A Anvisa (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária) determinou a suspensão da comercialização, distribuição e uso de lotes de dois medicamentos utilizados no tratamento do câncer e de uma solução intravenosa nesta quarta-feira (28).
A medida foi publicada no DOU (Diário Oficial da União) e envolve os produtos Simbeva, Abevmy e Ringer com Lactato.
A determinação consta na Resolução-RE nº 4.231, de 27 de outubro de 2026.
A resolução abrange três lotes específicos. Confira a seguir:
A empresa iniciou o recolhimento voluntário após resultado fora das especificações no teste de endotoxinas bacterianas.
O recolhimento voluntário também foi motivado por resultado fora das especificações no teste de endotoxinas bacterianas.
A medida foi adotada após análise fiscal identificar partículas escuras de tamanhos variados em suspensão no conteúdo da bolsa.
Para os lotes de Simbeva e Abevmy, a Anvisa determinou a suspensão da comercialização, distribuição, exportação e uso. Para o Ringer com Lactato, a resolução prevê a suspensão da comercialização, distribuição e uso.
As endotoxinas bacterianas são componentes que podem provocar respostas inflamatórias no organismo. A identificação de resultados fora das especificações exigidas para os medicamentos levou ao recolhimento dos dois lotes de produtos oncológicos.
No caso do Ringer com Lactato, o laudo de análise fiscal do Instituto Adolfo Lutz apontou resultado insatisfatório no ensaio de descrição e aspecto, devido à presença de partículas escuras na solução.
A CNN Brasil procurou o Laboratório Teuto Brasileiro, a Biocon Biologics do Brasil e a JP Indústria Farmacêutica para obter informações sobre as medidas adotadas, a distribuição dos lotes e a orientação aos estabelecimentos de saúde.
As respostas estavam pendentes até a publicação desta reportagem.
Entenda proibição de medidor de pressão e termômetro com mercúrio
*Sob supervisão de Carolina Figueiredo
A causa da morte do ator Richard Riehle, famoso por seu papel como Tom Smykowski no filme “Como Enlouquecer Seu Chefe” (1999), foi divulgada pelo site TMZ. Ele morreu aos 78 anos no dia 19 de outubro.
De acordo com a certidão de óbito obtida pelo site, o falecimento foi causado por um AVC — tendo como causa um câncer orofaríngeo, um tipo de câncer de garganta.
Durante a carreira, o artista participou de mais de 400 projetos na indústria cinematográfica, e seu último trabalho foi em “The Cowboy Killer”, em 2026.
Seu papel de maior destaque foi em “Como Enlouquecer Seu Chefe”.
No filme, interpreta Tom, o gerente de produto que é demitido, sobrevive a um atropelamento e recebe uma indenização milionária. O dinheiro lhe permite seguir seus sonhos e construir seu protótipo do tapete “Jump to Conclusions” (tirar conclusões precipitadas).
Riehle foi indicado a nove prêmios — vencendo seis deles. Entre as vitórias estão no Festival Internacional de Cinema de Mônaco, com “The Sacrifice” (2009), e no The Eclipse Awards, com “The Acorn” (2018).
Quem era RJ Mitte, ator de “Breaking Bad” que morreu aos 34 anos
Suzy Reyes
No matter how healthy she tried to eat or how often she ran 4 miles at her community college, Azucena "Suzy" Reyes felt bloated in her stomach.
"I looked like I was pregnant," Reyes, who's 43 and based in Alvin, Texas, told Business Insider. At 32, she was studying to be a certified nurse assistant while running a construction company with her husband and raising their four children together.
Then, her symptoms got worse. She was frequently exhausted, which she attributed to working out and being busy. She started getting fevers and feeling intense nausea. There was also her severe stomach pain.
"I really thought it was an ovary that had burst because it was that painful," she said.
Between August and October in 2015, Reyes went to the ER four times, originally diagnosed with inflammation in her intestines. When she finally saw a GI doctor in October, she was sent to the ER a fifth time, where she had emergency surgery and learned she had stage 3 colon cancer.
