Oncology

This week, the top managed care stories included findings that some cancers are being diagnosed earlier after people gain coverage under the Affordable Care Act; a new poll gauged Americans' views on Medicaid; and JDRF launched a new campaign to meet the needs of people with type 1 diabetes.

A new study analyzing breast cancer data in the SEER database has concluded that small tumors detected following a mammography might be small because they are slow-growing, and not necessarily because they were detected early.

A new study finds that the incidence of cancer in high-income counties has spiked higher than in low-income counties, but the wealthier areas saw their cancer mortality rates decrease more, which could indicate that overdiagnosis is occurring among well-off populations.

A phase 1 study, presented at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, found that including daratumumab can improve patient response to treatment in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

A new study estimates that the cooperative research network SWOG, which is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), has considerably impacted the US population over its 60-year history, as its 23 positive clinical trials have generated about 3.34 million life-years gained.

A discussion at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting addressed the practical solutions to address the financial toxicity of cancer care and identified leads for future intervention studies aiming to prevent or reduce this burden.

Bacteria in the gut microbiome is associated with disease progression or delay in patients with metastatic melanoma who were treated with immunotherapy, according to a study presented at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

The collaboration between Innovative Oncology Business Solutions and the American Society of Clinical Oncology on the COME HOME Model should help give community oncology practices a path forward to be competitive, said Barbara McAneny, MD, chief medical officer of New Mexico Oncology Hematology Consultants.

Updated results from the POLLUX and CASTOR trials, presented at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, have found that including daratumumab in standard-of-care regimens prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) and improved the depth of response, independent of the patients’ cytogenetic risk.

Craig Portell, MD, of the University of Virginia Health System, highlights some of the latest and most exciting treatments in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, including CAR-T therapies and targeted therapies such as venetoclax.

A phase 3, randomized, double-blind registration study in patients with breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant myelosuppressive chemotherapy has found clinical equivalence between filgrastim and its biosimilar after switching studies.

A poster discussion session at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology examined retrospective surveillance data in 3 different cancers: non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck cancer, and colorectal cancer.

As practices participating in the Oncology Care Model progress in their practice transformation they run into some challenges, such as how to properly analyze claims data, and see early successes, such as improved patient experience, said Basit Chaudhry, MD, PhD, founder of Tuple Health.

One of the kickoff sessions on the first day of the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, was a lively discussion on ensuring that the data used to inform patient care and create healthcare policies holds value.

A late afternoon extended education session on the first day of the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, was a discussion on the state-of-the-art uses for immunotherapy in the management of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Checkpoint inhibitors have begun to revolutionize bladder cancer treatments, but the benefits in prostate cancer are a little less clear at this point, explained Daniel George, MD, of the Duke Cancer Insitute.

According to a recent study, women who live in a highly segregated white community are more likely to receive a late-stage diagnosis of breast cancer.

Analysis of data available within a national hospital-based registry showed that the diagnosis of stage I disease increased for female breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer following implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

A new study finds that bariatric surgery can have beneficial effects for women beyond just weight loss: it was also associated with lower risk of female-specific cancers, like breast or ovarian cancer.

According to the study, to be presented at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, vaccination resulted in an 88% overall reduction in vaccine-type infections and a 100% reduction among men, in the young adult population.

Patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have a rearrangement in the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene now have a first-line option: ceritinib.

The findings are the results of a collaborative study conducted at various cancer institutions across the United States, which evaluated the impact of following the 2012 American Cancer Society Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines for Cancer Survivors.

This week, the top managed care news included the Congressional Budget Office's new score for the American Health Care Act; the White House released its fiscal year 2018 budget; and a cancer drug approval that is a first for the FDA.

Based on the results of the phase 2 ZUMA-1 trial in patients with refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Kite Pharma has submitted for, and received, a priority review for its chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell treatment, axicabtagene ciloleucel.