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Drug Manages Chemotherapy-induced Platelet Disorder

Nplate (romiplostim) reduced the number of people who needed treatment adjustments due to a blood disorder called thrombocytopenia, according to results of a phase III clinical trial published March 11, 2026, in the New England Journal of Medicine. Thrombocytopenia occurs when chemotherapy kills bone marrow cells that create platelets, cell fragments in the blood that play a crucial role in stopping bleeding. This common complication causes lower-than-normal platelet counts, which can lead to excessive or spontaneous bleeding and easy bruising. Nplate is already approved to treat thrombocytopenia in people with autoimmune disorders, HealthDay reported. The trial included 165 people who experienced persistent thrombocytopenia while receiving chemotherapy for colorectal, gastroesophageal or pancreatic cancer. More than half of the participants had stage IV disease. Researchers assigned 109 people to receive Nplate and 56 people to receive a placebo. Over the next two cycles of treatment, 84% of the Nplate group continued their original chemotherapy doses without modifications due to low platelet counts, compared with 36% of the placebo group. Researchers found 37% of people who received Nplate experienced side effects that required medical attention, compared with 22% of those on a placebo. These side effects were primarily from chemotherapy; 12% of the Nplate group and 7% of the placebo group experienced side effects specifically attributed to the assigned drug. These symptoms, such as nausea and headache, did not lead to death or treatment discontinuation. Additionally, 2% of people in the Nplate group reported blood clots, compared with none in the placebo group. “This work has been nearly a decade in the making, and it is so important because there are no available approved medications for chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia,” Hanny Al-Samkari, a hematologist at Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute in Boston and the lead researcher of the study, told HealthDay.

PSMA PET May Reduce the Need for Biopsy to Diagnose Prostate Cancer

Targeted imaging allowed nearly half of men with suspected prostate cancer and inconclusive MRI results to avoid a biopsy, according to findings presented March 13 at the 2026 European Association of Urology Congress in London. For men with high prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, doctors typically recommend a biopsy if a follow-up MRI shows uncertain or nonsuspicious results. But prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET scans can find aggressive prostate cancer cells and may help identify men who do not have cancer or have low-risk cancer that may not need treatment. In a phase III clinical trial, researchers followed 660 men who had either a low risk for prostate cancer plus a clinical risk factor, such as a high PSA level or a strong family history of the disease, or an intermediate risk for prostate cancer, MedPage Today reported. Participants had either a PSMA PET scan or a prostate biopsy, which was taken by inserting a needle into the base of the pelvis. Among those who had a PSMA PET scan, men with positive results then underwent a targeted biopsy. In the PSMA PET scan group, 49% of men had negative results and avoided a biopsy. This method also reduced the diagnosis of insignificant prostate cancers without missing clinically significant cancers, the ASCO Post reported. In the biopsy group, 16% had significant prostate cancer, compared with 12% in the PSMA PET scan group. “We are diagnosing the same amount of significant prostate cancers,” said Jochen Walz, a urologist at Institut Paoli-Calmettes in Marseille, France, and a discussant who was not involved in the study. “We are reducing the amount of biopsies that are necessary and, at the same time, reducing the amount of insignificant prostate cancers diagnosed.” Walz added that while these findings provide a strong argument to implement PSMA PET scans, the high cost may remain as a barrier. To justify the expense, future studies would need to determine if the scans improve patient outcomes, he said.

FDA Pulls Proposal to Ban Tanning Beds for Minors

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially withdrew its proposal to prohibit people younger than 18 from using indoor tanning beds. After posting it online in December 2015 and taking public comments until March 2016, the FDA never enacted the proposed rule. The FDA’s withdrawal announcement cited “scientific and technical concerns raised in the comments,” including “concerns regarding possible unintended consequences,” but the agency did not provide specific concerns or explain why it announced the withdrawal now, Medscape reported. “Restricting teens’ access to indoor tanning and informing the public about the dangers of indoor tanning are critical to preventing skin cancer,” Susan C. Taylor, a dermatologist at Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine in Philadelphia and the president of the American Academy of Dermatology, said in a statement. Taylor expressed disappointment in the decision, noting the rule would have also required all users of indoor tanning beds to sign a waiver acknowledging the health risks of tanning beds. Tanning bed use before age 35 raises the risk of developing melanoma by 75% according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. National Cancer Institute data show new melanoma diagnoses rose by an average of 1.2% per year from 2013 to 2022. Kavita Mariwalla, a dermatologist at Meriwalla Dermatology in West Islip, New York, and the president of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, also criticized the move. Exposure to UVA-heavy radiation “before the age of 18 severely impacts your risk for skin cancer as an adult and increases your risk of melanoma,” she told Medscape.