Latest Conference Articles

Giving statins to women before they undergo treatment for breast cancer may help prevent the heart damage caused by some well-known therapies, including trastuzumab.

To optimize use of biologics for asthma, greater attention should be paid to adherence, according to an abstract prepared and published for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2020 Annual Meeting.

Two studies discussed the feasibility of different parameters for the infusion of a product for patients with primary immunodeficiency disorder in abstracts prepared for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2020 Annual Meeting.

The study noted that few oral immunotherapy (OIT) studies include patients with a history of severe reactions requiring epinephrine.

Is it cost-effective to prescribe epinephrine to every patient on allergen immunotherapy (AIT)? Does AIT have an impact on healthcare costs? These and other issues were included among the research prepared and published for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2020 Annual Meeting.

Social determinants found within a person’s environment, mainly where they live and work, have been shown to influence outcomes related to health, functioning, and quality of life, especially where risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is concerned, according to study results that will be presented during ACC.20/WCC Virtual.

High infusion parameters for pump-assisted and manual push 20% subcutaneous immunoglobulin (SCIg), or IgPro20, were well tolerated by patients with primary immunodeficiency disorder (PID), according to a recent abstract prepared for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2020 Annual Meeting.

Included among the abstracts prepared and published for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2020 Annual Meeting are several that looked at the clinical and psychosocial factors that complicate asthma in pediatric patients. A few are highlighted here.

The first US patients with peanut allergy have been treated with Aimmune Therapeutic’s Palforzia oral immunotherapy (OIT), the company said. The treatment was approved by the FDA in January, and is the first approved treatment for patients with peanut allergy.

The American Journal of Managed Care® discussed the prevalence of poor indoor air quality in childcare facilities with Joshua Steinberg, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Erin Lee, a clinical research coordinator at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) dicussed the efficacy of ragweed sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) tablets with Anne Ellis, MD, professor of medicine and chair of the Division of Allergy & Immunology at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) interviewed Elisabet Johansson, PhD, a research fellow at the University of Cincinnati, about how the gene NFE2L2 interacts with secondhand smoke, and increases the risk of asthma.

Researchers tested berberine containing natural medicine (BCNM) in mice with peanut allergy and found the treatment regimen induced long-term tolerance to peanut and a profound, sustained reduction of immunoglobulin E (IgE). In an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care®, Kamal Srivastava, PhD, director of Basic Science Research at General Nutraceutical Technology, explained the growing importance of gut and skin microbiota when it comes to treatment of food allergy.

The American Journal of Managed Care® discussed the real-world burden of reduced quality of life among adolescents with peanut allergies with Anna Nowak-Węgrzyn, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics at the New York University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Langone Health, New York.

We think that the ACCC is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between the needs in clinical trials and the patients who are in the community. Most clinical oncology is delivered in the community. That's where the patients are, that's where the need is, said Randall Oyer, MD, medical director of the Oncology Program at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health and president of ACCC.

Ensuring that all frontline clinicians are equipped, confident, and engaged in executing skilled communication, which is at the core of palliative care, will make a significant difference for how value-based care unfolds, how payment reform happens, and how the lived experience plays out for patients and families to be a better one, said Rebecca Kirch, JD, executive vice president, Health Care, Quality and Value, National Patient Advocate Foundation.

The theme of ACCC Immediate Past President Ali McBride, PharmD, MS, BPS, BCOP, for his 2019-2020 term was “Collaborate. Educate. Compensate: A Prescription for Sustainable Cancer Care Delivery.” Nowhere was that more evident than in the panel discussion he led on day 2 of this year’s annual conference.

I think a lot of it is, do you trust the people that you're going to be working with? What does it come down to economically? And then I would say on the third end is what can really be done to enhance patient care? As it relates to the decision that you make, said Bradley Prechtl, MBA, chief executive officer of the American Oncology Network.

Can we predict which patients are at high risk of hospitalization? How can we reduce this risk? Debra Patt, MD, MPH, MBA, executive vice president of policy and strategy at Texas Oncology, posed these questions during the ACCC 46th Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit.

As we move from the mono-therapy era into the combination era, we have to think of new arrangements, perhaps value-based arrangements that will work with the payers and the manufacturers so that patients will have access to these drugs and also have the best ability to get value from them, said Lee Schwartzberg, MD, FACP, chief medical officer and board member at OneOncology.

Healthcare is not political, it’s personal, Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, told an audience at the ACCC 46th Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit, imploring them to come together in a nonpartisan way to improve care access and quality and to reduce costs.

My Presidential theme was to look at the interdisciplinary care team involved in the actual delivery of cancer therapies and cancer care, said Ali McBride, PharmD, MS, BCPS, BCOP, clinical coordinator of hematology/oncology in the Department of Pharmacy at The University of Arizona Cancer Center and outgoing president of ACCC.

Evolution. Disruption. Innovation. Telemedicine. A virtual exchange of information. Healthcare has lagged behind in these aspects, but it’s necessary to transcend time and distance, according to Susan Dentzer, senior policy fellow at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy.

There are many applications that are available today that could be brought into the oncology landscape to create a much more patient-centered focus of experiences for those undergoing care, said Susan Dentzer, senior policy fellow at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy.

Although many investigators have pushed the envelope in researching how patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) experience disabilities, there is still a need for more knowledge on how those disabilities evolve over time, according to Cynthia Delgado, MD, associate professor of medicine at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

Frailty significantly raises the risk of developing disabilities as a result of hemodialysis, so even patients who are intermediately frail should be monitored, said Cynthia Delgado, MD, associate professor of medicine at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

Educating primary care clinicians on how to manage chronic kidney disease in the primary care setting can help avoid referrals for nephrology consults that aren’t needed, said Joseph Vassalotti, MD, clinical professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and chief medical officer of the National Kidney Foundation.

Clinicians should be mindful of how their patients with disabilities function in their everyday lives, not just in the exam room, according to Cynthia Delgado, MD, associate professor of medicine at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of California San Francisco Medical Center.