"I was scared because I did not know anything about colon cancer," Reyes said. "It was very, very dramatic to me because I didn't want my children to go through the fear of thinking that I was going to die."
After the ER staff looked at her vitals, Reyes was first diagnosed with colitis and enteritis, inflammation of the small and large intestines, as well as a microperforation. She was sent home with antibiotics. When the pain didn't go away, she returned to the ER and was put on a PICC line to administer medication and kept in the hospital for three weeks. Around the same time, Reyes tried to book a GI appointment and was put on a waitlist until early October.
When the PICC line was removed, the nausea came back. The next two ER visits didn't yield more answers. By the time she finally saw her GI, she couldn't keep still long enough because she kept throwing up.
Within hours, Reyes and her husband went to the ER a fifth time, where an ultrasound revealed a tumor that had completely obstructed her transverse colon, the longest part of her large intestine, and made it difficult for her to keep food down. The next morning, she had emergency surgery to remove it.
Suzy Reyes
At first, Reyes said, the surgeon told her not to worry about the tumor. He told her she was very young, and that colon cancer wasn't as common in Hispanic populations and people under 60.
But a week later, she learned she had stage 3B colon cancer. "I was scared, but then relieved at the same time," Reyes said. "For three months, I was suffering, and I didn't know why."
The original plan was to hide her diagnosis and treatment from her family, especially her four kids, ranging in ages from 4 to 16 at the time. The doctor said she would likely only need two or three rounds of chemotherapy. Reyes and her husband wanted to leave their children with her mother and say they were going on a long couple's trip for about a month.
Once she met with her oncologist and learned that the cancer had grown through her muscular wall and into her lymph nodes, she learned she would need 12 rounds of chemotherapy — about six months of treatment. It would be impossible to keep a secret. "I just didn't want anybody to suffer, like my children and my parents," Reyes said.
Reyes experienced side effects from the chemo, such as nausea, fatigue, and weight gain. "I was literally swollen," she said. "It's like they pumped air into me."
All the while, she avoided looking up colon cancer or trying to research her prognosis online — something she said helped her maintain a "peace of mind" throughout treatment.
As of October 2026, Reyes has been cancer-free for over a decade. She says she continues to receive annual follow-ups, including colonoscopies, blood work, and CT scans.
Suzy Reyes
Some of her treatment side effects haven't gone away. "The neuropathy in my feet, arms, fingers — it just feels like needles poking them," she said.
After she was diagnosed, she urged her brother, who was 42 and a few years below the recommended screening age of 45, to get a colonoscopy. After some resistance, he agreed — and learned he had colon cancer as well. After surgery to remove his tumor, he's been cancer-free for 4 years, she said.
Looking back, Reyes said she had wanted more guidance from other people who had colon cancer. She remembered posting about her experience on social media, but "nobody ever reached out to me and said, 'Hey, I'm an advocate for colon cancer. I'm here,'" she said. "I wish I would've had that."
Reyes is now involved with the Colorectal Cancer Alliance's Never Too Young Taskforce, as well as a few other groups. She also tries to focus on helping the Spanish-speaking community. "There are so many people that come out to us, me and my husband, and they're like, 'Thank y'all for doing this,'" she said.
Nove em cada dez brasileiras, cerca de 90% delas, não conhecem a ‘Lei dos 30 Dias’ que garante a realização de exames como a mamografia em até um mês após a suspeita de câncer de mama. Outras 92% desconhecem a ‘Lei dos 60 Dias’ que assegura o início do tratamento em até dois meses a partir do diagnóstico.
Os dados são do Índice de Conscientização sobre a Saúde das Mamas 2026, divulgado neste mês do Outubro Rosa, pelo Instituto Natura e pela Avon. O levantamento foi realizado com 2.094 mulheres de 18 anos ou mais e identificou problemas de conscientização relacionadas aos sintomas da doença, tratamento e acesso ao SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde).
A análise apontou que 44% das entrevistadas estão nos níveis baixo ou muito baixos de informação sobre a saúde das mamas. Além disso, 94% delas até reconhecem que o câncer de mama tem cura quando detectado precocemente, mas mais da metade diz não se sentir capacitada para ajudar alguém próximo que receba o diagnóstico.
