chemo

The FDA is pushing drugmakers to do a better job at finding the lowest effective dose. One group is planning a study to test whether lower doses of two new drugs will work for breast cancer that has spread.

To drive down costs, insurers are delivering high-priced infusion drugs via third-party pharmacies. Hospitals and clinics are trying to convince states to limit this practice, known as "white bagging."

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network says that nearly all the centers it surveyed late last month were dealing with shortages of carboplatin and cisplatin.

Cancer chemotherapy often means serious hair loss, but many patients may be spared that as the result of a new device that looks a little like a World War II aviator's cap.

Researchers say the test, which measures gene activity, can help avoid "overtreating" tumors that are not life-threatening. It might allow some patients to avoid radiation and chemotherapy.

Scientists hunting cures for cancer hope to find therapies with fewer side effects. But there's also new evidence that old-style chemotherapy sometimes helps gentler treatments work better.

For some cancers, chemotherapy and radiation may be the best - or only - treatments available. Yet there are times when the side effects of the treatment…