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Associated Press
01-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Initial Data from the ARC-20 Study of Casdatifan Plus Cabozantinib Showed Nearly Half of Patients with Metastatic Kidney Cancer Had a Confirmed Response
HAYWARD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 1, 2025-- Arcus Biosciences, Inc. (NYSE:RCUS), a clinical-stage, global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing differentiated molecules and combination therapies for people with cancer, today presented the first data for casdatifan plus cabozantinib in an oral presentation by Dr. Toni K. Choueiri, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. 'I was very encouraged to see that nearly half of patients had a confirmed response to the casdatifan plus cabozantinib combination despite short follow-up,' said Toni K. Choueiri, M.D., director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary (GU) Oncology at Dana-Farber, the Jerome and Nancy Kohlberg Chair and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and lead investigator of ARC-20. 'Casdatifan plus cabozantinib was well tolerated, and the safety profile was consistent with that of either agent alone, supporting their potential as a combination therapy. I look forward to enrolling patients into the PEAK-1 trial as soon as it is open.' 'The initial data for casdatifan plus cabozantinib in the ARC-20 study have already exceeded the historic benchmarks for either agent alone, as well as that of another HIF-2a inhibitor plus cabozantinib in the same second-line setting,' said Terry Rosen, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Arcus. 'These data serve as the proof of concept for PEAK-1, which will be initiated in the coming weeks and is designed to generate evidence to change the standard of care for people who have progressed on prior immunotherapy treatment.' ARC-20 is a Phase 1/1b dose-escalation and expansion study that includes a cohort evaluating once-daily 100mg of casdatifan plus 60mg of cabozantinib in patients with ccRCC who had progressed on prior immunotherapy. At the time of the data cutoff (DCO, March 14, 2025), 42 participants were evaluable for safety, and 24 reached at least 12 weeks of follow-up and were evaluable for efficacy. Among the safety-evaluable population (N=42), most participants (79%) had an International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) risk factor of intermediate or poor. Nearly half (46%) of the efficacy-evaluable population (N=24) achieved a confirmed response per RECIST 1.1, and only one patient had primary progressive disease. The vast majority of the efficacy-evaluable population remains on treatment. In the safety-evaluable population, no unexpected safety risks were identified at the time of DCO, and casdatifan plus cabozantinib had an acceptable safety profile with no meaningful overlapping toxicity for the two drugs. Only two patients discontinued any drug, and no patients discontinued treatment with both drugs. The incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) with casdatifan, particularly anemia and hypoxia, was similar to TEAEs observed with casdatifan monotherapy, and there were no casdatifan-related Grade 4 or 5 adverse events. The incidence of TEAEs associated with each drug was consistent with what is expected for each drug alone. A summary of the efficacy and safety results is below. Arcus is pursuing a broad development program in both the immuno-oncology (IO)-naive and post-IO settings with differentiated combinations to maximize the opportunity for casdatifan in ccRCC. These studies include: Investors may dial in to the conference call at +1 404 975 4839 (local) or +1 833 470 1428 (toll-free) using Conference ID: 446724 on Monday, June 2, 2025, at 5:00 AM PT / 7:00 AM CT. Participants may also register for the call online using the following link: To access the live webcast and accompanying slide presentation, please visit the 'Investors & Media' section of the Arcus Biosciences website at A replay will be available following the live event. About Casdatifan (AB521) Casdatifan is a small-molecule inhibitor of HIF-2a, a transcription factor responsible for activating multiple tumor growth pathways in hypoxic and pseudo-hypoxic tumor environments. By selectively binding HIF-2a, casdatifan is designed to shut down hypoxic oncogenesis and key oncogenic pathways, which leads to cancer cell death. Clear cell renal cell carcinoma is almost universally associated with HIF-2a dysregulation. Casdatifan is currently being evaluated in ARC-20, a Phase 1/1b study in renal cell carcinoma. Casdatifan is an investigational molecule. Approval from any regulatory authority for its use has not been received, and its safety and efficacy have not been established. About RCC According to the American Cancer Society, kidney cancer is among the top 10 most commonly diagnosed forms of cancer among both men and women in the U.S., and an estimated 80,980 Americans will be diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2025. Clear cell RCC is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults. If detected in its early stages, the five-year survival rate for RCC is high; for patients with advanced or late-stage metastatic RCC, however, the five-year survival rate is only 18%. In 2022, approximately 32,200 patients with advanced