A pesquisa demonstra que mulheres usuárias do sistema privado, de maior nível socioeconômico e mais velhas, têm índices mais altos de conscientização que as usuárias do SUS, mais jovens e de menor renda.
Segundo Mariana Lorencinho, gerente de Políticas Públicas pelo Cuidado com a Saúde das Mamas no Instituto Natura, a falta de informação pode contribuir para que mais mulheres descubram a doença em estágio avançado, quando há menos chance de cura e o tratamento é mais complexo.
Quando reunimos esses dados, tanto os públicos quanto o conhecimento das mulheres, conseguimos entender por que o câncer de mama é o tipo de câncer que mais mata mulheres no Brasil. Os direitos garantidos pelas políticas públicas, ou por lei só podem ser buscados se as mulheres os conhecerem
Mariana Lorencinho, gerente de Políticas Públicas pelo Cuidado com a Saúde das Mamas no Instituto Natura.
O índice aponta ainda que 76% não sabiam que é possível fazer mamografia no SUS em qualquer idade, quando há sintomas ou indicação médica. Entre as mulheres com mais de 40 anos que nunca fizeram o exame, a principal barreira é o médico nunca ter solicitado (23%), seguida por medo (13%) e ausência de sintomas (12%).
Além disso, uma em cada cinco mulheres que já fizeram mamografia não mantém a frequência recomendada. Entre as que vão ao ginecologista uma ou duas vezes por ano, 66% fazem o exame. Já entre as que nunca frequentam consultas de rotina, totalizam 21%.
LEIA TAMBÉM: Medicamento para câncer de pulmão tem eficácia de 55% em pacientes
Segundo o Panorama do Câncer de Mama, ferramenta de dados criada pelo Instituto Natura e pela Avon em parceria com o Observatório da Oncologia da Abrale e o Instituto Protea, 51% das mulheres atendidas no SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde) em 2025 estavam nos estágios 3 ou 4 da doença, em uma escala que vai de 0 a 4.
Olhando ainda para este tema, o índice da Natura identificou confusão das entrevistadas entre “redução de riscos” e “diagnóstico precoce”:
Segundo Jaqueline Marconi, coordenadora de Pesquisa e Monitoramento de dados do Instituto Natural, o objetivo das pesquisas são apoiar políticas públicas e campanhas de conscientização.
O Índice foi criado justamente para identificar quais são os gargalos de comunicação e adesão da população em relação ao cuidado com a saúde das mamas e orientar quais são as mensagens prioritárias ao longo de todo o ano.
Jaqueline Marconi, coordenadora de Pesquisa e Monitoramento de Dados do Instituto Natura.
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Rick Devens, 42, vencedor do reality show “Big Brother” dos Estados Unidos, e sua esposa, Becca Devens, 40, contaram nas redes sociais neste domingo (25) que ela está com câncer.
“Fui diagnosticada com câncer de mama. Isso é uma droga, mas descobrimos bem no início porque eu faço minhas mamografias certinho. Vou fazer uma mastectomia dupla — mas, como pegamos bem no começo, achamos que é só isso que vamos precisar fazer, o que é ótimo”, disseram em um vídeo.
Becca contou que vai fazer um exame de ressonância magnética nesta terça-feira (27) para descobrir com mais precisão onde o câncer está.
“Se vocês quiserem mandar energias e orações, seria incrível. As crianças estão bem, e vamos mantendo todos informados”, concluíram. O casal tem dois filhos: Jackson, de 12 anos, e Juliet, de 9 anos.
Rick saiu vencedor do “Big Brother” no dia 2 de outubro — quando recebeu o prêmio de US$ 810 mil (cerca de R$ 4,4 milhões).
Apoiando a esposa, o compositor Jon Batiste, 39, compartilhou uma foto com a amada, Suleika Jaouad, em suas redes sociais na tarde de domingo (25), declarando seu amor pela parceira.
No clique, a dupla aparece abraçada em uma cama de hospital, posando em diferentes ângulos. Aos 22 anos, logo após se formar na Universidade de Princeton, Jaouad foi diagnosticada com leucemia mieloide aguda, uma forma de câncer que atinge o sangue e a medula óssea.
