When cancer drug marketing sneaks into a soap opera plot

Polycythemia vera is an uncommon blood cancer that can be controlled with long-established treatments. So it seemed more than a little suspicious to Vinay Prasad, M.D., M.P.H., when the disease took...

Sizing up the FDA’s revolving door with industry

When reviewers with the Food and Drug Administration weigh the evidence for a drug company's experimental treatment, how many are thinking: I may someday work for that company? It's a difficult...

Shortcut clinical trials may be misleading oncologists

Among 55 cancer drugs recently approved on the basis of a surrogate endpoint, less than one-fifth have been shown to improve survival in follow-up clinical trials. Fully two-thirds of new cancer...

Cancer patient testimonials often tied to drug company money

Speakers who nominally represent cancer patients at advisory meetings on new drugs often have financial ties with the company seeking marketing approval. And those ties aren’t always disclosed,...