kidney cancer required systemic therapy in the U.S., with over 20,000 patients receiving first-line treatment. About Arcus Biosciences Arcus Biosciences is a clinical-stage, global biopharmaceutical company developing differentiated molecules and combination therapies for people with cancer. In partnership with industry collaborators, patients and physicians around the world, Arcus is expediting the development of first- or best-in-class medicines against well-characterized biological targets and pathways and studying novel, biology-driven combinations that have the potential to help people with cancer live longer. Founded in 2015, the company has advanced multiple investigational medicines into registrational clinical trials including domvanalimab, an Fc-silent anti-TIGIT antibody being studied in combination with zimberelimab, an anti-PD-1 antibody, for upper gastrointestinal and non-small cell lung cancer, casdatifan, a HIF-2a inhibitor for clear cell renal cell carcinoma, and quemliclustat, a small-molecule CD73 inhibitor for pancreatic cancer. For more information about Arcus Biosciences' clinical and preclinical programs, please visit Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements regarding events or results to occur in the future contained herein are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, the statements in Dr. Choueiri's and Dr. Rosen's quotes and statements regarding: the potency, efficacy or safety of casdatifan, including its potential for a best-in-class profile and potential as a combination therapy; and Arcus's development plans for the casdatifan program, including expected timing and design for new studies and cohorts and plans for generating data to support initiation of future studies. All forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other important factors that may cause Arcus's actual results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to risks associated with: interim data not being replicated in future studies evaluating the same investigational molecules or regimen; the unexpected emergence of adverse events or other undesirable side effects with casdatifan; risks associated with manufacturing or supplying product for such clinical trials; uncertainties in timelines associated with the conduct of clinical studies and with respect to the regulatory application process; difficulties associated with the management of the collaboration activities with our strategic partners or expanded clinical programs; changes in the competitive landscape for Arcus's programs; and the inherent uncertainty associated with pharmaceutical product development and clinical trials. Risks and uncertainties facing Arcus are described more fully in the 'Risk Factors' section of Arcus's most recent periodic report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Arcus disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update, supplement or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this press release except to the extent required by law. The Arcus name and logo are trademarks of Arcus Biosciences, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners. View source version on CONTACT: Investor Inquiries: Pia Eaves VP of Investor Relations & Strategy (617) 459-2006 [email protected] Inquiries: Holli Kolkey VP of Corporate Affairs (650) 922-1269 [email protected] Bassiri AD, Corporate Communications (510) 406-8520 [email protected] KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ONCOLOGY HEALTH CLINICAL TRIALS RESEARCH SCIENCE PHARMACEUTICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY SOURCE: Arcus Biosciences Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 06/01/2025 10:45 AM/DISC: 06/01/2025 10:46 AM
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Cancer vaccine shows promising results for certain patients
There could be new hope on the horizon for kidney cancer patients in the form of an experimental vaccine. Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Yale Cancer Center and other universities have announced early findings from a study of an anti-tumor vaccine for patients with advanced kidney cancer. "Patients with stage 3 or 4 kidney cancer are at high risk of recurrence," said co-senior author and co-principal investigator Toni Choueiri, MD, director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Cancer at Dana-Farber, in a press release. Disease Starts On Your Plate, Cardiologist Says — Here's What To Change "The tools we have to lower that risk are not perfect, and we are relentlessly looking for more." After undergoing surgery to remove a malignant tumor, the study's nine participants received a cancer vaccine that was intended to "train" their immune systems to identify and attack any lingering cancer cells, according to the press release. Read On The Fox News App Each vaccine was personalized to match the individual patient's tumor type based on cancer cells that were removed during surgery. These cells contain "neoantigens," which are "tiny fragments of mutant proteins," the release stated. The researchers used "predictive algorithms" to determine which neoantigens should be included in the vaccine to provide the highest level of immunity. Prostate Cancer Cases Spike In This Us State As Doctors Share Likely Reason Five of the patients also received ipilimumab, a type of immunotherapy drug. All nine patients showed