The authors write that "genotyping of plasma cfDNA is compelling for a number of reasons," while noting that "there are fundamental differences between the genomic analysis of tumor DNA and plasma cfDNA." Alternate technologies are summarized and key use cases are discussed.
Earlier this summer, JAMA Oncology published another interesting article by Oxnard and colleagues, "Response Rate as a Regulatory End Point in Single-Arm Studies of Advanced Solid Tumors." In a data survey, response rate > 30% was strongly associated with regulatory approval. The article is online here.
Another interesting article by Boothby et al. at OHSU and Johns Hopkins found that ASCO's caused "information overload" by requiring that all conflicts of interest, not just "relevant" ones, must be read by speakers. A waterfall plot showed this lead to reading or speaking rates (words per second) that shot up into the unmanageable range. Article here. For years, as I've prepped clients for public workshops and meetings with policymakers, my worst nightmare is the expert who says,"I have fifty slides, but I can get through them in eight minutes."
