ASCO: American Society of Clinical Oncology

A retrospective analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Louisville has found that less than 2% of the more than 7.5 million eligible smokers were screened for lung cancer in 2016 despite recommendations by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). These results will be presented at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, June 1-5, Chicago, Illinois.

Use of the mobile and sensor technology, CYCORE—CYberinfrastructure for COmparative Effectiveness Research—to remotely monitor symptoms in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) undergoing radiation therapy found CYCORE patients had lower symptoms overall and specific to HNC. These results are a part of the research to be presented at the upcoming 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, June 1-5, Chicago, Illinois.

During a press cast hosted by the American Society of Clinical Oncology ahead of the annual meeting, women with HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer who were treated with trastuzumab (Herceptin) for 6 months had a similar rate of disease-free survival as women who received the drug for 12 months, which is the current standard of care.

The main value of the COME HOME model for oncology practices is that it can help reduce hospitalization rates, leading to better quality of life for patients and clinicians, according to Barbara McAneny, MD, chief medical officer of New Mexico Oncology Hematology Consultants.

Data presented by the FDA at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting identified a need for educating community-based oncology practices on testing for programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein expression before patients diagnosed with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) are treated with nivolumab or pembrolizumab.

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.

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.

At the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, oncologists heard from fellow experts on the best way to navigate this daunting payment reform challenge.

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.

The impact that generics have on bringing down the cost of branded drugs needs to happen in the biologics space so the industry can save money and improve access to medications and population outcomes, according to Edward Li, PharmD, MPH, BCOP, of the University of New England.

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.

Value frameworks aren't at an ideal point in their development, yet, but it is important to keep in mind that different frameworks represent different perspectives, said Scott Ramsey, MD, PhD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

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.

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).

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.

A group in Israel presented a study that evaluated the price trend of 30 anticancer agents following their launch, and found that prices may increase by as much as 44% even after adjusting for inflation.

A poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) found that the cost per median month of survival for daratumumab was lower compared with 2 other novel treatments in multiple myeloma.

With value frameworks still in their infancy, Michael Kolodziej, MD, national medical director for oncology strategy at Aetna, doesn't see how his company can use them just yet. In fact, these frameworks may never be used by insurers, but only for shared decision making between the patient and provider.

A session at the ongoing annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) provided an overview of ASCO's recently updated value framework and their quality program, the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative.

While several clinical trials have tried to identify a programmed death-1 or programmed death ligand-1 expression—dependent response, it’s been an uphill task. During one of the sessions at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, researchers were tasked with sharing their data on any breakthroughs or leads with biomarker-based treatment.

CancerCare provides oncology patients with many services that offer both educational and financial support as well as any help the patient may need with his or her family, such as child care and housekeeping needs. However, Patricia Goldsmith, CEO of CancerCare, explained that there are many financial challenges, including transportation and high out-of-pocket costs, that oncology patients continue to face.

The key to driving down costs, or at the very least making costs more predictable, is integrating pathways into the Oncology Care Model program, said John L. Fox, MD, MS, associate vice president of medical affairs at Priority Health.

Drug costs are a significant contributor to rising healthcare costs, along with the cost of healthcare services. How can providers and patients work together to find a solution to this problem?

During a session on the second day of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, experts discussed treating patients with chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T cells).

Though Cigna’s reimbursement medical home model is still in its very early stages, Bhuvana Sagar, MD, national medical director of Cigna Healthcare, explained that discussing value in healthcare and getting back to smarter spending as well as better outcomes for patients should be the focus of all industry stakeholders.