Trending News Today: Oncology Drugs Account for 27% of New US Drug Approvals

Oncology drugs now account for 27% of all new drug approvals in the United States, up from a 4% share in the 1980s, the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development reported. According to the analysis, the FDA approved a total of 126 cancer drugs from 1980 through 2018 to treat solid and hematologic tumors, with the cancer drug share of new approvals increasing by 50% from the 1990s to 2000s and nearly doubling from the 2000s to the 2010-2018 period. New approaches to development, such as improvements in clinical trial design, novel drug formats, and targeted therapies have helped drive this growth, the analysis showed.

Updated recommendations from the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) indicate that women with a high risk of developing breast cancer can reduce their risk by taking certain medications, Reuters reported. According to the article, the task force’s statement suggests that women with at least a 3% risk for breast cancer in the next 5 years are likely to benefit from risk-reducing medications and they should be offered them if their risk of harm from the drugs is low. Additionally, the USPSTF recommends against using these medications for women who don’t have an increased risk of breast cancer because of the adverse effects, the article reported.

A new study suggests that patients with psoriasis should be opportunistically screened for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, The American Journal of Managed Care reported. According to the article, the researchers recruited 38 patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and 39 patients with psoriasis to complete 3 validated screening questionnaires for OSA. Overall, the researchers found that 50% of patients with HS and 34% of patients with psoriasis had a high probability of having sleep apnea based on their responses to the questionnaires, the article reported.