The United States Needs a National Standards Strategy - CSIS | Center for Strategic and International Studies

News|Articles|October 24, 2026 Baseline and on-treatment circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) features, including TP53 mutations and methylation-based tumor fraction, were associated with early progression or prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) with first-line lorlatinib (Lorbrena) in patients with ALK-positive advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), in exploratory analyses of the phase 3 CROWN trial (NCT03052608) presented at the 2026 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress.1Compared with long-term responders, who were progression free at 84 months (n = 30), early progressors, who had a PFS event within 12 months (n = 22), had a higher median number of altered genes at baseline (10 vs 6), a higher median blood-based tumor mutation burden (7.7 vs 5.1), and more frequent TP53 mutations (50% vs 17%). In the lorlatinib arm, the 7-year PFS rate was 65.0% (95% CI, 54.5%-77.4%) in patients with TP53 wild-type disease (n = 73) vs 40.8% (95% CI, 27.3%-61.1%) in those with TP53-mutated disease (n = 43; HR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.268-0.857); median PFS was not reached (NR) vs 51.6 months (95% CI, 16.4-NR), respectively.

CML treatment has transformed long-term survival, allowing many patients receiving effective TKI therapy to achieve a life expectancy approaching that of the general population. Molecular response milestones guide personalized treatment decisions, helping clinicians assess treatment effectiveness, recognize inadequate responses, and adjust therapy when necessary.

Rigaku Corporation, a group company of Rigaku Holdings Corporation and a global solutions partner in X-ray analytical instrumentation, will introduce the DicifferX™ Microarea Edition at JASIS 2026. This X-ray diffractometer enables materials characterization of microareas only a few tens of micrometers in size in a laboratory environment. As electronic devices become smaller, electronic components such as multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) are becoming increasingly miniaturized and more densely integrated, driving demand for materials characterization of microareas only a few tens of micrometers in size. Conventional micro-area measurements present challenges such as the loss of X-ray intensity caused by reducing the beam size and shifts in the irradiation position caused by even slight mechanical deflection of the instrument. Purpose-built to overcome these technical challenges, the DicifferX Microarea Edition enables stable measurement of micro-areas at the scale of a few tens of micrometers.