Adolescent and young adults (AYAs)—those diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 39—comprise about 5% of all annual cancer diagnoses. The population has unique challenges that must be considered as part of patient-centered survivorship care planning.
Among the many online resources for identifying cancer clinical trials, including the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NCI-designated cancer centers or academic cancer centers, and drug and biotechnology companies, ClinicalTrials.gov may be the most comprehensive as a one-stop shop for patients and providers to find publicly and privately supported trials for patients.
The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) is calling all oncology nurses to become fluent in the ONS Genomics Taxonomy terms and to use them in their practice. Using consistent and correct genomics terminology minimizes confusion and misconceptions and contributes to the high quality and safe delivery of cancer care.
On December 7, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported Teligent Pharma’s voluntary recall of two lots of lidocaine HCl topical solution 4% in a 50 ml screw cap glass bottle to the user level. The manufacturer’s testing found that the product is super potent based on an out-of-specification result at the 9-month (lot 16345) and 18-month (lot 15594) stability timepoint.
When withdrawing from a clinical trial, patients experience a spectrum of emotions ranging from regret, urgency, frustration—and trust in their healthcare professionals, like oncology nurses, according to the results of a study published in JAMA Network Open.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) expanded access program is a pathway for providers to request using an investigational medical product to treat a patient with an immediately life-threatening or serious disease or condition outside of clinical trials when no comparable or satisfactory alternative therapy options are available. FDA’s Project Facilitate, a comprehensive program within FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, makes the pathway more accessible by assisting oncology healthcare professionals in submitting single-patient oncology expanded access applications.
Clinical trials provide evidence to support what you do in your work as a nurse every day. They are tools to discover new therapies and identify side effects while considering patient-specific factors like age, comorbidities, race, and sex. They build support for best practices in treatment and patient care.
The ONS, Oncology Nursing Foundation, and Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation Boards of Directors all held their in-person meetings concurrently in early November. One day was committed to joint strategic alignment work with executive leadership staff. Consultants led the group through a strategic alignment session to identify the top themes across the Enterprise to build overarching goals for the three organizations by early 2022. All of the boards are developing individual strategic plans that will begin in 2023.
On December 2, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved rituximab (Rituxan®) in combination with chemotherapy for pediatric patients aged at least 6 months to 18 years with previously untreated, advanced stage, CD20-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, Burkitt-like lymphoma, or mature B-cell acute leukemia.
On November 30, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj (Darzalex Faspro™), carfilzomib (Kyprolis®), and dexamethasone for adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who received one to three prior lines of therapy.