Login to your account
Don’t have an account?
Create a Free Account
The Lancet Oncology Homepage
-
Overall survival benefits of cancer drugs initially approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on the basis of immature survival data: a retrospective analysis
Fewer than a third of indications approved with immature survival data showed a statistically significant overall survival benefit after approval. Notable inconsistencies in timing and availability of information after approval across different sources emphasise the need for better reporting standards. -
Effect of Project Orbis participation by the Swiss regulator on submission gaps, review times, and drug approval decisions between 2020 and 2022: a comparative analysis
Submission gap and review time for oncology applications at Swissmedic were significantly reduced by participation in Project Orbis, and approval consensus decisions were increased between agencies. These findings suggests that participating in Project Orbis could lead to faster patient access to drugs. -
Global cooperation and early access—clinical outcomes matter
In modern cancer drug development, surrogate measures are commonly used as clinical trial endpoints instead of more definitive clinical outcomes such as overall survival, with the goal of expediting the development and approval of new drugs. The prevalence of surrogate measures is driven by improved understanding of the basis of cancer and a desire to reduce costs and time, resulting in studies that require smaller sample sizes and shorter follow-up. Regulatory bodies around the world, such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), also accept trials using surrogate measures to expedite patient access to new treatments. -
Pembrolizumab monotherapy for high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer without carcinoma in situ and unresponsive to BCG (KEYNOTE-057): a single-arm, multicentre, phase 2 trial
Pembrolizumab monotherapy showed antitumour activity and manageable toxicity in patients with BCG-unresponsive high-risk Ta or T1 bladder cancer without carcinoma in situ and could potentially be a suitable treatment option for patients who decline or are ineligible for radical cystectomy. Findings will need to be confirmed in a randomised controlled trial.
Gynaecological cancers
The Lancet Oncology
Published: July 25, 2022
In view of the prevalence of gynaecological cancers and the substantial burden these diseases have on women around the world, coordinated efforts are still very much needed to optimise treatments for these cancers.
In the first paper in this Series, Ignace Vergote and colleagues present the consensus recommendations from the sixth Gynecologic Cancer InterGroup (GCIG) Ovarian Cancer Consensus Conference on Clinical Research. In the second paper, Maria Kyrgiou and colleagues present the 2022 consensus recommendations on the terminology for cone dimensions after local conservative treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and early invasive cervical cancer from the European Society of Gynaecologic Oncology, the European Federation for Colposcopy, the International Federation of Cervical Pathology and Colposcopy, and the European Society of Pathology. Development of evidence-based recommendations to accelerate innovation remains a crucial aspect of clinical practice and research in this area.
Disabilities and cancer
The Lancet Oncology
Published: March 28, 2022
In this two-part Series on cancer in people with disabilities, Lisa Iezzoni, and Anne Boonman and colleagues, address the urgent need to pay specific attention to the challenges and disparities faced by this heterogenous and vulnerable patient population. They highlight the need to improve the effectiveness and timeliness of cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes to provide more equitable cancer prevention and care. It is vital that both physical and attitudinal barriers to accessing cancer screening and treatment for people with disabilities, including inaccessible medical diagnostic equipment and ineffective communication, are overcome. They call for better collaboration between cancer care specialists and clinical researchers to generate a fuller understanding of the challenges encountered in health care systems so as to improve timely, accessible, and effective medical attention for patients with disabilities suffering from cancer.
Global Cancer Surgery: pragmatic solutions to improve cancer surgery outcomes worldwide
The Lancet Oncology
Published: November 1, 2023
In 2015, the Lancet Oncology Commission on Global Cancer Surgery focused on access to safe, affordable, and timely cancer surgery worldwide. It highlighted cancer surgery as integral to national cancer control plans and critically examined the state of global cancer surgery and changes in policy that might drive improvements in research, education, and systems of care across all income settings. In the 8 years since, progress has been made in some settings, but only marginal gains have been made worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic also affected surgical services, including in cancer care. The Lancet Oncology Commission on Global Cancer Surgery: pragmatic solutions to improve cancer surgery outcomes worldwide builds on the first Commission and focuses on solutions and actions to improve access to cancer surgery. It provides initiatives that are broad in scope, pragmatic, affordable, and contextually applicable and directed at cancer surgeons, leaders, administrators, elected officials, and health policy advocates, with the aim of addressing inequities and promoting safe, timely, and affordable cancer surgery for every patient, regardless of their socioeconomic status or geographic location.
