Biosimilars and Their Use in Cancer Treatment
On today's episode, we are thrilled to discuss an important and often misunderstood area of oncology- biosimilars and their increasing use in cancer care. You might be curious, what exactly are biosimilars? How are they developed and approved? And most importantly, how are they transforming the lives of patients diagnosed with cancer? We will break down these questions and more as we explore this with an overview from Dr. Julie Gralow, a breast medical oncologist and chief medical officer at the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Tumor-Agnostic Therapies: Is The TAPUR Study Right For You?
For our Season 9 opening episode, we're learning about agnostic treatments in cancer with Dr. Richard Schilsky of ASCO, who discusses the TAPUR Study. You may wonder, what is TAPUR and how does it relate to agnostic treatments? The pioneer behind the study, Dr. Schilsky, explains clinical trials for agnostic therapeutics, how you can join a TAPUR trial, and what to expect.
Tumor-Agnostic Therapies: Is This a Paradigm Shift in Cancer Care?
Do tumor-agnostic therapies represent a radical shift in oncology? Join us on this 1st part of a 2-part series as Dr. Joshua Drago of MSKCC answers this question and points out the advantages as well as the treatment limitations of agnostic therapeutics.
Report Back From ASCO 2024: What’s the Latest in HR+ MBC?
We are thrilled to present an audio version of SHARE Cancer Support’s webinar “Report Back from ASCO 2024: Latest Updates on HR+ Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC)”.
This episode is an in-depth report from the ASCO 2024 Annual Meeting, featuring the latest advancements and research in HR+ MBC. Hear from Dr. Kevin Kalinsky as we dive into the findings from the DESTINY-Breast06 and postMONARCH trials, exploring their implications and potential impact on treatment strategies.
MBC Matters: Understanding Blood Test Results
Blood tests are an essential part of our cancer care. However, interpreting them can often feel like deciphering a foreign language.
Joining us today is Dr. Alfredo Torres and we’ll break down the common types of blood tests, explain what the numbers mean, and discuss how these results impact your treatment plan.
Balancing a Healthy Lifestyle with Eating Chocolate Cake: A Conversation with Dr. Iyengar
There’s a lot of research about how diet and exercise can have a positive effect on survivorship for those with early-stage breast cancer, but about for those of us with MBC? In this episode, we are delighted to bring you a conversation with Dr. Neil Iyengar, a prominent oncologist and researcher known for his deep interest in how lifestyle affects a variety of outcomes. Emerging research and patient experiences are showing that exercise and diet can play a vital role in improving quality of life and may even enhance treatment outcomes. We discuss the science behind diet and exercise along with strategies for balancing lifestyle changes while prioritizing what matters most to us. Whether you’re a patient, a caregiver, or a healthcare professional, this episode is packed with valuable information and insights!
Your Guide to Bone Mets: Exercise (Yes, Exercise!)
In the third of our special series on living with bone metastases, we are turning to one of the most frequent questions and concerns we hear: Can I exercise??
To get the answers, OMBCL co-hosts Ashley Fernandez & Martha Carlson spoke with Dr. Kathryn Schmitz, who has led the way in understanding and implementing exercise for people with breast cancer, including those of us with metastatic breast cancer. Dr. Schmitz founded the Moving Through Cancer initiative of the American College of Sports Medicine, which has a bold goal of making exercise standard of care in oncology by 2029. She fills us in on the science of exercise – why it’s important and how it can be done with bone metastases. Interspersed into the interview with Dr. Schmitz are the stories of people living with bone metastases, providing hope and inspiration that exercise is possible. Be sure to listen to the full episode to get all the suggestions from Dr. Schmitz and hit “Read More” below to go to our episode notes, which link to free videos and other resources.
Your Guide to Bone Mets: Traditional & Innovative Approaches Using Radiation
If you have been diagnosed with MBC bone metastases like the 3 hosts in this episode, this information is for you! Bone Mets are extremely common in MBC. In the first half of the episode, we explain the field of radiation oncology and all it covers, with Dr Kalnicki from Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center in Bronx, NY; in the second half we feature an interview with the leader of the Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis. Duke’s approach to managing bone mets includes a comprehensive team of specialists that offer the traditional and some less commonly seen treatments, like Cryoablation (freezing) and Radiofrequency Ablation (heating) of tumors. We also cover emerging science in bone mets, like “Theranostics” which is having success in prostate cancers and may hold promise for MBC. So listen here and learn with us, and check out our show notes for the links to what’s covered in the episode.
Your Guide to Bone Mets: The Basics
Today’s episode is the first in a three part series covering all things related to bone metastasis. In this episode, we discuss the basics with Dr. Azeez Farooki and Dr. Monica Fornier, both specialists in their fields at MSK, diving into the latest breakthroughs in bone disease and breast cancer research. Topics include theories on why breast cancer spreads to the bones, as well as new drug protocols shaping the future of bone metastasis research and treatment. We unlock the wisdom of these top experts as they bridge the gaps between advancing research and patient care in a thought provoking conversation.
Tissue Donation - You can help advance MBC research
Today we talk with breast cancer researcher Dr. Steffi Oesterreich, clinical coordinator Lori Miller, and MBC advocates Stephanie Walker and Christine Hodgdon to learn more about tissue donation programs and how they can help accelerate scientific research. Tissue donation programs ask patients to consider donating their tissues, including organs, soon after we die to help researchers better understand how breast cancer continues to spread and how to slow it down or stop it altogether. Donating our tissue is one way we can help thousands of other women and men with MBC to live longer with higher quality of life.