Desde então, ela continua passando por vários tratamentos e transplantes em busca da cura da condição e de uma melhor condição de vida.
“As crianças estão bem hoje e continuam perdidamente apaixonadas”, escreveu Jon na legenda da declaração para a esposa. Nos comentários, diversos artistas e amigos da família elogiaram os registros e mandaram mensagens de apoio para a família.
“Meu coração está com vocês dois”, “Enviando muito amor, e estou feliz com essa notícia. Obrigada por nos manter atualizados”, “Enviando amor e boas vibrações para vocês”, “Nós amamos muito vocês dois. O mundo inteiro está torcendo por vocês”, escreveram alguns usuários.
No final de setembro deste ano, Suleika revelou que precisava se submeter a um terceiro transplante de medula óssea, já que os tratamentos que antes mantinham sua leucemia “sob controle” “não estavam mais surtindo efeito”.
Anteriormente, em suas primeiras cirurgias, a influenciadora já havia demonstrado confiança total nos médicos que cuidam de seu bem-estar e, em entrevista ao jornal britânico The Guardian, ela chegou a destacar a importância do apoio de sua família.
“Tenho Jon, minha família e amigos que aparecem sempre com jogos, flores e piadas inapropriadas. Tenho quatro cachorros, dois pavões e quatorze galinhas. Tenho um plano e muita esperança”, declarou.
Liderando uma das apresentações mais esperadas do Rock in Rio 2026, o cantor e multi-instrumentista americano Jon Batiste realizou um de seus desejos ao se encontrar com Gilberto Gil nos bastidores do festival. Em um vídeo gravado pela CNN Brasil, os dois se abraçaram e trocaram alguns elogios no camarim.
Em agosto, Jon já havia relatado em uma entrevista exclusiva à CNN Brasil que esteve em um evento com o baiano quando tinha 17 anos, em Nova York, nos Estados Unidos. No entanto, ele não chegou a conhecer o músico brasileiro na ocasião, mas estava ansioso para que esse encontro acontecesse.
“Quando o evento começou, anunciaram que ele estava ali para receber o prêmio e que faria um discurso. A primeira coisa que ele disse no discurso foi: ‘Esse jovem pianista, esse jovem músico… ele pode voltar e tocar comigo?’, porque ele iria apresentar uma música depois do discurso. Eu achei que ninguém estivesse me ouvindo. Foi uma grande lição para mim, para a minha vida e para o meu desenvolvimento”, disse ele, na época.
*Sob supervisão de Ana Beatriz Dias, da CNN Brasil
Relembre trajetória de Isabel Veloso, que morreu aos 19 anos com câncer
Courtesy of Brian Rooney
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Brian Rooney, the 60-year-old founder of Chapter7Reset.com, who lives in Conroe, Texas. He lost his wife in 2013. The essay has been edited for length and clarity, and the details verified.
When you're grieving, you're not thinking about how to move a business forward, capture new market share, or adapt to new technologies. You're not thinking straight because you're overwhelmed by a cloud of loss, pain, and sorrow. Some days, you're just trying to get through morning to night.
In 2013, I lost my wife, my partner, and my life. I still had to deal with the financial reality. I had underestimated what grief would do to my ability to run a business.
My wife, Tina, and I had 24 great years together. She was the yin to my yang. We met through a mutual friend, got to know each other, and fell in love. She was a strong, independent thinker. She was loving, kept me in check, and was an outstanding mother.
Our five kids were all born close together, and I was very involved in their lives. One of the reasons I started a business was because I wanted to be the dad who could be at home, coach my sons in basketball, and play in recitals with my daughter.
We'd tried both working early on, but Tina stopped early on in our relationship. I was the breadwinner, and she managed the kids.
I launched my email-marketing business in 2000. For a time, it did very, very well.
Courtesy of Brian Rooney
In 2011, things felt almost too good to be true. Then Tina noticed a little bump in the roof of her mouth. She went to the dentist; they did a biopsy, and we didn't think too much about it. Weeks later, I was sitting in my home office when she came over with the phone. With a very disturbed look, she said, "I have cancer."
