Oncology

A new study has identified an increased risk of lung cancer and heart disease in night shift workers, adding to the growing knowledge of health risks associated with those jobs.

A paper published in Science Magazine this month, co-authored by a mathematician and a biologist, suggests that heredity and environmental factors account for only one-third of the risk for developing cancer. A majority of risk is associated with random mutations, a result of mistakes during normal cellular replication.

A study conducted at the humanities and medicine departments at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania, found that there's never an ideal time to talk to cancer patients about end-of-life decisions, and most patients are not too disturbed by these discussions.

Scientists at Oregon State University have developed fluorescent nanoparticles that can aid in the removal of malignant tumors and also kill any remaining malignant cancer cells.

If the biological developed by Novartis to imitate Amgen's Neupogen is approved by the FDA, it'd open floodgates as other biosimilars find their way to the FDA's doorsteps. The cheaper alternatives would prove a tremendous cost-saving to the healthcare industry.

A perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine affirms that provisions of the Affordable Care Act will allow improved coverage of smoking cessation tools, which could be a big boost in the number of smokers planning to quit.

Rates of cancer deaths have declined 22% over the last 2 decades, which amounts to 1.5 million deaths averted, according to the annual cancer statistics report from the American Cancer Society.

NICE has published draft guidance which recommends that nab-paclitaxel given with gemcitabine should not be funded by the NHS for previously untreated metastatic pancreatic cancer, because its limited benefits compared to current treatments do not justify its cost.

Combining erlotinib with SBRT more than doubled the survival time of stage 4 lung cancer patients.

With 2014 coming to a close, The American Journal of Managed Care is taking a look back at the most popular articles from this year. These most-read articles highlight the healthcare issues most important to providers, insurers, and policy makers.

Blackberry announced the product of their collaboration with NantHealth: a healthcare app for doctors and nurses who use their smartphones.

With this approval, the vaccine can effectively protect against 5 additional types of HPV than the parent Gardasil vaccine, thereby preventing the development of cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancers, based on a randomized clinical trial.

The Nature letter published results showing that the monoclonal antibody targeting PD-1 had antitumor activity, but more importantly, the response was greater in patients overexpressing the PD-L1 receptor, thereby opening the doors for targeted therapy.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology called for greater access to and education about phase I clinical trials, the first-in-human studies of new agents designed to fight cancer.

The approval was based on the results of a clinical trial that demonstrated improved PFS in patients on lanreotide. While the median PFS in the placebo arm was 16 months, patients in the lanreotide arm had not yet reached median PFS at the time of analysis, and it was anticipated to extend beyond 22 months.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has issued draft guidelines on using the drug in prostate cancer patients.

How do ACOs reach the point of delivering both savings and better care? The recent online session of the ACO and Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition, sponsored by The American Journal of Managed Care, covered how ACOs evolve, how that process applies to oncology care, and how managed care can benefit from a better model for mental health delivery.

In order to reign in high costs of care in oncology, the healthcare community needs to be able to define value better, according to Alex Bastian, MBA, senior vice president at GfK.