Clinical

An exhaustive analysis of over a 100,000 individuals has confirmed the absence of unbiased association between statin use and a person’s risk of colorectal cancer; however, an inverse relation of risk and cholesterol levels was identified.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted across 16 countries over a 3-year period has confirmed that Chantix and Zyban do not increase the risk of suicidal behavior among users.

For optimum utilization of consumer healthcare markets, physicians need to be prepared to help patients navigate out-of-pocket expenses during clinical encounters, researchers found.

Patients diagnosed with advanced renal cell carcinoma, who have received prior treatment with anti-angiogenic agents, now have the option of being treated with the small molecule inhibitor cabozantinib.

It is not surprising that a new study on the relationship between income and longevity in the United States concludes that life expectancy increased with income. However, the study did shed light on the variabilities in the income-longevity relationship.

Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant of emerging therapies at Express Scripts, outlined the 2 pipeline drugs she is keeping a close eye on in 2016: both are breakthrough therapies and one could have a significant impact on the market.

The drug abuse epidemic in the US has placed attention on opioids and panelists during a session at the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016 discussed the current state of treatment for opioid addiction and future changes that may be on the way.

Coverage of sessions held at Cancerscape, the Association of Community Cancer Center’s 42nd annual meeting on policy, value, and quality, held March 2-4, 2016, in Washington, DC.

AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016 kicked off by delving into the near-term specialty pharmaceutical pipeline with Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant of emerging therapies at Express Scripts.

An international study evaluating nivolumab in head and neck cancer has found that patients treated with the checkpoint inhibitor were twice as likely to be alive at 1 year after initiating treatment, compared with patients who were given standard chemotherapy.

The FDA recently approved the biosimilar infliximab and found that from an immunogenicity profile it was more or less similar, which is important for payers and providers, explained Jeremy Schafer, PharmD, MBA, vice president and director of specialty solutions at Precision For Value.

A study presented at the ongoing annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research has confirmed that 3 commercially available diagnostic tests that measure the expression of the programmed death ligand 1 protein in non-small cell lung cancer could be interchanged.

While clinical pathways can help standardize care, considering the multitude of options available for oncology care providers, there is significant push-back from providers as well.

A cost-economic analysis by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health has found that switching to Gardasil-9, which protects against 9 oncogenic serotypes of the human papillomavirus, would provide improved health benefits at the same or lower societal cost.

Evidence-Based Oncology invited a panel of experts who are experienced in the creation of oncology care pathways, use them in their practice, and have researched the development and implementation of care pathways, to exchange ideas on the topic.

When asked “what is your surgical site infection rate?” one will get an answer that is almost certainly removed from reality.

What we're reading, April 18, 2016: medical experts ask the Joint Commission to revisit its standards of pain management; study determines low-cost generics just as effective at treating hepatitis C as brand name drugs; and UnitedHealth also pulling out of Michigan Obamacare exchange.

Targeting cancer stem cells could have a much better impact on the outcome of patients with multiple myeloma being treated with standard chemotherapy, a new single-arm study by researchers at Johns Hopkins has found.

Data on drug prescriptions, diagnoses, and events are increasingly being used for epidemiologic and pharmacologic studies and for the evaluation of quality of care, but questions arise about how complete and accurate the diagnoses and events in these databases are.

Despite the fundamental advances in cancer care technology and care delivery that have made these improvements possible, our delivery system remains quite inefficient and frequently falls short of being truly patient-centered. Is a system-based solution the answer?

Study finds a first heart attack is more likely to lead to heart failure in patients when the burden of coronary artery disease increases.

Many physicians are interested in using genomic profiling in patient care, but many believe they are unprepared to do so.

Pharmaceutical industry experts provide an overview of the highly complex biosimilar development process at The Community Oncology Conference: Innovation in Cancer Care, held in Orlando, Florida.