text_1: US OKs 1st drug aimed at women with inherited breast cancer
text_2: This story reports on the FDA’s first approval of a drug to treat certain patients with metastatic breast cancer who have a “BRCA” gene mutation. The story addresses costs and laudably notes that the supporting study doesn’t address a key outcome: patient survival. However, it reports mainly from news releases, misses some important study limitations, and doesn’t include independent voices. Certain breast cancers that affect women with inherited BRCA gene mutations are relatively small in number but difficult to treat, and they can disproportionately affect young women. As a result, drugs to treat these cancers are likely to be important news for certain patients and their families. The FDA gave its “priority review” status to olaparib, meaning it determined the drug “would significantly improve the safety or effectiveness of treating, diagnosing or preventing a serious condition.” It’s dependent upon news stories to help put that into context that people understand–does it actually “significantly” improve patient lives?