Entrectinib was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August 2019 as the third tumor-agnostic cancer drug, meaning it targets a specific mutation of the cancer, not the organ of origin. The other two currently approved tumor-agnostic drugs are larotrectinib and pembrolizumab.

Cancer occurs from mutations, or harmful changes from an alteration in a gene’s DNA sequence. Most mutations involve changes in the order of the base pairs, including substitutions, deletions, additions, or shifts. Mutations can be divided into broad categories based on the tissue where they occur.

As many as 50% of patients receiving taxane chemotherapy have reported experiencing peripheral neuropathy (PN) or nail changes during treatment. Both are potentially dose-limiting adverse events: nail changes can lead to infections; PN affects patients’ ability to perform activities of daily living and results in sensory impairments such as loss of balance, muscle weakness, and numbness that can increase patients’ risk for falls.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest,” Benjamin Franklin wrote. for oncology nurses and their patients, this couldn’t be more apt. Patient education is critical throughout the cancer journey, and nurses are essential to individualizing that education.

Radium 223 dichloride (Xofigo^®) is an alpha particle-emitting radioactive therapeutic agent approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2013 for castrate-resistant prostate cancer.