Bremer A., Strand R. (eds.) Precision Oncology and Cancer Biomarkers: Issues at Stake and Matters of Concern

Springer, 2022. — 288 p. — (Human Perspectives in Health Sciences and Technology). — ISBN 978-3-030-92611-3.This book reflects on matters of social and ethical concern raised in the daily practices of those working in and around precision oncology. Each chapter addresses the experiences, concerns and issues at stake for people who work in settings where precision oncology is practiced, enacted, imagined or discussed. It subsequently discusses and analyses bioethical dilemmas, scientific challenges and economic trade-offs, the need for new policies, further technological innovation, social work, as well as phenomenological research.This volume takes a broad actor-centred perspective as, whenever cancer is present, the range of actors with issues at stake appears almost unlimited. This perspective and approach opens up the possibility for further in-depth and diverse questions, posed by the actors themselves, such as: How are cancer researchers navigating biological uncertainties? How do clinicians and policy-makers address ethical dilemmas around prioritisation of care? What are the patients’ experiences with, and hopes for, precision oncology? How do policy-makers and entrepreneurs envisage precision oncology? These questions are of great interest to a broad audience, including cancer researchers, oncologists, policy-makers, medical ethicists and philosophers, social scientists, patients and health economists.Introduction to the Imaginary of Precision Oncology
Precision Oncology in the News
Cancer Currencies: Making and Marketing Resources in a First-in-Human Drug Trial in Denmark
“Reconstruction of Trouble”
Lost in Translation
HER2 Revisited: Reflections on the Future of Cancer Biomarker Research
The Dynamics of the Labelling Game: An Essay On FLT3 Mutated Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
Crossing the Styx: If Precision Medicine Were to Become Exact Science
Publication Bias in Precision Oncology and Cancer Biomarker Research; Challenges and Possible Implications
Assessing the Cost-Effectiveness of Molecular Targeted Therapies and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
Real-World Data in Health Technology Assessment: Do We Know It Well Enough?
Just Caring: Precision Health vs. Ethical Ambiguity: Can we Afford the Ethical and Economic Costs?
Rationing of Personalised Cancer Drugs: Rethinking the Co-production of Evidence and Priority Setting Practices
Filled with Desire, Perceive Molecules
Conclusions: The Biomarkers That Could Be Born