a "successful anti-cancer immune response" after getting the vaccine. After an average of 34.7 months, they all remained cancer-free. Within three weeks of receiving the vaccine, patients showed an "immune response," with T-cells spiking by more than 166 times, the release said. (T-cells, also known as T lymphocytes, are immune cells that help to fight cancer and prevent infection.) In the study, the T cells were found to remain in the patient's body for up to three years and attacked the existing tumor cells. "We observed a rapid, substantial, and durable expansion of new T cell clones related to the vaccine," said Patrick Ott, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Cancer Vaccines at Dana-Farber. "These results support the feasibility of creating a highly immunogenic personalized neoantigen vaccine in a lower mutation burden tumor and are encouraging, though larger-scale studies will be required to fully understand the clinical efficacy of this approach." The results of the clinical trial were reported in the journal Nature on Feb. 5. "We're very excited about these results, which show such a positive response in all nine patients with kidney cancer," Choueiri noted. For most stage 3 or 4 kidney cancer patients, the standard treatment is surgical removal of the tumor, which is often followed by an immunotherapy drug called Pembrolizumab (Keytruda). Common Cancer Type Could Be Detected With New Blood Test "Pembrolizumab induces an immune response that reduces the risk of the cancer coming back," according to Dana-Farber. "However, about two-thirds of patients can still recur and have limited treatment options." First author David A. Braun, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and physician-scientist at Yale Cancer Center and Yale School of Medicine, noted that the approach used in this study was "truly distinct from vaccine attempts in kidney cancer." "We pick targets that are unique to the cancer and different from any normal part of the body, so the immune system can be effectively 'steered' toward the cancer in a very specific way," Braun said in the release. "We learned which specific targets in the cancer are most susceptible to immune attack and demonstrated that this approach can generate long-lasting immune responses, directing the immune system to recognize cancer. We believe this work can form a foundation for the development of neoantigen vaccines in kidney cancer." Charles Nguyen, MD, a medical oncologist who specializes in kidney cancer at City of Hope in Orange County, California, noted that kidney cancer is among the 10 most common cancers among men and women in the U.S. "Patients with early stage (localized) kidney cancer are often first treated with surgery to remove the tumor — however, many patients have a risk of the cancer coming back years after surgery, and there is a great interest in finding ways to lower the risk of cancer recurrence," Nguyen, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. "This exciting clinical trial evaluated a personalized cancer vaccine that uses genetic information from each patient's cancer to train and enhance the patient's immune system to recognize the cancer and prevent it from recurring." While Nguyen acknowledged that this was a small study, all nine patients who received the vaccine were cancer-free even three years later. "This is a very exciting and promising tool for many of our patients with kidney cancer, where we can one day make a cure possible for all." Some patients did experience side effects from the vaccine, including local reactions at the vaccine injection site and flu-like symptoms, although "no higher-grade side effects were reported." Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter The researchers also acknowledged that there were some limitations associated with the study. "There were limitations in the antigen-prediction tools available at the time and in the ability to target only a single antigen," they wrote. "Moreover, it was conducted in the setting of active metastatic disease in a number of study participants." Future research with larger clinical trials are planned to confirm the vaccine's effectiveness and full potential, the release stated. For more Health articles, visit Funding for this study was provided by the Gateway for Cancer Research, the U.S. Department of Defense, Yale Cancer Center, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Trust Family Foundation, Michael Brigham, Pan-Mass Challenge, Hinda L. and Arthur Marcus Foundation, The Loker Pinard Fund for Kidney Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Conquer Cancer Foundation/Sontag Foundation, the release article source: Cancer vaccine shows promising results for certain patients
Fox News
12-02-2025
- Health
- Fox News
New cancer vaccine shows promising results for certain patients
