To tackle the unauthorized and illegal sale and distribution of e-cigarettes and vaping products that “continue to jeopardize the health of Americans—particularly children and adolescents—across the United States,” according to Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, in June 2024 the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the creation and launch of a new task force that brings together multiple law enforcement agencies.

Storytelling, which has benefits for nurses’ own well-being as well as their relationship with their patients, creates a social connection that fosters a sense of community and mutual support in the storyteller and listener. Inspired by ONS’s annual storytelling session at ONS Congress^®, the Midwest Region Oncology Nursing Grand Rounds at Advocate Health hosted a special oncology grand rounds on nurse storytelling. 

Study participants with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma who received pembrolizumab after surgery had nearly 40% increased overall survival during the first four years after treatment, researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The rapid advancements in oncology treatments—with new approvals in therapies like small molecules, biologics, biosimilars, and cellular therapies coming nearly every month—can be challenging for any nurse to keep up with, let alone truly understand the nuances of those approvals. As new discoveries unfold, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the lengthy and multifaceted journey a drug or biologic takes from the laboratory to the patient.

Earlier this year, ONS, the Oncology Nursing Foundation, and the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation Boards collectively approved adding the word connection to the diversity, equity, and inclusion commitment statement. The addition reflects our shared understanding that our members, donors, certification candidates, and other stakeholders connect with the enterprise in many ways. 

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that a Christian-owned business can’t be compelled to cover preventive medications as is required under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but it determined a Texas judge carried out an “abuse of discretion” in his prior ruling by blocking federal agencies from enforcing the rule universally. In a decision it characterized as a “mixed bag,” the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services could not force Braidwood Management Inc.

On June 26, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to epcoritamab-bysp (Epkinly^™), a bispecific CD20-directed CD3 T-cell engager, for adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL) after two or more lines of systemic therapy.

A primary care approach to combatting compassion fatigue in oncology nurses increases nurses’ mental well-being and organizational skills, a team of oncology nurses reported during a poster presentation at the 49th Annual ONS Congress^® in April 2024. Additionally, the intervention improves patient satisfaction with nursing interactions and care, they said.

Individuals born after 1965 have a 17% higher risk of developing accelerated aging compared to those born from 1950–1954, researchers reported at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024. They demonstrated an association between accelerated aging and an increased risk for several types of early-onset solid tumors.

On February 16, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte cancer therapy for metastatic melanoma, lifileucel (Amtagvi™). Patients in the drug’s clinical trial experienced a significant decrease in tumor burden, and the median overall survival was 17.4 months.