Germline sequencing of nearly 40,000 unselected patients with solid malignancies detected a substantial number of pathogenic variant carriers who would normally have been missed with the standard approach of testing only in patients under 50 years of age. (Cancer Discovery)

A noninvasive RNA urine test may be able to diagnose bladder cancer more accurately than standard methods, as well as assess response to therapy. (Stanford Medicine)

Researchers identified a genetic alteration that helps some large B-cell lymphomas resist CAR T-cell treatment. (Blood Cancer Discovery)

Caribou Biosciences is laying off staff and discontinuing research on two off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies, including vispacabtagene regedleucel for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. (Biopharma Dive)

The FDA approved tucatinib (Tukysa) in combination with trastuzumab and pertuzumab (Perjeta) for the first-line maintenance treatment of metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer.

Research suggests exercise can improve cancer survival, but access to these programs is limited. (New York Times)

A new Maryland state law requires mammography centers to inform patients if their scans show evidence of breast arterial calcification — calcium deposits within breast arteries linked to an elevated risk for heart disease. (Washington Post)