Remember the grand opening of the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in June? To commemorate this half-century of human struggle with tumors, from December 2013 to July 2014, ASCO held a worldwide poll through its website CancerProgress.net, calling for people to choose their top 5 modern oncology discoveries that will stand in the history books and usher in a generation. Progress is based on progress,” said Peter Yu, incoming ASCO president. Over the past 50 years, NIH-funded research has changed the way people think about oncology. All of these advances have marked a major turnaround in cancer care and have saved countless lives. So, which five studies were honored? Chemotherapy Cures Hodgkin’s Lymphoma The four-drug combination chemotherapy regimen, MOPP (nitrogen mustard, vincristine, methylbenzylhydrazine and prednisone) was able to cure approximately 50% of patients with progressive Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the first breakthrough in chemotherapy for adults with progressive tumors. This discovery in 1965 ignited hope that progressive tumors could also be cured by drug therapy. Led by this discovery, today the cure rate for the disease has reached 90%. HPV Vaccine Proven to Prevent Cervical Cancer In 2006 the FDA approved Gardasil, the first vaccine for the prevention of human papillomavirus (HPV), against the two strains of HPV infection – which cause most cervical cancers – from occurring. If widespread HPV vaccination can be implemented, the incidence of cervical cancer and other HPV-related tumors will be greatly reduced. Targeted Drug Transforms Treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia The rapid consideration and approval of imatinib (Gleevec) by the FDA in 2001 led to a fundamental change in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. This small, orally administered pill targeted a molecular defect seen in virtually all patients, transforming a terminal disease in which few patients survived long term into a disease with a 90 percent 5-year survival rate. It also ushered in an era of molecularly targeted therapy for a wide range of tumors. Chemotherapy cures testicular cancer A new three-drug combination chemotherapy regimen, PVB (cisplatin, vincristine and bleomycin), was able to achieve complete remission and some degree of cure in 70 percent of patients with progressive testicular cancer. In comparison, earlier chemotherapy regimens prior to this achieved only 5 percent. This discovery in 1977, combined with subsequent advances in surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, made testicular cancer the tumor with the highest cure rate, and it has become one of the most successful cases in oncology. Powerful anti-nausea drugs improve patients’ quality of life In 1991, ondansetron was approved by the FDA, and in the following years, more supportive therapies were approved, resulting in a fundamental change in the “pass-through” of oncology treatment and an unprecedented improvement in patients’ quality of life. These drugs not only relieved the severe vomiting caused by chemotherapy, but also freed patients from routine hospitalization, helping them to complete their treatment course and thus live better and longer.