On December 19, 2016, the FDA granted accelerated approval to rucaparib (RUBRACA; Clovis Oncology, Inc.) for the treatment of patients with deleterious mutation (germline and/or somatic)-associated advanced ovarian cancer who have been treated with two or more chemotherapies. The FDA also approved the FoundationFocus CDx test (Foundation Medicine, Inc.), the first next-generation sequencing-based companion diagnostic, for identifying patients with advanced ovarian cancer eligible for treatment with rucaparib based on detection of deleterious and/or mutations in tumor tissue. Rucaparib's approval was based primarily on efficacy data from 106 patients with mutation-associated ovarian cancer who had prior treatment with two or more chemotherapies and safety data from 377 patients with ovarian cancer treated with rucaparib 600 mg orally twice daily on two open-label, single-arm trials. Investigator-assessed objective response rate was 54% [57/106; 95% confidence interval (CI), 44-64], and median duration of response was 9.2 months (95% CI, 6.6-11.7). The approved companion diagnostic verified tumor mutation status retrospectively in 96% (64/67) of patients. Common adverse reactions (≥20%) to rucaparib were nausea, fatigue, vomiting, anemia, abdominal pain, dysgeusia, constipation, decreased appetite, diarrhea, thrombocytopenia, and dyspnea. This article summarizes the FDA review and data supporting rucaparib's accelerated approval..

This study suggests that yoga has a beneficial effect on depression in AA BCS. There is, however, a need to further explore the benefits of yoga among minority breast cancer survivors using a study with larger sample sizes.

Prolonged delays to definitive breast cancer surgery persist among black women. Because the 90-day interval has been associated with poorer outcomes, interventions to address delay are needed.

Previous reports suggest that Black breast cancer patients receive less patient-centered cancer care than their White counterparts. Interventions to improve patient-centered care (PCC) in Black breast cancer patients are lacking. Seventy-six women with histologically confirmed breast cancer were recruited from the Washington, DC area. After a baseline telephone interview, women received an in-person decision support educational session led by a trained survivor coach. The coach used a culturally appropriate guidebook and decision-making model—TALK Back!© A follow-up assessment assessed participants’ acceptability of the intervention and intermediate outcomes. After the intervention, participants reported increased: self-efficacy in communicating with providers (70 %) and self-efficacy in making treatment decisions (70 %). Compared to baseline scores, post-intervention communication with providers significantly increased (p=.000). This is the first outcome report of an intervention to facilitate PCC in Black breast cancer patients. Testing this intervention using RCTs or similar designs will be important next steps.