Oncology

The American Journal of Managed Care publishes a first-of-its-kind study comparing different types of health insurance plans and different levels of co-payment, to see how varieties of coverage affect access to therapeutic drug classes.

A collaboration between Aetna, MOASC Contracting Network and Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions aims to improve quality and cost of cancer care in California.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced results from the Phase III SYNERGY trial, a randomized, open-label, two-arm study comparing the combination of custirsen and standard first-line docetaxel/prednisone therapy to docetaxel/prednisone alone in men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)

Older breast cancer patients who received radiation treatment after surgery were more likely to undergo a more expensive and somewhat controversial type of radiation called brachytherapy if they got their care at for-profit rather than nonprofit hospitals, a new study reports.

PD-L1 protein levels could be an important biomarker to predict response to immunotherapy in NSCLC patients.

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has issued a new guideline, The Role of Postoperative Radiation Therapy for Endometrial Cancer: An ASTRO Evidence-Based Guideline, that details the use of adjuvant radiation therapy in the treatment of endometrial cancer. The guideline's executive summary is published in the May-June 2014 issue of Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the official clinical practice journal of ASTRO. The full-length guideline is available as an open-access article online.

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers say clinical trials for a new experimental drug to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are very promising. Patients treated with CPX-351, a combination of the chemotherapeutic drugs cytarabine and daunorubicin, are showing better responses than patients treated with the standard drug formulation.

Chronic inflammation in benign prostate tissue is associated with high-grade prostate cancer, according to researchers.

Randomized trial to evaluate immune activation following treatment with immunotherapy combination. The open label design will allow for ongoing evaluation of clinical results from study.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first FDA-approved HPV DNA test for women 25 and older that can be used alone to help a health care professional assess the need for a woman to undergo additional diagnostic testing for cervical cancer. The test also can provide information about the patient's risk for developing cervical cancer in the future.

The expenses associated with cancer care in the United States are staggering and only expected to climb.

- QRxPharma (ASX: QRX and OTCQX: QRXPY) announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee has voted to recommend against approval of Moxduo, an immediate release Dual Opioid® for the treatment of moderate to severe acute pain. The Advisory Committee found the Company did not provide sufficient evidence to warrant approval of Moxduo at this time.

A blood test performed before radical cystectomy in patients with urothelial cancer of the bladder could identify the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which are predictive of outcome, according to a new study.

What is the most important research tool in biology paid for by taxpayers that they don't know exists? It might be GenBank, the open-access database maintained by the National Institutes of Health, which allows scientists to dramatically reduce the time it takes to find druggable targets and identify genes in the evolution of personalized medicine.

MicroRNA (miR)-21 has been revealed as an oncogene in cancer development, and is one of the miRNAs closely connected to angiogenesis. The authors aimed to explore the impact of miR-21 expression in both tumor and stromal compartments of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and correlations between miR-21 and angiogenic protein markers.

Lee Newcomer, MD, MHA, of Oncology, Genetics and Women's Health for UnitedHealthcare, says the National Comprehensive Cancer Network is transforming genetic testing by utilizing a tool called the NCCN Biomarkers Compendium, which encourages evidence-based decision-making.

Dietary factors, including meat, fruits, vegetables and fiber, are associated with colorectal cancer; however, there is limited information as to whether these dietary factors interact with genetic variants to modify risk of colorectal cancer. In this study, the authors conducted genome-wide association studies between genetic variants, diet, and the susceptibility to colorectal cancer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Cyramza (ramucirumab) to treat patients with advanced stomach cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, a form of cancer located in the region where the esophagus joins the stomach.

Shifting physician revenue from drug sales to cognitive services for mature pathways providers did not affect practice behavior in this payer-sponsored Oncology Medical Home.

The discovery of the genetic variant, in conjunction with other markers, could help in the development of future genetic screening tools to assess women's risk of developing invasive lobular cancer, and also gives researchers important new clues about the genetic causes of the disease and a related precursor to cancer called lobular carcinoma in situ.