MBC Care in the Middle of Nowhere
When it comes to cancer, living in a rural area puts people at a disadvantage. They face limited access to quality healthcare, long travel times, and low recruitment to clinical trials, all of which affect quality of care and health outcomes. Join our producers Stephanie Walker and Martha Carlson, along with their guests, as we deep dive into this important topic.
PI(3)King the Right Target
PI(3)King the right target after CDK4/6 inhibitors fail patients is an exciting area of research and FDA approval. Now that there are multiple options approved by the FDA and more to come, patients have more treatment choices. Join host Abigail Johnston as she interviews 2 patients who give us their perspective on these advances, as well as a doctor whose scientific research has led the way identifying PIK3CA mutations as a cancer genomic biomarker.
Traveling with MBC: Tales & Tips
Travel can mean many things - Adventure. Relaxation. Exotic places & cultures, foods & jaw-dropping natural vistas. It can stimulate or soothe us and transport us literally and figuratively to a different reality. It lifts us out of the daily challenges of our diagnosis. It's no wonder so many of us with MBC love to travel and to plan new trips. But traveling with MBC can present a unique set of challenges. In this episode, Nancy Roylance co-hosts with Dr. Ellen Landsberger. She's the perfect partner, a retired MD, and one of the most traveled people we know. So brew yourself a cup of tea., pull up a comfortable chair ,and settle in. You'll hear from several members of the OUR MBC life team as well as other frequent flyers from the larger MBC community. We reflect on where we've been, where we would like to go and offer our advice for when a journey is really a journey.
mTNBC Unicorns: Living In Contradiction
Becoming a cancer “unicorn”--a person whose cancer responds exceptionally well to available treatment and who survives beyond what is expected--is what most of us hope for. This is all the more true for triple negative MBC where effective, targeted treatments are still sorely lacking. Today we talk to two women who have lived with triple negative metastatic breast cancer for 8 years. Dr. Toni Willis and Colleen Broughton share their diagnosis & treatment stories, including their experiences with second opinions, clinical trials, self-advocacy, and cultivating joy for themselves & their families as they navigate surviving longer than they –or their doctors—expected to.
Tony Laudico: One Year Without Lisa
Meet Tony Laudico, husband of 27 years to our beloved Lisa. In this episode, you will hear a remarkable and at times, heart wrenching account of Tony’s struggle to comprehend a life without the partnership that had sustained and defined him for 30 years. He will talk about the anguish of loss, a nightmare of "death-duties", the true meaning of grief, and the solace of friendship. Although not always easy listening, this is an uplifting story and a testament to the power of love.
Young Adults & MBC
Young Adults & MBC is an episode that explores the lives of those diagnosed under the age of 40. We focus on finding a community, over coming obstacles and living with breast cancer everyday.
Living & Aging with MBC: Dr. Rachel Freedman & Patient Experiences
What is old? What do you call old? Seniors? Elderly? Geriatrics? Older Adults? We have strong opinions about these terms and being included in this group. In general, breast cancer is a disease of aging and more common in older patients. As our population ages, it is becoming increasingly more common, and yet older patients have worse survival from their breast cancers than their younger counterparts at every stage of diagnosis & every subtype. We will ask Dr. Rachel Freedman, medical oncologist from Dana Farber, to explain and discuss what it means to be living & aging with MBC, along with a very special group of women living with MBC.
Roberta Lombardi and Infinite Strength
Roberta Lombardi wanted to do something for the Connecticut moms and kids with breast cancer, but that *something* quickly morphed into a nonprofit effort to help break through barriers in the lives of moms with MBC. Laser focused on single moms with kids under 19 living at home and financial need, Roberta took her nonprofit (she calls it her fourth child) nationwide in mid-2023 and is already serving women in 27 states. While providing 6 months of financial support to approved applicants remains the core of Infinite Strength, Roberta has added to the support through one-day local (Connecticut) mom-and-kid retreats, in-person and online panels with some of the best experts in cancer care, a 2024 MBC conference, and a groundbreaking effort to change the picture through the Connecticut Coalition of Oncologists. This is a woman who does not sit still and we are so lucky to have her as an ally for people living with MBC. This episode may inspire *you* to get out there and do something!
OMBCL Shorts #2: Dr. Erika Hamilton with Top Takeaways from ASCO23
Our second OMBCL Shorts features Dr. Erika Hamilton answering questions about her top takeaways from ASCO23. In this 20-minute interview we covered important updates on the CDK4/6 inhibitors for both early-stage and metastatic breast cancer, as well as research on a new HER3 ADC and the first AKT inhibitor for MBC.
Living in the Public Eye with MBC: An Interview with Kelly Crump
Anne Woodward sits down with a special guest to discuss the in’s and outs of having MBC while living in the public eye. Get ready folks, pull up a chair you are not going to want to miss hearing from Kelly Crump, the first ever sports illustrated swimsuit model photographed while posing on a picturesque beach in a gorgeous swimsuit with a mastectomy scar for all the world to see. In this incredible interview Kelly explains how she embraced social media to live out loud and in doing so harnessed all the attention to be an inspiration and help her 30,000 + followers.