Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was refreshing and invigorating, because that oh-so familiar routine of online meetings, phone calls, and deadlines has predictably returned. But what can you do? The world, such as it is, continues to spin — in all sorts of directions. So to cope, we are, indeed, brewing cups of stimulation. Our choice today is glazed doughnut, a sweet treat. Please feel free to join us. Meanwhile, here is the latest menu of tidbits for you to peruse. We hope you have a smashing day and conquer the world. And of course, please keep in touch. …
Giving an AstraZeneca drug called Tagrisso to patients with non-small cell lung cancer who have had their tumors removed reduced the risk of death by 51%, STAT writes, citing newly disclosed study data. Put another way, that would mean that about 1 in 10 patients who received the drug would live another five years. Experts expect the findings will change the way that non-small cell lung cancer is treated, experts said. This also represents a financial windfall for AstraZeneca. The company sold $5.3 billion of Tagrisso in 2022, mostly for use in patients who have metastatic disease, meaning their cancer has spread throughout the body.
Grail said its telemedicine vendor erroneously sent letters to about 400 patients suggesting they may have developed cancer, Reuters tells us. Its flagship cancer detection blood test, called Galleri, is designed to detect more than 50 types of cancer before symptoms appear. The company, owned by Illumina, explained the letters were mistakenly sent by PWNHealth due to a software issue and that it “was in no way related to or caused by an incorrect Galleri test result.” Illumina is currently appealing regulatory orders in the U.S. and European Union, which are asking the gene sequencing company to divest Grail after it jumped regulators to close its acquisition of the cancer test maker.
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