FOX News Media teamed up with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) Thursday for a special panel highlighting advances in breast cancer research and treatment while urging women to take an active role in their healthcare. 

The event, held at Fox News headquarters in New York City during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, featured Kat Timpf, the "Gutfeld!" co-host and breast cancer survivor, alongside Dr. Priya Malhotra, director of research impact at BCRF.

Speaking with Fox News Digital after the panel, Timpf emphasized that while breast cancer awareness is widespread, misconceptions about the disease persist and may discourage people from asking important questions about their health.

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"There is also so much that people don’t know. It can happen at any age, without genetic markers. I would know that," Timpf told Fox News Digital. "Talking about it is always helpful because it removes a lot of the stigma, and it makes you feel like you can ask these questions to your doctor."

Timpf was diagnosed with Stage 0 ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in February 2025, just 15 hours before giving birth to her first child. She announced the news on social media days later, writing what she called an "unconventional birth announcement."

"Last week, I welcomed my first child into the world. About fifteen hours before I went into labor, I was diagnosed with breast cancer," Timpf wrote on X at the time.

"Now, before you worry, my doctor says it’s stage 0 and is confident that it almost certainly hasn’t spread. Or, as I’ve explained to the few people I’ve managed to tell about it so far: Don’t freak out. It’s just, like, a LITTLE bit of cancer."

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Throughout her breast cancer experience, Timpf leaned on her signature humor, a coping mechanism she said helped her through some of the most difficult moments of her diagnosis and recovery.

"Humor is how I've gotten through every hard thing that's ever happened to me," Timpf said. "I was making jokes the day I was diagnosed about getting huge replacement [implants] and stuff like that. That's just how I do things because I feel like when you say that you can't joke about a subject, you're giving it even more power over you than it already has.

"For me, making jokes about a subject is a way to instead feel power over the things that are threatening to take you down."

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Timpf's central message to women was to take an active role in their healthcare, stay on top of recommended screenings and speak up when something doesn't feel right.

"Your own health is up to you. So, you have to make sure you pay attention and ask your doctor questions," Timpf said. "Don't think it can't happen to you because I thought that, and I was wrong."

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the U.S. and worldwide, with approximately one in eight U.S. women expected to develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime, according to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

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While breast cancer has historically been more commonly diagnosed in older women, rates are rising among younger women, including those under 40, before routine mammograms are generally recommended for women at average risk.

Dr. Malhotra emphasized that while breast cancer diagnoses in younger women account for a relatively small share of cases, the impact is profound.

"Incidence of breast cancer is rising in younger women," Dr. Malhotra told Fox News Digital.

"Maybe 10% of breast cancers are in younger women," she added. "But still, if you're one of the 10%, it's crushing."

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Dr. Malhotra, who previously served on the faculty at Georgetown University, now works at BCRF to help advance breast cancer research. She highlighted the growing number of targeted treatments developed in recent decades.

"In 1977, we had one targeted treatment for breast cancer. Twenty years later, we had two," Dr. Malhotra explained. "Fast forward to today, we have over 30 targeted treatments, 19 in the last decade alone. So, it’s moving very quickly, and we're proud to say that our investigators are involved in all of those, getting them across the finish line."

She also stressed the importance of recognizing changes in one's body and speaking up during medical appointments.

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"My biggest thing is to know your body because if you feel that something is out of whack — even if you think it's minor — it’s worth it to talk to your doctor about," Dr. Malhotra said.

There may be a promising new treatment on the horizon for advanced breast cancer patients, according to developing research.

Researchers are studying the cancer-killing drug trastuzumab rezetecan for those with ERBB2-low metastatic breast cancer, whose tumors have low levels of HER2, a protein that can help cancer cells grow.

A phase 3 clinical trial called HORIZON-Breast06 sought to determine whether the drug works better than standard chemotherapy for patients with this cancer type.

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The researchers analyzed 551 female patients across 73 hospitals in China who were randomly assigned to receive either the drug intravenously every three weeks, or the physician’s choice of chemotherapy. The study period lasted from June 2023 to August 2025.

The drug significantly delayed cancer progression compared with chemotherapy, giving patients more than a year before their cancer began growing again.

The median time without tumor growth was 16.4 months compared to 6.8 months with chemo.

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Patients who received trastuzumab rezetecan were 73% less likely to have their cancer worsen or die during the study than patients who received chemotherapy.

The drug appeared to delay cancer progression in patients with both hormone receptor-positive and hormone receptor-negative breast cancer.

The results were published in JAMA.

Tumors shrank in 75.5% of patients who received the drug, compared with 41.2% of those who received chemotherapy.

At the 12-month mark, 90.6% of trastuzumab rezetecan patients were alive, compared to 81.4% of chemo patients.

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The authors concluded that trastuzumab rezetecan provided "significant progression-free survival benefit over physician’s choice of chemotherapy in patients with ERBB2-low advanced breast cancer."

Loren Rourke, a Texas-based breast surgical oncologist and author in Texas, called the results "incredibly encouraging."

"When you're talking about women living with advanced breast cancer, those months matter," Rourke, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. "They represent more time when the cancer is being held in check and potentially more opportunities to enjoy life without the disease getting worse."

What makes these findings especially exciting, according to the oncologist, is that the treatment showed benefits across different types of breast cancer.

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"It's another important step forward, and it gives us genuine reason to be hopeful," she said. "A treatment that can keep cancer from progressing for a longer period has the potential to make an enormous difference in a patient's life."

While the drug may cause fewer serious lung problems than similar treatments, it was linked to other side effects, including anemia and other blood-related problems.

Serious side effects occurred in more than 84% of patients who received the new drug, compared with nearly 68% of those who received chemotherapy.

Rourke emphasized the importance of considering the side effects, "because more time without cancer progression doesn't automatically mean better quality of life."

"We need to better understand the side effects, particularly the significant decreases in blood counts that can lead to fatigue, anemia and increased risk of infection," she said.

The researchers acknowledged that toxicity occurred more frequently and often required dose modification, although they said these effects were "generally manageable."

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The experts agreed that more research is needed.

"As exciting as these findings are, there are still important questions we need to answer," Rourke told Fox News Digital. "We know this treatment delayed cancer progression, but we don't yet know whether it will help patients live longer. That's an important distinction."

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"It's important to celebrate meaningful progress while making sure we're asking the right questions about what comes next."