There could be new hope on the horizon for kidney cancer patients in the form of an experimental vaccine. Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Yale Cancer Center and other universities have announced early findings from a study of an anti-tumor vaccine for patients with advanced kidney cancer. "Patients with stage 3 or 4 kidney cancer are at high risk of recurrence," said co-senior author and co-principal investigator Toni Choueiri, MD, director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Cancer at Dana-Farber, in a press release. "The tools we have to lower that risk are not perfect, and we are relentlessly looking for more." After undergoing surgery to remove a malignant tumor, the study's nine participants received a cancer vaccine that was intended to "train" their immune systems to identify and attack any lingering cancer cells, according to the press release. Each vaccine was personalized to match the individual patient's tumor type based on cancer cells that were removed during surgery. These cells contain "neoantigens," which are "tiny fragments of mutant proteins," the release stated. The researchers used "predictive algorithms" to determine which neoantigens should be included in the vaccine to provide the highest level of immunity. Five of the patients also received ipilimumab, a type of immunotherapy drug. All nine patients showed a "successful anti-cancer immune response" after getting the vaccine. After an average of 34.7 months, they all remained cancer-free. Within three weeks of receiving the vaccine, patients showed an "immune response," with T-cells spiking by more than 166 times, the release said. (T-cells, also known as T lymphocytes, are immune cells that help to fight cancer and prevent infection.) "The tools we have to lower that risk are not perfect and we are relentlessly looking for more." In the study, the T cells were found to remain in the patient's body for up to three years and attacked the existing tumor cells. "We observed a rapid, substantial, and durable expansion of new T cell clones related to the vaccine," said Patrick Ott, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Cancer Vaccines at Dana-Farber. "These results support the feasibility of creating a highly immunogenic personalized neoantigen vaccine in a lower mutation burden tumor and are encouraging, though larger-scale studies will be required to fully understand the clinical efficacy of this approach." The results of the clinical trial were reported in the journal Nature on Feb. 5. "We're very excited about these results, which show such a positive response in all nine patients with kidney cancer," Choueiri noted. For most stage 3 or 4 kidney cancer patients, the standard treatment is surgical removal of the tumor, which is often followed by an immunotherapy drug called Pembrolizumab (Keytruda). "Pembrolizumab induces an immune response that reduces the risk of the cancer coming back," according to Dana-Farber. "However, about two-thirds of patients can still recur and have limited treatment options." First author David A. Braun, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and physician-scientist at Yale Cancer Center and Yale School of Medicine, noted that the approach used in this study was "truly distinct from vaccine attempts in kidney cancer." "We pick targets that are unique to the cancer and different from any normal part of the body, so the immune system can be effectively 'steered' toward the cancer in a very specific way," Braun said in the release. "We learned which specific targets in the cancer are most susceptible to immune attack and demonstrated that this approach can generate long-lasting immune responses, directing the immune system to recognize cancer. We believe this work can form a foundation for the development of neoantigen vaccines in kidney cancer." Charles Nguyen, MD, a medical oncologist who specializes in kidney cancer at City of Hope in Orange County, California, noted that kidney cancer is among the 10 most common cancers among men and women in the U.S. "This is a very exciting and promising tool for many of our patients with kidney cancer, where we can one day make a cure possible for all." "Patients with early stage (localized) kidney cancer are often first treated with surgery to remove the tumor — however, many patients have a risk of the cancer coming back years after surgery, and there is a great interest in finding ways to lower the risk of cancer recurrence," Nguyen, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. "This exciting clinical trial evaluated a personalized cancer vaccine that uses genetic information from each patient's cancer to train and enhance the patient's immune system to recognize the cancer and prevent it from recurring." While Nguyen acknowledged that this was a small study, all nine patients who received the vaccine were cancer-free even three years later. "This is a very exciting and promising tool for many of our patients with kidney cancer, where we can one day make a cure possible for all." Some patients did experience side effects from the vaccine, including local reactions at the vaccine injection site and flu-like symptoms, although "no higher-grade side effects were reported." The researchers also acknowledged that there were some limitations associated with the study. "There were limitations in the antigen-prediction tools available at the time and in the ability to target only a single antigen," they wrote. "Moreover, it was conducted in the setting of active metastatic disease in a number of study participants." Future research with larger clinical trials are planned to confirm the vaccine's effectiveness and full potential, the release stated. For more Health articles, visit Funding for this study was provided by the Gateway for Cancer Research, the U.S. Department of Defense, Yale Cancer Center, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Trust Family Foundation, Michael Brigham, Pan-Mass Challenge, Hinda L. and Arthur Marcus Foundation, The Loker Pinard Fund for Kidney Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Conquer Cancer Foundation/Sontag Foundation, the release stated.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Personalized vaccine offers hope for patients with late-stage kidney cancer, clinical trial shows
