M. Alexander Otto began his reporting career early in 1999 covering the pharmaceutical industry for a national pharmacists' magazine and freelancing for the Washington Post and other newspapers. He then joined BNA, now part of Bloomberg News, covering health law and the protection of people and animals in medical research. Alex next worked for the McClatchy Company. Based on his work, Alex won a year-long Knight Science Journalism Fellowship to MIT in 2008-2009. He joined the company shortly thereafter. Alex has a newspaper journalism degree from Syracuse (N.Y.) University and a master's degree in medical science -- a physician assistant degree -- from George Washington University. Alex is based in Seattle.
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Omitting surgery may be safe in early BC after neoadjuvant pCR
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
A small trial in early breast cancer has reported 100% disease-free survival at 3 years in women who skipped surgery following pathologic complete...
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Later-line tisotumab vedotin shows survival benefit in metastatic cervical CA
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
Results are similar to cemiplimab, but unlike TV, cemiplimab is not yet approved for the indication.
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Induction chemotherapy in first line improves survival for locally advanced cervical cancer
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
With similar results reported for pembrolizumab, a question has arisen about how to incorporate induction chemotherapy and pembrolizumab into a...
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Enfortumab vedotin/pembrolizumab hailed as new standard for upfront mUC
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
After decades of stagnation, an almost doubling of life expectancy has set a new bar for the first-line treatment of locally advanced/metastatic...
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Does first-line pembrolizumab add-on improve PFS in high-risk cervical cancer?
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
An FDA decision is expected in January on pembrolizumab with concurrent chemoradiotherapy for the first-line treatment of locally advanced...
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It’s safe to skip SLNB for small, ultrasound-negative breast cancer
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
Trial results support “the argument that sentinel node positivity is not, in and of itself, a critical parameter that determines therapeutic plans...
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Debate: Should smoldering myeloma be treated?
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
After hearing two experts debate the evidence at the SOHO annual meeting, an audience seemed swayed to treat high-risk myeloma patients.
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Using JAK inhibitors for myelofibrosis
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
Newer options are improving management of cytopenic patients.
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AI mammogram screening is equivalent to human readers
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
“That the AI system was able to match the performance of the average reader in this specialized group of mammogram readers indicates the...
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CHP/CCUS: Low blood cancer risk for most patients
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
The goal of ongoing research is to prevent CHIP/CCUS progression in higher-risk patients.
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MM: Newest IKEMA results back isatuximab
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
Adding isatuximab to carfilzomib and dexamethasone creates ‘another effective triplet’ for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.
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RFS failed as endpoint in adjuvant immunotherapy trials
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
“Our meta-analysis failed to find a significantly strong association between RFS and OS in RCTs of adjuvant immunotherapy,” the authors concluded...
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DCIS isn’t an automatic indication for mastectomy in HER2+ BC
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
In the largest look into the issue to date, investigators find that neoadjuvant therapy clears DCIS about half of the time.
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Interrupting radiotherapy for TNBC linked to worse survival
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
“All reasonable efforts should be made to prevent any treatment interruptions,” including “prophylactic measures to reduce the severity of...
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ESMO helps hematologists assess new cancer drugs
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
The group’s new study evaluation tool, the ESMO-MCBS:H, is aimed at helping doctors and others determine the benefit of new blood cancer therapies...