cancer research

To get potentially lifesaving drugs to patients faster, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowed to approve some drugs -- those that address unmet medical needs -- based on fewer trials than usual. But it turns out that many of the pharmaceutical companies fail to conduct follow-up trials to prove the drugs work.

Teaming with Massachusetts General Hospital and others, J&J's Veridex is developing a novel method of isolating cancer cells from a patient's bloodstream. If successful, the blood test could ultimately replace more invasive and painful ones such as biopsies.

Soda and processed-food makers insist that all sugars are the same. Yet with studies linking fructose to obesity, diabetes and, most recently, pancreatic cancer, big brands are quietly backing away from using corn-based high-fructose sweetener. Could it eventually become another tobacco-like liability?

The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 9-13, brought mostly good news for breast cancer patients and drugmakers. And that's a welcome development: Aside from non-melanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women and the second-leading cause of cancer death...

Cancer killed fewer Europeans in the first half of this decade, largely thanks to a decrease in smoking. A new study finds that while death rates from cancer varied between men and women and among countries, they generally improved in all major European nations. The study, published Monday in the...