Sanjula Jain Urges a Comprehensive Approach to Address Alarming Rise in Cancer Cases Among Younger Populations

In a February 2025 Time magazine cover story, Jamie Ducharme reports on this atypical and disquieting trend. Ducharme cites a 79% increase in early-onset cancer diagnoses and a 28% increase in cancer-related deaths in this age group from 1990 to 2019.

In this episode of Tuning In to the C-Suite, Briana Contreras, editor with Managed Healthcare Executive spoke with Dr. Yuri Fesko, oncologist and vice president of Medical Affairs at Quest Diagnostics. In the conversation, Dr. Fesko addressed the ongoing issue of long gaps of times between receiving a diagnosis for a type of cancer and finally getting the treatment for it. Dr. Fesko shared the benefits a number of sectors receive when treating patients sooner and the steps to get there.

The study included 145 patients who were prescribed Calquence, Imbruvica, or Venclexta to treat CLL or SLL and filled the medications through the IHSSP at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

MHE Associate Editor, Briana Contreras, spoke with CEO of Inteliquet, a cancer solutions provider that strives to match patients to clinical trials accurately and promptly in healthcare, Marie Lamont. In this episode Marie discusses the challenges that have affected clinical trials and cancer screenings and how to get trials back on track through technology to avoid the wave of undiagnosed patients post-COVID. She also shared how broadening them through diversity can improve trials.

Although CAR T-cell therapies have been found effective against certain difficult-to-treat malignancies, they are not devoid of safety concerns.

Cedars-Sinai was one of 12 among 172 adult transplant centers in the U.S. with a one-year patient post-transplant survival rate above the expected outcome. In 2024, the survival rate for Cedars-Sinai was 90% versus the expected rate of 68% to 83%.