Latest Conference Content

Fourteen months after the American College of Cardiology (ACC) switched its 17,000-person meeting to a virtual format on short notice, the meeting will be online May 15-17 for the second year. The 70th Scientific Session will feature 25 late-breaking clinical trials, emphasizing treatment of heart failure and the right aspirin dose for prevention of secondary cardiovascular disease.

The 4-day annual meeting of ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research—will cover a wide range of topics. Here are 5 themes to keep an eye out for.

We’re going to celebrate and refocus on the science, reflect and share lessons learned from the pandemic, and really engage our audience in discussions that cover care guidelines and nontraditional pathways of care, said Pamela Bowe Morris, MD, chair of ACC.21.

Panelists of a session at the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) 2021 Annual Meeting discuss challenges contributing to health inequities in patient care, particularly medication use quality, as well as efforts to improve these issues.

Understanding that there is a third type of heart failure will further our understanding of the disease, noted Clyde W. Yancy, MD, MSc, chief of cardiology and vice dean for diversity and inclusion at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

A novel biologic for severe asthma reduced exacerbations by 56%, according to a study published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Vaping and other key respiratory issues, such as asthma, COPD, and new biologics, join COVID-19 on the ATS 2021 International Conference agenda.

Joe Zein, MD, PhD, discusses what to expect from his talk on sex differences in asthma at this year's American Thoracic Society (ATS) meeting.

There is a persistent gap in heart failure care regarding administration of life-saving therapies outlined in clinical practice guidelines and consensus documents, noted James Jacuzzi, MD, of Harvard Medical School and an ACC trustee.

Michelle M Cloutier, MD, is professor emerita at UCONN Health in Farmington, Connecticut, and chair of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) Coordinating Committee Expert Panel Working Group.

Administrative claims data in oncology often lack sufficient information to conduct postmarketing comparison studies of biosimilars with their reference product, suggesting that other sources are needed to answer critical research questions.

Both studies were featured during the American College of Cardiology's annual briefing on results for consumers. They will be presented during the 70th Scientific Session, which is set for May 15-17, 2021.

There is likely not directly infectious replicating skin in a condition known as "COVID toes," and that’s important to reassure patients, said Christine Ko, MD, professor of dermatology and pathology at Yale University.

Patients want better control of their atopic dermatitis, and we don’t want them to acquiesce to their disease, explained Lawrence F. Eichenfield, MD, chief of pediatric and adolescent dermatology at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego.

With immunosuppression, self-regulatory mechanisms may start to decrease, and these are the patients who develop skin cancers more frequently, said Rajiv Nijhawan, MD, UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Posters presented at the American Academy of Dermatology Virtual Meeting Experience show ruxolitinib cream was effective at treating atopic dermatitis (AD) regardless of previous treatments and in patients with more severe disease.

Topical application of ruxolitinib cream significantly, and rapidly, decreases pruritus, noted Andy Blauvelt, MD, MBA, dermatologist and clinical study investigator at Oregon Medical Research Center, a dedicated clinical trial site.

There are a number of new biologic options for treating psoriasis, but undertreatment is still a concern, and more long-term data are needed, according to Junko Takeshita, MD, PhD, MSCE, at the National Association of Managed Care Physicians Virtual Spring Managed Care Forum.

Now that investigators have a better understanding of the biological mechanisms of migraine, new treatment and prevention options are making their way to patients and fueling an exciting time for the field, according to a presenter at the National Association of Managed Care Physicians Virtual Spring Managed Care Forum.

With the costs of biologic drugs increasing, biosimilars have emerged as an attractive option for containing costs and expanding access to treatment. However, some barriers to wider uptake still need to be addressed, according to a presentation at the National Association of Managed Care Physicians Virtual Spring Managed Care Forum.

Patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) who received ruxolitinib cream experienced a rapid, clinically meaningful, and sustained improvement in their itch.

For cases of advanced skin cancer that are not candidates for surgery or radiation therapy, we have Hedgehog pathway inhibitors and PD-1 inhibitors, each of which has 2 approved medications, noted Todd Schlesinger, MD, FAAD.

Mitigating the burden of HIV in the United States means taking a more comprehensive approach to diagnosis, testing, and treatment of the disease, said a speaker at the National Association of Managed Care Physicians Virtual Spring Managed Care Forum.

Washout periods are necessary to flush out any lingering effects of drugs that patients are taking before a study, explained Jonathan Silverberg, MD, PhD, MPH, associate professor of dermatology, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Metastatic breast cancer has a poor prognosis, but emerging targeted therapies are providing some progress in the treatment of the disease, explained Filipa Lynce, MD, medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School.

At a session at the National Association of Managed Care Physicians Virtual Spring Managed Care Forum, an Aetna executive discussed how one employer used the payer's data to see how its workforce was affected by social determinants of health (SDOH).

Microsoft's acquisition of Nuance reflects health care trends of an economy emerging from COVID-19, according to a speaker at the National Association of Managed Care Physicians Virtual Spring Managed Care Forum.

How well, and how in-depth, all parties execute each step can determine how long it will take to reach a finalized agreement, what the relationship will be like after the transaction, and whether the parties will be in legal compliance, speakers noted.