Oncology

Peter Yu, MD, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, (ASCO) discussed the organization's efforts throughout 2014 to reform reimbursement and take on issues of value and quality in cancer care during Patient-Centered Oncology Care, the annual gathering sponsored by The American Journal of Managed Care.

A Kaiser Permanante study surveyed bladder cancer patients and found that current and former smokers were aware of a connection between smoking and their disease.

The cost-value discussion in oncology continues in Europe as NICE lists 40 drugs that it plans to reassess in terms of cost versus patient benefit.

A national survey published in JAMA Surgery identified too many repeat surgeries in women with breast cancer.

At an ongoing AACR meeting on Health Disparities in cancer, researchers from the Gillings School of Global Public Health presented data showing HPV vaccine uptake among girls is lowest in states with the highest rates of cervical cancer.

The recommendations by the International Society of Geriatric Oncology, emphasize personalized treatment and assigning a multidisciplinary care team for optimal treatment.

A research group at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute employed 2 different approaches on data generated by The Cancer Genome Atlas, to identify prognostic genes in ovarian cancer.

A collaboration between CHOP oncologists and researchers at UPenn aims to provide targeted therapy to children with neuroblastoma, based on their ALK mutation status.

At the annual meeting of the Heart Failure Society of America, cardiologists called for a more broader definition of cancer treatment—related cardiotoxicity.

A Phase 3 trial for the drug, TH-302, is currently ongoing.

CMS announced today that low-dose computed tomography screening will now be reimbursed once a year by Medicare as a preventive service benefit, despite an advisory panel recommending against the screening back in April 2014.

Provenge, approved by the FDA in 2010, faced numerous road-blocks with high cost, limited benefit, and issues with reimbursement rates.

The FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted against recommending panobinostat plus bortezomib and dexamethasone for patients with previously treated multiple myeloma.

The treatment, conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, identified a mutation in the BRaf gene which is commonly mutated in melanoma. Subsequent treatment with dabrafenib and trametinib resulted in rapid tumor shrinkage.

The study results from the National Lung Screening Trial found cost-effectiveness and value of screening long-term smokers when screened by trained professionals.

Ileana Arias, PhD, CDC principal deputy director, recommends active screening by Pap test and HPV test, and vaccination of young boys and girls to improve early detection and prevention rates.

The drug combination showed a significant improvement of 2.2 months in OS compared to the placebo arm.

Despite decades of efforts to target the Ras protein, mutated in a number of different cancers, the progress has been slow. Now, scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Germany have devised a way to prevent translocation of Ras to the cell surface, a process essential for protein activation.