Hi friends 👋🏼,

Happy Sunday! Hope you’re having a relaxing weekend and that your summer is off to an excellent start. 🏄🏻‍♀️

The Cure’s mission is simple; we strive to demystify complex medical technologies and connect readers to clinical trials.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more about who I am and why I decided to start The Cure. Plus, I’ll begin writing short explainers about some essential things to know - like what the heck the phases of clinical trials mean for patients. If you want me to cover anything specific, you can reply to this email and ask.

This week, I wanted to start off hot and share why we charge a fee to read The Cure. In this personal letter, I’ve shared my motivations, decisions, and thoughts.

And if you’re here for only the science, that’s cool too! Let’s dive right in…

• Breast Cancer and BRCA1 ^{READER REQUEST}

• Hashimoto’s: From Tobacco to Treatment ^{READER REQUEST}

• Battling Ankylosing Spondylitis with Antibodies ^{READER REQUEST}

• Cellulitis: A Bacterial Invasion ^{READER REQUEST}

🎀 Breast Cancer and BRCA1

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in women in the US, second only to lung cancer.

What causes breast cancer? We don’t know, but women who have inherited mutations in certain genes, such as BRCA1, are at higher risk of breast cancer. When you look at the stats for BRCA1, it’s shocking; about 13% of women in the general population will develop breast cancer compared to 55-72% of women who have inherited a harmful BRCA1 variant. That is a massive increase in risk and one that led Angelina Jolie, who carried the harmful BRCA1 variant, to remove her breasts as a preventative measure in 2013.

Can we give women who are born with harmful BRCA1 variants a preventative treatment to protect them from getting breast cancer? (Ideally, a preventative treatment that doesn’t require a double mastectomy, sorry Angie...)

Subscribe to The Cure to read the rest.