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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Experts opine on hemophilia treatments
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
For hemophilia A prophylaxis, debate continues over factor versus non-factor replacement therapy, optimal trough levels, and more.
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Adding immunotherapy to chemo in lung cancer improves patient outcomes, new data show
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
Patient-reported outcomes are often released well after efficacy data, making treatment decisions more challenging.
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Symptoms, not pelvic exams, pick up most endometrial cancer recurrences
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
The findings speak to the anxiety of shifting to telemedicine during COVID-19.
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Complex surgery 10 times more likely with some ovarian tumors
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
Imaging, tumor subtype predict debulking success in advanced ovarian cancer.
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Intensity-modulated radiotherapy reduces esophagitis in palliative NSCLC
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
What’s the balance between tumor coverage and sparing healthy tissue in the palliative setting?
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FDA approves neoadjuvant nivolumab/chemo for early-stage NSCLC
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
Nivolumab is the first immune checkpoint inhibitor to be approved for resectable NSCLC.
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Bladder cancer need not always require radical cystectomy
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
The oncologic outcomes are equivalent whether patients have trimodal therapy or radical cystectomy.
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63% of patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma respond to chemo before surgery
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
Study authors suggest neoadjuvant chemotherapy should be a new standard of care for high-grade upper tract urothelial carcinoma.
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MRI far safer than CT for guiding radiotherapy in prostate cancer
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
MRI guidance more than halved the risk of genitourinary toxicities.
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FDA hints at deadlines to meet accelerated approval requirements
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
In other countries, the public is protected from “stale claims of effectiveness.”
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Shorter courses of chemo treatment taking hold in colon cancer
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
The IDEA trial has led to a major change in stage III colon cancer treatment. Adjuvant colon cancer therapy is shifting toward the combination...
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Black patients now central to lung cancer screening guidelines
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
Guidelines were once written primarily with White patients in mind generalizing screening criteria across ethnically diverse populations which...
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Yescarta label updated: Prophylactic steroids to prevent CRS
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
New Yescarta labeling advises clinicians to consider using corticosteroids to ward off cytokine release syndrome.
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Can immunotherapy replace surgery for stomach cancer?
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
The complete pathologic response rate to neoadjuvant nivolumab/ipilimumab was 59%.
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‘Highly encouraging’ MRD results for zanubrutinib add-on in CLL
- Author:
- M. Alexander Otto
Blood and bone marrow MRD was undetectable in almost 90% of subjects after a median of 10 treatment cycles.