{"id":33991,"date":"2015-04-24T10:32:54","date_gmt":"2015-04-24T09:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=33991"},"modified":"2015-04-24T10:32:54","modified_gmt":"2015-04-24T09:32:54","slug":"the-bmj-today-cancer-drugs-bmj-awards-and-challenges-for-the-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/04\/24\/the-bmj-today-cancer-drugs-bmj-awards-and-challenges-for-the-nhs\/","title":{"rendered":"The BMJ Today:\u00a0Cancer drugs, BMJ awards, and challenges for the NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fda\"<\/a>\u2022 Donald Light and Joel Lexchin write about the easy ride cancer drugs get<\/a> in the approval process. They point to three weaknesses: trials on cancer drugs are more often unblinded and non-randomised; these drugs are more often approved through accelerated pathways; and, finally, they often use surrogate endpoints. The result is very expensive medicines with little added value: \u201cThe 71 drugs approved by the FDA from 2002 to 2014 for solid tumours have resulted in median gains in progression-free and overall survival of only 2.5 and 2.1 months, respectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"bma_awards\"<\/a>\u2022 The yearly BMJ Awards are coming up, and Nigel Hawkes discusses the five studies that have been shortlisted for UK Research paper of the year<\/a>. They are a varied bunch, but all fascinating. There are even three \u201cnegative\u201d studies among them: one meta-analysis on the variability of results in stem cell trials, showing that the more discrepancies a paper contained, the more positive its results. The other meta-analysis showed that one cannot use HbA1c to predict cardiovascular risk. The other study with a \u201cnull\u201d finding was a large trial showing that GPs can safely delay antibiotic prescriptions to patients with respiratory tract infections.<\/p>\n

\"money_loss\"<\/a>\u2022 Speaking of negative results, the NHS seems to be receiving their share of it too. Gareth Iacobucci reports that hospitals and other NHS providers in England are set to post a record deficit of more than \u00a3800m this year<\/a>. Apart from this financial problem, the report identified staff morale as a top concern. The future does not look any brighter either, as the majority of directors \u201cpredicted a \u2018high\u2019 or \u2018very high\u2019 risk of failing to achieve \u00a322bn in productivity gains over the next five years as outlined by NHS England\u2019s Five Year Forward View<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 John Fabre presents his way forward in the latest\u00a0\u201cIf I ruled the NHS\u201d column<\/a>. He clearly wants more doctors and nurses in the driving seat: more NHS England board members with a medical or nursing background, and one clinical chief executive for each hospital. GPs should be given more autonomy and clinical commissioning should be abolished.<\/p>\n

Wim Weber<\/strong>\u00a0is European research editor for <\/em>The BMJ.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2022 Donald Light and Joel Lexchin write about the easy ride cancer drugs get in the approval process. They point to three weaknesses: trials on cancer drugs are more often unblinded and non-randomised; these drugs are more often approved through accelerated pathways; and, finally, they often use surrogate endpoints. The result is very expensive medicines […]<\/p>\n

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