VOA News| Sunday, February 11, 2024 
Cancer Patients, Doctors in US Push Back Against Drugs’ Harsh Side Effects

For cancer patients, the harsh side effects of powerful drugs have long been the trade-off for living longer. Now, patients and doctors are questioning whether all that suffering is necessary. They’ve ignited a movement to radically change how new cancer drugs are tested, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urging drugmakers to do a better job at finding the lowest effective dose, even if it takes more time. Advances in treatment mean millions of people are surviving for years with incurable cancers. Jill Feldman, 54, of Deerfield, Illinois, has lived 15 years with lung cancer, thanks to that progress. Her parents both died of lung cancer months after their diagnoses. But her cancer drug causes joint pain, fatigue and mouth sores that make eating and drinking painful. “If you drink something that’s too hot, you really burn your mouth. That’s how my mouth feels 24/7,” Feldman said. She has lowered the dose with her doctor’s blessing but she wants drugmakers to study lower doses early in the research process. “No one should have to endure avoidable harmful effects of treatment,” she said. Unlike in other diseases, cancer drug development has focused on finding what’s called the “maximum tolerated dose.” – Read more