Latest Conference Articles

Adam Simmons, director of clinical program management, Alkermes, interviewed at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, discussed the efficacy of the investigational drug ALKS 3831 (olanzapine/samidorphan) in various patient populations.

The connections among diabetes, cardiovascular (CV) disease, and kidney failure have been a theme of the 79th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association, which featured a joint session with the American Society of Nephrology.

One of the first things you need to do to ensure scalability and sustainability of social determinants of health (SDOH) initiatives is to really understand your population, explained Susan Mani, MD, vice president of Clinical Transformation and Ambulatory Quality at LifeBridge Health.

The observational study will use information from 3 databases to compare the SGLT2 inhibitor to a competing class of therapy for type 2 diabetes. Early cardiovascular and safety data were presented Monday at the 79th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association.

Findings reported at the 79th Scientific Session of the American Diabetes Association in San Francisco, California, show the type 2 diabetes drug dapagliflozin significantly reduced the risk of renal decline, kidney failure, and renal death.

Results from a study involving adding sitagliptin and increasing doses of metformin for patients who cannot attain glycemic control show that as glycated hemoglobin increases, it becomes harder to reach targets.

Oral semaglutide would be the first non-injectable agent in the GLP-1 receptor agonist class; these drugs produce powerful glycemic control along with weight loss.

This is probably the biggest concern that every community and cancer practice should be looking at, explained Ben Jones, vice president, Government Relations & Public Policy, McKesson Specialty Health.

One of the most important things you can do to align healthcare strategies in the shift toward value-based care is to allow your clinicians to be part of that journey, explained Jason Mitchell, MD, chief medical and clinical transformation officer, Presbyterian Healthcare Services.

A number of abstracts at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, held May 31 to June 4, 2019, in Chicago, Illinois, featured studies that focused on using real-world data to advance research and cancer care in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

During the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Annual Meeting which took place May 31-June 4, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois, oncologists and representatives from UnitedHealthcare and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) took the stage to discuss oncology reimbursement reform and whether there are changes on the horizon for the promotion of higher value care.

The follow-up to the landmark TAILORx trial shows that adding a clinical risk evaluation of the breast cancer tumor may have prognostic value; the authors' recommendations are drawn from other studies.

Jonathan Campbell, PhD, associate professor, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado, discusses the value of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) in value assessment, as well as lessons learned from using MCDA in other industries.

Parth Shah, PharmD, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, led a discussion on the uptake challenges of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Annual Meeting by first explaining the known percentages of attributable cancers to the virus in the United States: cervical cancer 91%, vagina cancer 75%, and vulva cancer 69%, among others. Although multiple cancers are attributable to the virus, explained Shah, of the population ages 13-17 in the United States that should be vaccinated, both boys and girls, only 49% actually receive the vaccine.

Oncologists, patient advocates, patients, and other stakeholders from around the world gathered to hear different perspectives regarding the use of cannabis in symptom management for patients with cancer. Panelist after panelist went up to present available data, and each reiterated the same point: We need more research.

Group purchasing organizations have an important purpose in healthcare, but there are some concerns, explained Martin Makary, MD, MPH, a surgical oncologist and chief of the Johns Hopkins Islet Transplant Center.

Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer linked to germline genetic mutations did not see their disease worsen for an additional 3.6 months when treated with olaparib, but an early interim analysis did not show a statistically significant difference in overall survival (OS), according to study results presented Sunday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting 2019.

Drug pricing seemed like an appropriate topic for ASCO's town hall as the Trump administration has made lowering the cost of medications a major objective. By doing so, the administration has put out a series of proposals looking to address the cost of drugs, such as the International Pricing Index (IPI), and the recently finalized rule around direct-to-consumer advertising for pharmaceutical companies.

Erich Mounce, chief operating officer, OneOncology, discusses the importance of palliative care and how it impacts quality of life.

“How do you currently collaborate with your primary care colleagues in caring for patients with cancer?” This was how Larissa Nekhlyudov, MD, MPH, opened a session titled “Bringing the Primary Care Physician Back Into Cancer Care,” during the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Annual Meeting, held in Chicago, Illinois from May 31-June 4, 2019.

People with mental illnesses often turn to using substances for self-medication, but this combination causes many problems that worsen quality of life, said Jonathan Avery, MD, director of addiction psychiatry, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Susan Mani, MD, vice president of Clinical Transformation and Ambulatory Quality at LifeBridge Health, discusses barriers to understanding the return on investment of social determinants of health initiatives.

Psychiatrists can use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques to help patients with psychosis understand and explore their own beliefs and to develop the therapeutic relationship, according to David Kingdon, MD, professor of mental health care delivery, University of Southampton.

Rose Gerber, director of patient advocacy and education for the Community Oncology Alliance, discusses how different structural barriers create access issues for patients looking to participate in clinical trials.

A computer simulated cost-effectiveness model of fremanezumab for migraine found that it was cost effective versus no treatment. Researchers presented a poster about its cost-effectiveness for the prevention of chronic and episodic migraine at ISPOR 2019.

Ben Jones, vice president, Government Relations & Public Policy, McKesson Specialty Health, offers his thoughts on whether site-neutral payments for outpatient clinic visits under the Outpatient Prospective Payment System will have positive implications for community practices.

More and more archives and databases, including psychiatric hospital records, are being digitized for preservation, but this can present privacy risks from hacking, cautioned King Davis, PhD, faculty member, University of Texas at Austin School of Information.

Isaac Galatzer-Levy, PhD, assistant professor in psychiatry and bioinformatics, NYU School of Medicine, and vice president of clinical and computational neuroscience, AiCure, describes how his team built a predictive algorithm using machine learning to predict the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).