Oncology

Results presented at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology's Annual Meeting found that transoral robotic-assisted surgery (TORS), following chemotherapy and neck resections, is an effective model for the definitive treatment for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) while avoiding the adverse effects of radiation.

There are concerns that cancer care costs may increase as the site of provider-administered cancer drugs shifts from physician offices to hospital outpatient departments. The lead author of a July paper explains why the findings of her study differ from previous research and highlights the importance of considering patient characteristics.

Current screening criteria for lung cancer risk assessments often miss a large proportion of cases. Research suggests that a panel of circulating protein biomarkers may improve lung cancer risk assessment and may be used to define eligibility for computed tomography screening.

Interest groups representing drug companies, patients, providers, and health plans all submitted comments to a Request for Information on the Trump administration blueprint for controlling drug prices and out-of-pocket costs.

A phase 2 trial evaluated the safety and efficacy of quizartinib in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML), compared with salvage chemotherapy.

Every week, The American Journal of Managed Care® recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

This week, the top managed care stories included additional moves by the Trump administration to unravel the Affordable Care Act; Pfizer canceled a round of drug price increases after speaking to the president; advocates for 340B sound the alarm on efforts to reform the program.

Yesterday, drug manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that the FDA has approved the combination nivolumab (Opdivo) plus low-dose ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) that has progressed following a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, or irinotecan-based chemotherapy treatment.

Only 34% of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in a small study in China were likely to be positive about attempting treatment-free remission.

Researchers have recently discovered a new type of small-cell lung cancer, and the discovery may pave the way for the development of personalized medicine in order to target this newly discovered form of the disease.