Our lives turned upside down.
At first, because the cancer wasn't very aggressive, we tried homeopathic remedies. Then came chemotherapy, radiation, and major surgeries. The treatments were costly, and while the Affordable Care Act covered quite a bit, we still had high deductibles. Some hospitals wouldn't admit her until the deductible had been paid.
I would sit at the table with spreadsheets, trying to work out the finances. I was trying to be strong for my wife, but sometimes I'd go to the corner of the room and cry. The unspeakable thing to consider was that I might lose my wife because I couldn't afford to pay for it all.
Courtesy of Brian Rooney
A lot of the medical bills were paid with credit cards, and we ran up a lot of credit-card debt. I had six mouths to feed, for which I relied mostly on credit cards. I sold my music gear, like my guitars and amps. We moved from a beautiful rental house in a nice area of Texas to a much less expensive apartment. We weren't going to shows, basketball games, or on trips. None of that bothered me. The focus was on getting Mama healthy.
Friends and family stepped in here and there to help out. My kids were approaching adulthood, so they didn't need much looking after, but working from home let me adjust my schedule as needed.
There were days when I couldn't touch the business. It was mostly automated, but there were things I needed to step in and manage. If a server went down, I'd need to stay up all night to fix it while checking on my wife in the other room.
I wasn't resting or sleeping. I wasn't able to drive the business forward.
During that time, the industry was changing. New technology became available, and we weren't able to keep up. I was so focused on Tina's care that we missed opportunities. We had contractors and a business partner, and I wish I'd outsourced a lot faster. I didn't realize how fast I was losing.
Courtesy of Brian Rooney
Tina died in November 2013. She was 49, and I was a 47-year-old widower.
Those first few weeks, I'd wake up, roll over, realize she wasn't there, and know that she never would be again. I would talk myself out of bed, one body part at a time.
The business was still there. My business partner was focused on the technical side, but I had the marketing and entrepreneurial mindset. A lot of things that needed to get done didn't get done. Honestly, at that point, I didn't care. It was a dark time for me
The business was declining, and meanwhile, I'd built up hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit-card and medical debt. I thought I could put everything on my credit cards, turn things around, and pay it down. Things never turned around, and as the business continued to decline, there was less money to draw from it.
I spoke with bankruptcy attorneys, but I was convinced I could fix the problem.
In 2021, I got remarried. My second wife knew about the financial mess I was in. The interest and penalties were compounding so quickly. There was constant pressure from phone calls, letters, and demands for payment. I wanted relief and a clean slate.
In early 2024, after speaking with my business partner, we decided to dissolve the business. Later that year, I filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
When I filed for bankruptcy, I had no assets because I'd sold them all to pay my bills. When the debt was wiped out, I felt relief and shame, but the relief took over once I stopped getting phone calls and letters.
It was time to rebuild. I got a sales job, which I hadn't had in decades. I did AI certification training and started rebuilding my credit with credit-rebuilding cards. I launched ChapterSevenReset.com, a free guide to help people in a similar position.
One of the hardest lessons was that we didn't have a life-insurance policy on Tina. It never dawned on me because she wasn't contributing financially. I never considered how caring for her and my grief would take away from my generating income. My second wife and I both have life insurance policies for each other.
Nowadays, my friends say the "old Brian" is back. I've made peace, as best you can, with the fact that Tina is gone. I'm like an amputee. There's a part of me that's missing, and that part will always be missing. It itches. It's always there.
iStock; Tyler Le/BI
After Bryce Ramsey was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer at 33, she learned another piece of shocking news: She had a genetically high chance of developing it from the very beginning.
Ramsey tested positive for Lynch syndrome, a silent, inherited condition that heightened her lifetime risk of being diagnosed with colorectal cancer by up to 56% for her variant. It also put her at greater risk of developing ovarian, uterine, stomach, pancreatic, and other forms of cancer.
Before she learned she had Lynch, Ramsey urged her relatives to also get screened for colon cancer. Since then, her father, brother, and aunt have all been diagnosed with various stages of colon cancer. Like Ramsey, her aunt also tested positive for Lynch.