Cancer researchers are one step closer to developing an effective vaccine to treat people with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common type of kidney cancer among adults. In an early-stage clinical trial led by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, a personalized vaccine prompted an anti-cancer immune response in all nine participants. These patients had been diagnosed with advanced disease and were given the vaccine after their tumors had been surgically removed. All remained cancer-free after a median follow-up period of just under three years. The trial results were published Feb. 5 in the journal Nature. 'Patients with Stage 3 or 4 kidney cancer are at high risk of recurrence,' Dr. Toni Choueiri, director of Dana-Farber's Lank Center for Genitourinary Cancer, said in a news release about the research. 'The tools we have to lower that risk are not perfect and we are relentlessly looking for more.' Tumor removal is the current standard of late-stage ccRCC treatment. In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration approved Keytruda (pembrolizumab), an immunotherapy manufactured by Fortune 500 firm Merck, for post-surgical use in people with kidney cancer. While Keytruda may help lower a person's risk of cancer recurrence, it doesn't work for all patients. Trial researchers, in a sense, manipulated each patient's cancer in an attempt to prevent it from coming back. That is, they fashioned personalized vaccines using the very fabric of the tumors that had been removed. From the tumor tissue, researchers extracted neoantigens, which are bits of mutated proteins unique to cancer cells. Predictive algorithms helped the team gauge which neoantigens might elicit an immune response and should therefore be included in the vaccine. Dana-Farber has dubbed this biotechnology, which trains the immune system to destroy any remaining cancer cells, NeoVax. Previous research has shown NeoVax to be potentially effective in treating melanoma. This form of skin cancer has more mutations than ccRCC, meaning it offers physician-scientists more neoantigens to draw from. That NeoVax appears promising in the treatment of kidney cancer is a win, researchers said. 'This approach is truly distinct from vaccine attempts in kidney cancer,' study coauthor Dr. David Braun, formerly of Dana-Farber and now a medical oncologist at Yale Cancer Center, said in the news release. 'We pick targets that are unique to the cancer and different from any normal part of the body, so the immune system can be effectively 'steered' toward the cancer in a very specific way. 'We learned which specific targets in the cancer are most susceptible to immune attack and demonstrated that this approach can generate long-lasting immune responses, directing the immune system to recognize cancer. We believe this work can form a foundation for the development of neoantigen vaccines in kidney cancer.' Braun and Choueiri administered personalized vaccines to the nine trial patients, five of whom also received Yervoy (ipilimumab), an immunotherapy made by Fortune 500 company Bristol-Myers Squibb. Within three weeks, the vaccine triggered a promising immune response. 'We observed a rapid, substantial, and durable expansion of new T-cell clones related to the vaccine,' Dr. Patrick Ott, director of Dana-Farber's Center for Cancer Vaccines, said in the news release. T cells are a type of white blood cell critical to the immune system. Ott added that while the results are encouraging, 'larger-scale studies will be required to fully understand the clinical efficacy of this approach.' In the meantime, Choueiri is involved in a mid-stage Merck-led trial, in which nearly 300 patients with kidney cancer are being given Keytruda and either a placebo or a personalized immunization similar to NeoVax. For more on cancer: Just one alcoholic drink a day can increase your risk of cancer. But most Americans don't know the dangers, new survey says A 5-minute test can estimate your odds of developing breast cancer—but not if you're biracial Merck-AstraZeneca breast cancer drug reduces risk of death by 28% in patients diagnosed early, clinical trial shows Women get dismissed by doctors—and it's led to devastating consequences for cancer, says the OB/GYN Olivia Munn credits with saving her life Virtual colonoscopy lets you skip the scope. Here's what to know about the colorectal cancer screening Mark Cuban says saves time and money This story was originally featured on
Reuters
07-02-2025
- Health
- Reuters
Health Rounds: Vaccine keeps advanced kidney cancer from recurring
