Oncology

A new study suggests that a poor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy-frequently administered to black, Hispanic, and Asian women-could dictate survival rates in breast cancer.

The current dialogue occurring between payers and providers is critical in today's healthcare environment, and it's an interaction that certainly was not happening just 5 or 6 years ago, according to Ted Okon, executive director of the Community Oncology Alliance.

Following the approval of daratumumab earlier this month, multiple myeloma patients now have another opportunity to combat the disease: elotuzumab.

Relaxed direct-to-consumer advertising restrictions for drugs by the FDA in 1997 has precipitated an increase in prescription drug utilization, not just among Medicare enrollees, but also among non-elderly users.

Oncology, like primary care, is ripe for delivery reform, but it has remained stuck in a fee-for-service mindset, said Kavita Patel, MD, fellow in economic studies and managing director at Brookings Institution.

The American College of Physicians has published a paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine that advices clinicians to prescribe generic drugs whenever possible.

Waiting until there's a cancer diagnosis or other crisis is not the time to be taking the family's medical history. Testing companies and genetic counselors encourage families to share information when they are all in one place.

Patients considering using a genetic test should meet with a genetic counselor first to get a better understanding of the patient's goal for getting the test done and determine the likelihood that a test might be useful, explained Joy Larsen Haidle, MS, CGC, president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors.

The approval follows 5 months after Bristol-Myers Squibb submitted phase 3 results of the Checkmate-066 trial for FDA review.

Two months after being granted a Breakthrough Therapy designation by the FDA for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), nivolumab was today approved by regulators for treating mRCC patients who have failed a certain type of prior therapy.

A state-led program, initiated in 2003, has nearly doubled screening colonoscopy rates in New York City and also eliminated racial and ethnic disparities in the process.

Giving cancer patients what they want and need is the goal, but getting there isn't easy, according to healthcare experts who took part in Patient-Centered Oncology Care 2015, presented November 19-20, 2015, by The American Journal of Managed Care. Drug costs demand difficult conversations about value, and changes in the law require oncologists to learn whole new ways to be paid.

Three years after Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center refused to add Zaltrap to its formulary due to cost, value is part of the national conversation in cancer care. The new question is what will happen when physicians assume risk.

If the FDA steps in to regulate laboratory-developed tests, it will slow down innovation, add costs to the development of the product, and likely decrease the number of tests that come out, but the public health benefits of increased oversight might be worth it, said Scott Gottlieb, MD, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

While the 340B Drug Pricing Program was designed to help facilities that take care of impoverished patients with low-cost drugs, what the program has morphed into is almost the opposite of what it was intended to do, said Peter Bach, MD, MPP, director of Memorial Sloan Kettering's Center for Health Policy and Outcomes.

A pharmacist who engages in formulary decisions, a medical director for population management for a private health exchange, and an innovations leader at a pharmacy benefit manager, took to the podium at the Patient-Centered Oncology Care meeting on November 20, 2015, to discuss cost-saving strategies in oncology and whether benefit managers can play a role in reining-in some of these costs.

During a tweetchat on November 24 at 3:30 pm EST, Amy Berman, RN, BS, and Judith R. Peres, LCSW-C, will discuss patient-centered care, palliative care, and end-of-life care.

While the FDA could regulate diagnostic tests the way they are in Europe-through simple verification that the test is accurate-the FDA has not chosen to do that and comes closer to requiring clinical utility, explained Bruce Quinn, MD, PhD, senior director at FaegreBD Consulting.

Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and keynote speaker at this year's Patient-Centered Oncology Care meeting, discusses addressing cost of care, using value calculators, and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act.

What we're reading, November 20, 2015: CMS wants to penalize doctors for ordering routine prostate-cancer screening tests; lawmakers, patients, and advocates call for head of Drug Enforcement Agency to be fired; and specialty drug costs exceed household incomes.

A panel that discussed the prospect of FDA regulation of diagnostic tests in oncology helped open Patient-Centered Oncology Care November 19, 2015, in Baltimore, Maryland.

At the Patient-Centered Oncology Care 2015 meeting, held November 19-20, 2015, in Baltimore, Maryland, keynote speaker Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology provided perspectives on the challenges faced by oncologists as the healthcare system transitions to define and incorporate value in the care delivered.

Collaboration between organizations serving the young adult cancer population benefits all involved

Eligibility for prescription coverage and family income significantly influenced women's decisions to continue hormonal therapy and prevent recurrence of breast cancer, the authors found.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has made public its detailed guidance to CMS, supporting implementation of physician-focused and other alternative payment models under MACRA.