European Groundshot—addressing Europe’s cancer research challenges: a Lancet Oncology Commission
The Lancet Oncology
Published: November 16, 2022
The European Groundshot—addressing Europe’s cancer research challenges: a Lancet Oncology Commission highlights the need to pick up the pace on cancer research in Europe. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed fragilities in health systems and halted many ongoing clinical trials in diseases other than COVID-19, including cancer. Late diagnosis and altered treatments will affect patients’ outcomes in the next decade. The geopolitics in Europe—with Brexit and the Russian invasion of Ukraine—is also altering the cancer research landscape. In this Commission, Mark Lawler and colleagues describe challenges for cancer research in Europe, including difficulties in implementation, poor infrastructure, and lack of real-world data. The authors also provide new analysis on disparities between and within countries in Europe in terms of survival, and research activity, output, and funding, advocating for a pan-European approach to overcome this issue.
Audio View More
Conferences in 2024: If you are presenting new research at major oncology conferences in the first 6 months of 2024, The Lancet Oncology would be very happy to hear from you to consider coordinated publication of your study.
Clinical picture quizzes: Our challenging multiple choice quizzes to accompany our Clinical Picture section are published every month; follow @thelancetoncol on X.
Equity, diversity, and inclusion: Advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is a commitment to health for all. Find out more about how we are advancing EDI in the work that we publish, our editorial policies, and our own workforce.
-
Cancer incidence, treatment, and survival in the prison population compared with the general population in England: a population-based, matched cohort study
Cancer incidence increased in people in prisons in England between 1998 and 2017, with patients in prison less likely to receive curative treatments and having lower overall survival than the general population. The association with survival was partly explained by accounting for differences in receipt of curative treatment and adjustment for diagnosis route. Improved routine cancer surveillance is needed to inform prison cancer policies and decrease inequalities for this under-researched population. -
Trastuzumab deruxtecan versus treatment of physician's choice in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (DESTINY-Breast02): patient-reported outcomes from a randomised, open-label, multicentre, phase 3 trial
Overall, GHS and quality of life were maintained for both treatment groups, with prespecified PRO variables favouring trastuzumab deruxtecan over treatment of physician's choice, suggesting that despite a longer treatment duration, there was no detrimental impact on patient health-related quality of life with trastuzumab deruxtecan. When considered with efficacy and safety data from DESTINY-Breast02, these results support the overall benefit of trastuzumab deruxtecan for patients with HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic breast cancer previously treated with trastuzumab emtansine. -
Changes in hospital mortality in patients with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic (ISARIC-CCP-UK): a prospective, multicentre cohort study
People with cancer have a higher risk of mortality from COVID-19 than those without cancer. Patients younger than 50 years with cancer treatment have the highest relative risk of death. Continued action is needed to mitigate the poor outcomes in patients with cancer, such as through optimising vaccination, long-acting passive immunisation, and early access to therapeutics. These findings underscore the importance of the ISARIC-WHO pandemic preparedness initiative. -
Curbing the climb in cancer incidence
The Lancet's Breast Cancer Commission , published on April 15, 2024, predicts that by 2040, the global incidence of new cases of breast cancer will be more than 3 million per year, with the greatest rise in low-income and middle-income countries. Similarly, The Lancet's Commission on prostate cancer , published on April 4, 2024, forecasts the number of new cases of prostate cancer to increase annually worldwide from 1·4 million in 2020, to 2·9 million by 2040, and the number of deaths worldwide is predicted to rise from 375 000 in 2020, to almost 700 000 by 2040.