"I was the whistleblower," Ramsey, 40, based in Mississippi, told Business Insider. Ramsey now wants her two young sons to test for Lynch once they're in their early 20s, the recommended starting age for her specific Lynch mutation.
Bryce Ramsey
Like most genetic testing, Lynch syndrome testing is relatively quick, cheap, and non-invasive. It involves a saliva test, a cheek swab, or a blood test, with the latter having the least room for error.
Still, it hasn't caught on: About 1 in 279 Americans (1.2 million people) are estimated to have Lynch syndrome, including between 3 to 5% colon cancer patients. Yet an estimated 95% of Americans with Lynch syndrome have no idea they have it.
All the while, cases of colon, breast, uterine, and pancreatic cancers are rising in young people, with colon cancer the deadliest cancer for adults under 50. "If you don't know, then you can't get help," Ramsey said, including earlier screenings or preventive measures such as hysterectomies.
"Ignorance is not always bliss."
Some experts view broader Lynch syndrome testing as a way to get more people screened for cancer before symptoms arise — and a way to potentially help entire families better understand their cancer risks.
Like Ramsey, the majority of people diagnosed with Lynch syndrome only get screened after they have cancer. In the US, the CDC's general guidelines recommend that colon and uterine cancer patients have tumors biopsied for Lynch, followed by Lynch syndrome screening for the patient if there are abnormal findings.
Some experts believe the lack of early genetic testing is a huge missed opportunity for reducing cancer risk. One 2021 study found that about 16.4% of 713 early-onset colorectal cancer cases could have been prevented if patients knew either their family history or had been genetically screened, and would have subsequently started getting colonoscopies sooner.
Lynch syndrome testing "has got so much potential, but it's not being utilized," Heather Hampel, a professor at City of Hope in California who specializes in clinical cancer genomics and Lynch syndrome, and a co-author of the study, told Business Insider.
While Lynch syndrome remains unknown to most Americans, some health systems are trying to expand testing to the broader population. Helix, a genetic screening company that first started out as a consumer DNA marketplace, started partnering with 17 health systems in 2021 as part of its "Population Genomics Initiative." The goal has been to introduce broader population-scale genomic programs that include testing for Lynch syndrome.
Helix
Dr. Cassie Hajek, the medical director of Helix, told Business Insider that most patients diagnosed with one of these hereditary conditions by Helix were completely taken aback by the news. "They're kind of operating on the assumption that their risk is just as it is in the general population, but in fact, it's significantly elevated," she said. "The whole goal is to identify these patients hiding in plain sight."
By knowing their genetic predispositions for cancer, they can both more easily start earlier cancer screenings and also inform their family members of their potential genetic risks.
Hampel noted that lowering overall cancer rates is complicated. We still don't know why colon cancer cases are rising so rapidly among young people, and lifestyle factors like sedentary routines and diets high in ultra-processed foods are far more difficult to control for.
"If the lowest-hanging fruit is family history and gene testing, and we can't even prevent those," Hampel said, "how are we ever going to prevent things where we need people to make lifestyle or behavioral changes?"
Michelle York was 33 when she first heard of Lynch syndrome.
Up until that point, all she'd known was that her mom's side of the family had a long cancer history. Her great-grandmother died from colon cancer. Her grandfather had stomach and brain cancer. Her great-aunts died from liver, ovarian, and breast cancer, respectively. Her mother's cousin died from pancreatic cancer.
Michelle York
York's mother, a nurse at the time, had come across the term through her work. She tested positive for Lynch, along with York, her two siblings, aunt, uncle, and cousin.
At first, the news caused some anxiety. "Does this mean I'm going to get cancer at a young age?" York, 43 and based in Los Angeles, told Business Insider. "Does this mean every time I don't feel well, I'm going to immediately think I have cancer?"
However, once York and her family started getting routine cancer screenings, including annual colonoscopies, they felt more reassured than afraid, because they knew they could catch cancer early. York's mother had multiple precancerous polyps removed.
