A dedicated programme for cachexia and treatment toxicity research
Wasting and side-effects kill or stop treatment for a large share of patients but attract almost no dedicated funding. This would create a standing programme for them.
A programme with its own review panel funds cachexia mechanisms (GDF15, inflammatory and neural circuits), interventional trials of anti-cachexia agents and nutrition and exercise bundles, and toxicity science (neuropathy, cardiotoxicity, cytopenias, cognitive effects) with biomarkers and prevention trials. Supportive-care research fails in general panels because it is judged as less innovative; a dedicated pot and reviewers who know the field fixes that. GDF15 antagonists reaching late-phase trials show the biology is tractable.
- Funding follows fashion, not burden · Money goes to the cancers and questions that are easy or popular, not the ones that kill most or where a dollar would do most.
- Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient · Patients often die of wasting or cannot tolerate the doses that would work. Treating the patient, not just the tumour, lags far behind.
- Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued · Trials measure how long people live, not how they live. Side-effects are under-reported and under-treated.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- InstitutionMultinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
Shares Scalp cooling, Cardio-oncology, Geriatric assessment, Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient.
- IdeaA survivorship research endowment funded by a levy on curative therapy prices
Shares Structured exercise prescribed like a drug in all curative-intent cancer care, Cardio-oncology, Exercise & lifestyle oncology, Funding follows fashion, not burden.
- IdeaCatch wasting early with a smart scale and a step counter
Shares Geriatric assessment, Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient, Exercise & lifestyle oncology, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued.
- IdeaTrials of structured cognitive rehabilitation for cancer-related cognitive impairment
Shares Structured exercise prescribed like a drug in all curative-intent cancer care, Exercise & lifestyle oncology, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued.
- IdeaFour weeks of training and nutrition before major cancer surgery, as standard
Shares Structured exercise prescribed like a drug in all curative-intent cancer care, Geriatric assessment, Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient, Exercise & lifestyle oncology.
- IdeaFund scalp cooling and hair-preserving measures for every alopecia-inducing regimen
Shares Scalp cooling, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued.
- IdeaRead muscle loss automatically from scans patients already have
Shares Geriatric assessment, Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient, Exercise & lifestyle oncology, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued.
- IdeaTest protein and resistance training during immunotherapy
Shares Structured exercise prescribed like a drug in all curative-intent cancer care, Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient, Exercise & lifestyle oncology.