Mary Caffrey is the Executive Editor for The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®). She joined AJMC® in 2013 and is the primary staff editor for Evidence-Based Oncology, the multistakeholder publication that reaches 22,000+ oncology providers, policy makers and formulary decision makers. She is also part of the team that oversees speaker recruitment and panel preparations for AJMC®'s premier annual oncology meeting, Patient-Centered Oncology Care®. For more than a decade, Mary has covered ASCO, ASH, ACC and other leading scientific meetings for AJMC readers.
Mary has a BA in communications and philosophy from Loyola University New Orleans. You can connect with Mary on LinkedIn.
Nivolumab-Based Combos Approved in First-line Advanced ESCC
The approvals were announced by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), maker of the 2 immunotherapy treatments approved for 1 combination: nivolumab (Opdivo), the first approved PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, and ipilimumab (Yervoy), which activates the immune system by targeting CTLA-4.
Increased Social Spending by States Linked to Improved OS for Black Patients With Cancer
Data to be presented next week during the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting show that for every 10% increase in public welfare spending, there was a 4.55% narrowing of the 5-year overall survival (OS) disparity between Black and White patients with cancer.
Ribociclib Data Show Reduced Mortality Risk in HR+/HER2- Advanced Breast Cancer
Officials from Novartis emphasized that the ribociclib-fulvestrant combination is the only one in the CDK4/6 inhibitor class to demonstrate an overall survival benefit when used in a first-line setting among postmenopausal women.
European Effort Will Make Cholangiocarcinoma Treatment Info Available in Multiple Languages
The project seeks to develop materials explaining chemotherapy regimens for patients with biliary tract cancers and then translate these materials into “standardized, high-quality, free, and easily accessible resources."
City of Hope’s Alvarnas: Payers Must Recognize Cancer Care Is Different
Joseph Alvarnas, MD, vice president of government affairs at City of Hope and chief clinical adviser of AccessHope in Duarte, California, spoke March 4 at the closing session of the Association for Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) Annual Meeting & Cancer Business Summit in Washington, DC.
Dr Debra Patt Discusses Considering Strategies for Additional COVID-19 Boosters in Breast Cancer
Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, executive vice president of Texas Oncology, addresses considerations for getting a second COVID-19 booster, or a fourth dose, among survivors of breast cancer or patients currently undergoing treatment as well as those who may be immunocompromised.
Dapagliflozin Combo Is Not More Effective in Reducing PAH in Preclinical Study
The study used rats with monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PAH to examine whether adding dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, would offer any add-on benefit when used with sildenafil.
Evidence, Support, and Education Needed to Drive Precision Oncology, Accenture’s Bogdan Says
Accenture’s 2021 report, “The Future Is Now: How to Drive Precision Oncology Adoption," adds to the chorus calling for greater sharing of data and improved standardization, so that academic centers and community practices alike can continually improve data sets used worldwide.
OneOncology’s Arrowsmith Looks Forward to Real-time Dynamics in Clinical Pathways
Across OneOncology, says Edward Arrowsmith MD, MPH, clinical pathways offer a vehicle for physicians to agree on best practices and to implement them across the network. Early this year, Arrowsmith became medical director for Clinical Pathways, OneOncology.
Preclinical Data at AACR Show CSP May Be Broad Target in Cholangiocarcinoma
Researchers presented results for ZB131, a monoclonal antibody that would target cancer-specific plectin (CSP); experiments with mice showed this may be present in more than 80% of the most common types of cholangiocarcinoma.
AstraZeneca’s Camille Hertzka Addresses rPFS in mCRPC
Camille Hertzka, vice president, head of oncology, US Medical, AstraZeneca, clarifies testing for the HRR mutation in metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and the predictive importance of radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) for overall survival in this setting.
Understanding the Tumor Microenvironment of Cholangiocarcinoma
The authors found that the relationship between immunosuppressive cells and effector T cells in hilar and distal cholangiocarcinoma has important implications for treatment, in that the tumor microenvironment would likely need to be primed for a treatment strategy to be effective.
Sharpless Steps Down as NCI Director
Norman E. “Ned” Sharpless, MD, is departing shortly after the launch of Cancer Moonshot 2.0, an initiative that aims to reduce the cancer death rate by at least half over the next 25 years while improving the experience for all those affected by cancer.
AstraZeneca’s Camille Hertzka: Olaparib Could Be Practice Changing
Camille Hertzka, vice president, head of oncology, US Medical, AstraZeneca, discusses why so much excitement has been generated for the use of olaparib (Lynparza) in the first line for patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer.
Cancer Care Closer to Home—or at Home—Is Worth Extra Effort, NCCN Panelists Say
From taking part in clinical research at a local location to foregoing aggressive therapy in favor of quality of life, patients with cancer are seeking new options, said panelists at the 2022 Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).