"None of us have had cancer yet, but we've had lots of scares," York said. She also wants her kids, ages 17 and 14, to test once they're older.
York's mother triggered something called "cascade testing," in which other family members test for Lynch and can take preventive measures to reduce their cancer risk.
Dr. Sapna Syngal, the director of research at the division of cancer genetics and prevention at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the founder of its Lynch Syndrome Center, sees cascade testing for Lynch as a "real opportunity" to lower cancer risk, she told Business Insider.
Particularly for young people, if they test positive for Lynch in their 20s and start getting cancer screenings, "there's a really, really good chance that you could prevent that cancer by taking out polyps earlier on," she said.
There are also financial benefits to knowing you have a genetic predisposition to cancer. While insurance coverage for Lynch-related cancer screenings can vary, Hajek said her patients typically have a more "straightforward" experience in getting otherwise expensive screenings like colonoscopies covered. York, for example, said her insurance covered her cancer screenings once she got her Lynch syndrome diagnosis.
Michelle York
Ultimately, Hajek said Lynch syndrome testing can help patients get more precise care than simply knowing they have a family history of cancer. Just as testing positive for Lynch can prompt someone to start cancer screenings sooner, testing negative can also relieve a person of anxiety about being at high risk of early-onset cancer and potentially call for less frequent cancer screenings than if they had Lynch.
York said she's ultimately grateful for finding out and knowing she can catch any early signs of cancer by starting annual screenings such as colonoscopies in her 30s — over a decade before the average-risk recommended screening age of 45. Both Ramsey and York also had hysterectomies and oophorectomies unrelated to cancer, which brought extra relief in also reducing their uterine and ovarian cancer risks to essentially zero.
"I think knowledge is power," York said. "Now, it almost feels comforting because I know that I started doing this young."
LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images
In 2013, Angelina Jolie revealed in a New York Times op-ed that she had tested positive for BRCA1, a gene that increases the risks of breast and ovarian cancer.
Her revelation — and subsequent operations to remove her breasts and ovaries — sparked an international drive to get tested for BRCA1/BRCA2. Years later, a study found that 15 business days after Jolie's op-ed went live, BRCA testing rose 64% in the US.
Over a decade later, researchers and patients are working to make Lynch syndrome screening similarly universal.
Getting every person screened comes with its own obstacles.
Lynch could be added to the list of genetic conditions screened for in newborn heel tests. However, critics of the idea believe it can create years of stress when the person with Lynch isn't recommended to start getting colonoscopies until they're in their early 20s.
Other routes, such as including Lynch syndrome testing when people join the military or go to college, would miss broad swaths of the population.
There's also the question of funding. Helix, for example, doesn't bill patients and instead relies on the participating health systems for financial support. Few hospital systems can afford to prioritize testing for a gene condition that impacts a small portion of the population.
Bryce Ramsey
Syngal said one immediate option for getting more people screened for Lynch is to follow York's route: consider getting tested if you have a family history of colon or other relevant cancers.
Since their diagnoses, Ramsey and York have tried to spread the word about Lynch syndrome testing. Ramsey is an official advocate for the non-profit Lynch Syndrome Awareness, while York, a full-time content creator, has shared her story on social media.
"It's scary when you first find out that you have a genetic mutation that predisposes you to cancer," York said. "But at the end of the day, knowing that and taking those precautions could ultimately save your life."
© Deanna Donegan/The New York Times; Photographs by Getty
© Deanna Donegan/The New York Times; Photographs by Getty
Case filed in 2022 by patient unable to afford medicine leads to cap on drug prices for millions who face ruin if diagnosed
The Indian government has moved to reduce the price of cancer drugs after a retired bank clerk took her case to the supreme court.
From next month, 137 cancer drugs in India will be cheaper as the government tries to tackle the tragedy of poorer patients either forgoing treatment, selling land or falling into debt to meet the high cost of some medicines, which are making large profits for hospitals and pharmacists.
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© Photograph: Rupendra Rawat/Alamy
© Photograph: Rupendra Rawat/Alamy
© Photograph: Rupendra Rawat/Alamy
© Bill Sikes/Associated Press
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