Christina Bennett, MS

Christina Bennett, MS, is an independent medical journalist who writes about a variety of medical topics, including oncology, health care policy, and cell and gene therapies. She has a bachelor's degree in biomedical science and a master’s degree in science and technology journalism, both from Texas A&M University. She is a member of the Association of Healthcare Journalists and the National Association of Science Writers and was one of a dozen journalists selected for the 2017 National Cancer Reporting Fellowships.

All articles by Christina Bennett, MS

Breast Cancer

Talazoparib Confers No OS Benefit in BRCA1/2-Mutated Breast Cancer

Christina Bennett, MS

May 5, 2020

Talazoparib failed to show an overall survival benefit for HER2-negative advanced breast cancer patients with a germline BRCA1/2 mutation.

A federal ruling will force trial sponsors to post basic results on ClinicalTrials.gov, but it is unclear whether this is a feasible mandate.

General Oncology

Federal Ruling Puts Pressure on Clinical Trial Sponsors to Post Data

Christina Bennett, MS

March 11, 2020

A federal ruling will force trial sponsors to post basic results on ClinicalTrials.gov, but it is unclear whether this is a feasible mandate.

A study showed how long patients with CLL may live after CAR-T therapy failure, providing a benchmark for trials evaluating therapies in the post–CAR-T setting.

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

An Early Look at When CAR-T Therapy Fails Patients With CLL

Christina Bennett, MS

March 10, 2020

A study showed how long patients with CLL may live after CAR-T therapy failure, providing a benchmark for trials evaluating therapies in the post–CAR-T setting.

Lung Cancer

Pembrolizumab Shows Long-Term Advantage Over Chemotherapy in NSCLC

Christina Bennett, MS

March 9, 2020

Updated data from KEYNOTE-010 showed superior outcomes for pembrolizumab compared with docetaxel in patients with PD-L1‒expressing advanced NSCLC.

An analysis by members of the FDA showed that time to treatment discontinuation may be a viable end point to assess drug efficacy in the postmarketing setting.

General Oncology

Oncology Leads Clinical Trial Landscape for 2020

Christina Bennett, MS

March 5, 2020

GlobalData reports that oncology is the most popular therapeutic area for trials planned to commence in 2020, and most trials are sponsored by industry.

Hematologic Cancers

FLAG+/-Ida Linked to Better Outcomes in Non-Favorable–Risk AML

Christina Bennett, MS

March 4, 2020

Induction regimen FLAG+/-Ida appears to be more effective than 7+3 in patients with non-favorable risk AML, but prospective data are needed.

Proangiogenic or proimmunogenic genomic and transcriptomic signatures in the tumor microenvironment may have predictive value.

General Oncology

Larotrectinib Shows Durability and Tolerability in Expanded Analysis

Christina Bennett, MS

March 3, 2020

Larotrectinib appeared to have durable efficacy and long-term safety in patients with TRK fusion-positive cancer.

Drug companies are gathering and including expanded access data in drug submissions as real-world data, but the purpose of expanded access was never for the purpose of research.

General Oncology

A New Trend in Drug Development: Leveraging Data from Expanded Access

Christina Bennett, MS

March 2, 2020

Drug companies are gathering and including expanded access data in drug submissions as real-world data, but the purpose of expanded access was never for the purpose of research.

Prices for prostate cancer radiotherapy varied widely at 52 National Cancer Institute-designated centers.

General Oncology

Closing the Knowledge Gap on Biosimilar Cancer Drug Development

Christina Bennett, MS

March 2, 2020

To help oncologists better understand biosimilar drug development, experts explained the role of comparative clinical studies in biosimilar development.

Over half of evaluable patients who received an infusion of tisagenlecleucel achieved response.

Lymphoma

Study Calls for Unified Grading System for CAR-T Toxicities

Christina Bennett, MS

February 28, 2020

A study found that grading systems for assessing toxicities from CAR-T therapy produced inconsistent scores, prompting a call for a more unified grading approach.

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