Alongside congressional representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Susan Brooks, ONS and other organizations are lobbying for support of the Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings (PALS) Act. This legislation would push insurance companies—along with the Veterans Health Administration—to provide access and coverage to breast cancer screenings for women aged 40–49.

Hot flashes, also known as hot flushes, are marked by periods of sudden, intense feelings of warmth that begin at the chest and radiate to the neck and face, along with flushing, sweating, and heart palpitations, lasting several seconds to minutes. Compared to healthy postmenopausal women, breast cancer patients and survivors are prone to experiencing more severe and longer-lasting hot flashes. A bothersome symptom, hot flashes can occur anytime during a 24-hour period, but those occurring at night are most troubling because they interfere with sleep. Sleep deprivation negatively impacts daytime functioning as well as pain, fatigue, depression, and anxiety levels, diminishing quality of life significantly.

Nearly half of patients treated for early-stage breast cancer report at least one severe side effect, according to the results of a study published in Cancer.

On March 31, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to palbociclib for the treatment of hormone receptor (HR)‑positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)‑negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer in combination with an aromatase inhibitor as initial endocrine based therapy in postmenopausal women.

The antidepression drug duloxetine, which is approved to treat depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia, and diabetes nerve pain, may also relieve treatment-induced joint pain in breast cancer survivors receiving aromatase inhibitor therapy, according to the results of a study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

On March 13, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ribociclib (KISQALI^®, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.), a cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor, in combination with an aromatase inhibitor as initial endocrine-based therapy for the treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

Researchers conducting the largest study to date on screening mammography outcomes have found no evidence to support stopping mammography screenings at a certain age. The findings were presented at the 2016 Radiological Society of North America annual meeting.