Feb 7 (Reuters) - Patients with advanced kidney cancer who received an experimental vaccine after their tumors were removed were still cancer-free years later in a small early-stage trial, researchers reported in Nature, opens new tab. These were patients "where you know the risk of the cancer coming back is very high," said Dr. Toni Choueiri of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, who helped lead the study. "And after a median follow up of almost four years, none of the nine vaccinated patients has experienced a recurrence from their kidney cancer." Standard treatment for stage III or stage IV clear cell renal cell carcinoma is surgery followed by immunotherapy with Merck's (MRK.N), opens new tab Keytruda. In most patients, however, the cancer recurs, typically within three years, and there are no good treatments at that point. The new vaccine is "personalized," meaning it is designed to train the patient's immune system to recognize and eliminate any remaining cells of that person's cancer. Using tumor samples removed during surgery, the researchers identified neoantigens, which are tiny fragments of mutant proteins that exist in the cancer but not in any other cells in the body. Then they determined which of these neoantigens to include in the vaccine based on the likelihood that the immune system would respond strongly to them. "We pick targets that are unique to the cancer and different from any normal part of the body, so the immune system can be effectively 'steered' towards the cancer in a very specific way," study co-author Dr. David Braun of Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut said in a statement. Working with Merck, the researchers are now testing a similar kidney cancer vaccine in a randomized trial with 272 patients. In the meantime, Choueiri said, "We're very excited about these results." AT-HOME URINE TEST SCREENS FOR PROSTATE CANCER A simple at-home urine test is highly accurate at screening for prostate cancer, according to researchers. Traditional prostate cancer screening starts with a blood test to measure levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein produced by the prostate gland. But the results are frequently unreliable, often leading to biopsies that turn out to have been unnecessary because no cancer was present. The new test, which analyzes 18 genes associated with prostate cancer, "is highly accurate for ruling out the presence of clinically significant prostate cancers - those that merit treatment - so that patients with a negative test result can confidently avoid having to undergo MRI or biopsy," study leader Dr. Jeffrey Tosoian of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said in a statement. Tosoian and colleagues had previously validated the urine test in men who also underwent digital rectal exams to detect prostate cancer. The new study found the test - MyProstateScore 2.0, from biotechnology startup Lynx Dx of Ann Arbor, Michigan - was just as accurate on its own, they reported in The Journal of Urology, opens new tab. "Rectal exams are no fun," Tosoian said. "These findings will increase the impact of the (urine) test, as it can now be used for at-home testing." In the study of 266 men, including 103 with at least grade group 2, or moderately aggressive, prostate cancer, the noninvasive urine test "would have allowed patients with an elevated PSA to avoid 34-53% of unnecessary biopsies," Tosoian said. If the test is eventually proven to be similarly accurate in patients being monitored for progression of low-risk prostate cancers, it could potentially "eliminate or reduce the need for prostate biopsies during active surveillance," Tosoian said. CONTACT LENSES KEEP NEARSIGHTEDNESS FROM WORSENING IN KIDS Nearsighted children and teens who wear bifocal contact lenses to prevent their vision impairment from worsening do not lose the benefits of the treatment once they stop wearing the lenses, according to new research. Normally, eye length grows quickly in early childhood, then slows down until it stops around age 12. In myopia, or near-sightedness, the eye's axial length grows too quickly and can continue to grow into the late teens. Slowing this elongation can control myopia. In an attempt to keep their nearsighted eyes from growing too much, the 235 youngsters in the study, ages 11 to 17, wore soft multifocal contact lenses with a high level of correction for near vision for two years. The lenses significantly curbed abnormal lengthening of the eyes, and slowed or prevented worsening of the children's near-sightedness. But the researchers wondered whether discontinuing the treatment might cause a rebound of faster-than-normal eye growth that would wipe out the benefit. During a third year when the children switched to wearing single-vision contact lenses, the researchers saw no evidence that the treatment effect declined, they reported in JAMA Ophthalmology, opens new tab. "You don't lose the benefits that you gain with this treatment," study leader Dr. Jeffrey Walline of the Ohio State University said in a statement. The treatment landscape for nearsighted children "is a burgeoning area," Walline said. "The standard of care has switched from providing kids with single-vision glasses or contact lenses to things that slow down the progression of myopia, or the growth of the eye," such as contact lenses or atropine eye drops. With regard to these new treatments, an editorial, opens new tab published with the study noted that "the fundamental question remains: will myopia control treatments in childhood decrease the lifetime risk of visual impairment from sequelae, such as retinal detachment and myopic macular degeneration?" "If so, then we will know that these interventions are truly impactful," it added.
