Maggie L. Shaw

Participants in Last Gift, an end-of-life HIV research program from UC San Diego, donate their blood and their bodies so researchers can uncover all the places that HIV hides, to both fight the disease and stop it. Before each autopsy, the following is read: “From our first breath to our last, each of us tells a unique story. Here, we honor our Last Gift participants for their altruism to further research into HIV and the human condition. We take this moment of silence to honor their gifts and express our gratitude for all the discoveries their selfless donations will yield.”

Heart failure (HF) taxes the American healthcare system by a total of $39.2 billion to $60 billion each year. This amount is expected to increase up to 20% by 2030 and total $70 billion. Worldwide, HF has been diagnosed in 26 million individuals, and this number is rising.

Minimal residual disease (MRD), a measure of how many cancer cells remain in a patient during or following chemotherapy or stem cell transplant, is a potent indicator of whether or not a patient is likely to relapse; recent research probed the associations between MRD status and certain prognostic risk factors in childhood B-lymphoblastic leukemia after both induction and consolidation.

Mucosa-associated invariant T cells (MAIT cells) are a subset of the T-cell population. Their function and activity during the acute stage of HIV infection adds to the knowledge of immune system activation at this stage and could lead to possible new treatment interventions.

Symptom burden, functional ability, and quality of life are necessary considerations when treating hematologic malignancies in older patients.

Reviews of apixaban in active cancer, Medicare costs after CAR T-cell therapy, and the need for financial assistance for novel therapies.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, with causes that include genetic mutations and myofiber disarray (an abnormal heart muscle cell arrangement). Individuals who have this condition are prone to obesity (body mass index, 25 to

The small molecule from BeyondSpring is currently in late-stage clinical development in non–small cell lung cancer and for prevention of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia.

Sickle cell disease is the most common red blood cell disorder in the United States, having been diagnosed in approximately 100,000 African Americans alone. The lack of oxygen from sickle cell buildup can lead to acute pain crises, joint and organ damage, stroke, and reduced life expectancy.

The median time to first intravenous therapy for acute heart failure (AHF) is 3.0 hours in North America compared with 1.2 hours in all other regions, in the International Registry to Assess Medical Practice with Longitudinal Observation for Treatment of Heart Failure. Treatment timing and differences may affect outcomes in patients with AHF.

clonoSEQ, from Adaptive Biotechnologies, is a next-generation sequencing assay with existing Medicare coverage to monitor for minimal residual disease (MRD) in multiple myeloma and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The newest Medicare coverage is for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which takes effect immediately.

Truvada and Descovy are both manufactured by Gilead Sciences and used to treat HIV-1 infection and as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in adult and pediatric patients.

Nigeria has a population of almost 204 million. Of those, 3.1% of adults, or 3.5 million, are living with HIV. The accompanying death anxiety of people living with HIV and AIDS has not been studied in depth.

The platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA) exon 18 mutation occurs in close to 6% of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), the most common being the D842V mutation, for which there is no effective, approved treatment. The drug previously received breakthrough therapy, fast track, and orphan drug designations.

Hospitalizations due to heart failure (HF) were associated with a risk for kidney failure (KF) that was 11.4-times greater compared with patients who did not have cardiovascular disease (CVD). Among a group of CVDs that also included atrial fibrillation, coronary heart disease, and stroke, HF was associated with the highest risk of developing subsequent KF.

Patients with acute heart failure often require immediate treatment to restore optimal heart function. The 2 primary methods of revascularization are coronary artery bypass graft and percutaneous coronary intervention, but the preferred strategy for use in these patients requires clarification due to risk.

There are 12 clinical trials underway investigating various combination treatments for HIV and AIDS, but a cure remains elusive. Few studies have attempted to qualify and quantify the risk HIV-positive individuals claim they would take if it meant a cure could result.

Patient feedback is quickly becoming a vital component of the FDA’s regulatory decision-making process for drug applications.

The top 5 most-read news stories of 2019 for The American Journal of Managed Care® ran the gamut, from the ongoing opioid epidemic to hoped-for new drug approvals to treat type 2 diabetes.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an inherited condition in which mutations in genes that encode the sarcomere proteins in the heart cause an abnormal thickening of that muscle, with no known cure. In black patients, HCM is usually diagnosed at a younger age and accompanied by a greater burden of symptomatic heart failure. These patients, however, are not well represented in surveys of the condition, which tend to focus on white patients.

Despite a 20% drop in mortality since 2009, colorectal cancer accounted for 9.8% (881,000) of deaths worldwide in 2018 and represents 10.2% of all cancer cases worldwide. It is No. 3 on the list of most prevalent cancers worldwide—1.8 million new cases in 2018—behind only lung cancer and breast cancer.

In cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), there is a greater risk of symptomatic heart failure in the first year following initiation of anthracycline treatment.

HIV-positive individuals face greater risks of kidney and liver diseases, cardiovascular events, osteoporosis, hepatitis C, and cancer. Clinical trials and research advances into the cause and development of the comorbid conditions are needed.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are lymphocytes genetically engineered to recognize and bind to specific proteins on cancer cells. Studies are currently underway for applications in other fields.

There was a 37% increase in childhood cancer survival between 1975 and 2010. With more children receiving chemotherapy and radiation to treat their diseases, leading to more survivors, awareness has grown of the belated effects of those treatments once patients reach adulthood.

A second study, slated for next year, will continue these infants on antiretroviral treatment with 2 experimental monoclonal antibodies, hoping the medications produce viral suppression—and testing the effects of temporarily stopping them—so that they don’t have to eventually initiate the standard triplet therapy that most older patients typically take. For adults, most treatments for HIV come from the cancer field, and are inflammatory, and are not safe enough to apply in children. An ongoing debate is when is it appropriate to begin these therapies in children.

The painless procedure is still in its experimental stages; however, it is inexpensive and safe, and the equipment is portable.

Karmanos Cancer Institute, in Detroit, Michigan, established a specialty pharmacy to help alleviate the financial burden many patients face when paying for their oral novel therapeutics.

Treating venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients can be tricky due to greater risks of major bleeding episodes and recurrent VTE.

The first disease-modifying therapies were introduced in the United States and Canada in the 1990s.