Oncology

Rates of cancer deaths have declined 22% over the last 2 decades, which amounts to 1.5 million deaths averted, according to the annual cancer statistics report from the American Cancer Society.

NICE has published draft guidance which recommends that nab-paclitaxel given with gemcitabine should not be funded by the NHS for previously untreated metastatic pancreatic cancer, because its limited benefits compared to current treatments do not justify its cost.

Combining erlotinib with SBRT more than doubled the survival time of stage 4 lung cancer patients.

With 2014 coming to a close, The American Journal of Managed Care is taking a look back at the most popular articles from this year. These most-read articles highlight the healthcare issues most important to providers, insurers, and policy makers.

Blackberry announced the product of their collaboration with NantHealth: a healthcare app for doctors and nurses who use their smartphones.

With this approval, the vaccine can effectively protect against 5 additional types of HPV than the parent Gardasil vaccine, thereby preventing the development of cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancers, based on a randomized clinical trial.

The Nature letter published results showing that the monoclonal antibody targeting PD-1 had antitumor activity, but more importantly, the response was greater in patients overexpressing the PD-L1 receptor, thereby opening the doors for targeted therapy.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology called for greater access to and education about phase I clinical trials, the first-in-human studies of new agents designed to fight cancer.

The approval was based on the results of a clinical trial that demonstrated improved PFS in patients on lanreotide. While the median PFS in the placebo arm was 16 months, patients in the lanreotide arm had not yet reached median PFS at the time of analysis, and it was anticipated to extend beyond 22 months.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has issued draft guidelines on using the drug in prostate cancer patients.

How do ACOs reach the point of delivering both savings and better care? The recent online session of the ACO and Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition, sponsored by The American Journal of Managed Care, covered how ACOs evolve, how that process applies to oncology care, and how managed care can benefit from a better model for mental health delivery.

In order to reign in high costs of care in oncology, the healthcare community needs to be able to define value better, according to Alex Bastian, MBA, senior vice president at GfK.

The pilot, which will has been launched for head and neck cancer patients, will include quality measures to ensure adequate patient care.

With the immuno-oncology field getting more intense, Pfizer continues its struggle to gain a foothold in the field. Following unsuccessful attempts to bid for AstraZeneca, Pfizer has now signed a deal with a Belgian company, iTeos Therapeutics.

Should e-cigarettes be regulated he same way as cigarettes? Should marketing and sales restrictions be the same? Policy and health experts chime-in.

Just prior to the FDA guidance on the use of power morcellators, Johns Hopkins made public a new care plan for managing fibroids or hysterectomies in women over age 50 years.

Immune response boosters in oncology, approved for melanoma so far, are being evaluated in several different cancer types. While the drugs perform well, there is a definite need to identify responsive patient cohorts.

A study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium showed that Herceptin may not complement chemotherapy in breast tumors with a high level of immune infiltration.