The rapid advancements in oncology treatments—with new approvals in therapies like small molecules, biologics, biosimilars, and cellular therapies coming nearly every month—can be challenging for any nurse to keep up with, let alone truly understand the nuances of those approvals. As new discoveries unfold, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the lengthy and multifaceted journey a drug or biologic takes from the laboratory to the patient.

Earlier this year, ONS, the Oncology Nursing Foundation, and the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation Boards collectively approved adding the word connection to the diversity, equity, and inclusion commitment statement. The addition reflects our shared understanding that our members, donors, certification candidates, and other stakeholders connect with the enterprise in many ways. 

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that a Christian-owned business can’t be compelled to cover preventive medications as is required under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but it determined a Texas judge carried out an “abuse of discretion” in his prior ruling by blocking federal agencies from enforcing the rule universally. In a decision it characterized as a “mixed bag,” the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services could not force Braidwood Management Inc.

On June 26, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to epcoritamab-bysp (Epkinly^™), a bispecific CD20-directed CD3 T-cell engager, for adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL) after two or more lines of systemic therapy.

A primary care approach to combatting compassion fatigue in oncology nurses increases nurses’ mental well-being and organizational skills, a team of oncology nurses reported during a poster presentation at the 49th Annual ONS Congress^® in April 2024. Additionally, the intervention improves patient satisfaction with nursing interactions and care, they said.

Individuals born after 1965 have a 17% higher risk of developing accelerated aging compared to those born from 1950–1954, researchers reported at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024. They demonstrated an association between accelerated aging and an increased risk for several types of early-onset solid tumors.

On February 16, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte cancer therapy for metastatic melanoma, lifileucel (Amtagvi™). Patients in the drug’s clinical trial experienced a significant decrease in tumor burden, and the median overall survival was 17.4 months.

More than 85% of oncology healthcare professionals say that they need to be able to explain clinical use of artificial intelligence (AI) to their patients, but less than half report being familiar with AI in health care or receiving education on the technology, researchers reported in JAMA Network Open. In response, the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI’s) Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology created a top-5 tip sheet for clinicians and researchers to use when evaluating AI tools for health care.

Of the more than 20 million new cancer cases diagnosed globally in 2022, nearly half occurred in Asia—where an even higher majority of the 9.7 million deaths were also reported, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer and American Cancer Society’s April 2024 estimates.

On June 21, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to adagrasib (Krazati^®) plus cetuximab for adults with KRAS G12C-variant locally advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer, as determined by an FDA-approved test, who have received prior treatment with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin-, and irinotecan-based chemotherapy.