Monthly Update: July 2026

Hello everyone, welcome to our monthly newsletter, July 2026 edition.

Exciting Announcement

BG Lab published a very important paper in JAMA, “Cancer Medicine Approvals in the US.” In this fully BG Lab paper led by students and mentored by BG, we analyzed FDA approvals of cancer drugs indicated for the treatment of adult solid tumors over the last 20 years. Our research highlights the changes in trends of proportion of approvals based on overall survival and surrogate endpoints, the most common primary endpoints used, the share of approvals with evidence from single-arm clinical trials, and more. This publication is important to BG Lab for many reasons. First, this is the first first-author publication for Brian Shkabari. Second, all authors of this paper (aside from BG) are undergraduates and have been taught by Dr. Gyawali in the Bachelor of Health Sciences GLPH 488 course at Queen’s. Third, this is the first publication in the main JAMA journal (i.e. excluding other JAMA family journals) for BG Lab and all the authors. 

 Read more about this paper in this news post!

This has been covered by several other news outlets as well, including Healio: Cancer drug approvals increasingly based on surrogate endpoints, single-arm trials

Publications

In addition to the above JAMA paper, BG was also involved in another paper led by Tara Menon and Edward Christopher Dee, and published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia, on the burden of childhood cancer in the SAARC region. They collected data from GLOBOCAN 2022 database and reported region-wide comparisons of cancer incidence, mortality, sex-specific differences, and cancer types. Previously, this team described the overall cancer burden in the SAARC region in BMJ Oncology. Both of these papers are available as open access!

Trainee and Mentee News

1. As mentioned, BG Lab published a new paper in JAMA. This is a meaningful paper for the lab as it hits several milestones for us. This is the first JAMA paper for our lab. This is the first JAMA paper for each author on this paper. This is the first first-author paper for our student/trainee/RA Brian Shkabari. As well, all the authors on this paper were previously undergraduate students of BG’s! Overall, this paper illustrates the philosophy of our lab where we not only work to challenge the status quo in oncology, but also have projects led and developed by the next generation of thinkers in our field.

2. BG Lab mentored fellow, Dr. Javier David Benítez-Fuentes, is visiting BG Lab in person in Kingston Ontario for two weeks.

3. Dr. Samuel Stevens completed his fellowship with Common Sense Oncology at Queen’s University. BG was delighted to confer his fellowship certificate at the convocation. Dr. Stevens worked closely with BG throughout this fellowship and co-authored three publications with BG Lab:
   1. CodeBreaK or code blue? Assessing sotorasib’s vital signs in metastatic colorectal cancer
   2. Overall survival assessment in cancer drug trials: a luxury or a necessity?
   3. Factors that can make overall survival unreliable as a clinical trial outcome – Authors’ reply.

• Dr. Stevens shared a post on Linkdin about his experience. We wish him every success in his career.

Media

1. Last month, BG published a very important paper in Nature Medicine about downplaying toxicity reporting in cancer drug trials. This article was highlighted by Science in a blog post, “Don’t Minimize the Side Effects,” on how terms such as “well tolerated” do not accurately reflect the patient experience, and factors such as the duration of side effects must also be accounted for. Overall, this movement to improve the quality of toxictiy reporting standards is gaining momentum and we are very pleased about this impact.

2. BG Lab released a new episode of Grounded in Groundshot podcast with special guest Dr. Julie Gralow. Dr. Gralow is the Chief Medical Officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). In this episode, they discuss Dr. Gralow’s foray into medicine, oncology, global oncology, and ASCO. There are a lot of inspirational lessons to learn from Dr. Gralow’s career, including her commitment to global oncology, mentorship, and uplifting women in oncology. Watch on Youtube, or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

3. ReviewNepal posted a profile on BG describing his journey from Nepal to Kingston, his inspiration for co-founding Common Sense Oncology and coining “Cancer Groundshot”, and the global impact of his research.

4. BG published a new piece in Medscape sharing his thoughts on dealing with grief and loss after a patient dies. He advocates for more honest and open conversation surrounding this topic as it is often rarely spoken about, and fellowships do not train students on how to handle this part of being a doctor.

5. BG Lab released a second podcast episode with special guest Dr. Chris Booth. Dr. Booth is a Professor of Oncology at Queen’s University and co-founder of Common Sense Oncology. In this episode, they discuss why Dr. Booth isn’t on social media, Dr. Booth’s path into medicine, how he ended up at Queen’s, global oncology and cancer policy, the role of spirituality in medicine, and a discussion about death and dying and handling grief. Watch on Youtube, or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Talks, Presentations, and Meetings

1. BG delivered a lunchtime seminar at Institute of Clinical Trials & Methodology in University College London on July 6. His talk centered on cost of convenience in cancer care and conducting de-escalation trials in oncology.

2. Javier-David delivered a Grand Rounds at Queen’s on Social Determinants of Health and Cancer: Building a Research and Policy Agenda From the SEOM Working Group. He delivered a very interesting presentation on the current state of cancer care in Spain, gaps in knowledge and barriers to equitable care, and steps to move forward.

Upcoming Events

1. BG is giving 3 talks at the SWOG Latin America Initiative (SLAI)-INCan Precision Oncology Workshop in Mexico City. His lectures are on interpretation of clinical trials, assessments and interpretations of PROs and QOL, and De-escalation trials.

2. BG is delivering a Keynote lecture in Ottawa at the 2026 CANEFOR conference where he will talk about his journey in cancer policy and global oncology research.

3. Javier-David will be delivering a presentation at the Queen’s SCRI Cancer Care and Epidemiology Bi-Weekly Seminar on critical appraisal and the cost of convenience on August 6th!

4. Nicole Vorko will be delivering a presentation on CDA reimbursement decisions between 2011 to 2025 at the Queen’s Sinclair Cancer Research Institute Retreat on August 12th!

From the Archives

This month, we want to share with you the papers BG has written about Nepal and/or in collaboration with colleagues from Nepal. The first of these was a report on the first bone marrow transplant in the country led by his friend Prof. Bishesh Poudyal. This has also been the only paper in his career that was accepted outright, without even a minor revision. Working with the same team of Prof. Poudyal, they also reported on how Amphotericin B emulsified in lipids could work as a cheaper substitute for liposomal Amphotericin B. The pivotal paper came in 2020 where BG and his colleagues outlined a road map for cancer care and research priorities for Nepal: Overview of Delivery of Cancer Care in Nepal: Current Status and Future Priorities | JCO Global Oncology

Another most important paper was published in The Lancet Hematology after a year in which BG and his team defined financial toxicity in Nepali context for the first time. This was pivotal not only because it documented the high prevalence of financial toxicity in Nepal but also because it showed why/how definitions of FT cannot be extrapolated from one healthcare system to another.

There are other papers related to Nepal, such as specific to registries and GP Oncology training programs, which will be discussed in the future.

Do you like what we do? You can support us!

The type of work that we do is often not funded by traditional funding channels. If you like our work and want to support us with a donation to our lab, please reach out directly to BG at gyawali.bishal@queensu.ca.

If you want to make a one-time contribution or regular contributions, please click here.

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Thank you for reading and stay tuned for next month’s update!