Oncology

Pam Mangat, MS, associate director TAPUR study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, says that the organization has developed a number of initiatives to educate oncology practitioners on the potential of precision medicine, such as testing guidelines, online courses, a virtual tumor board, and clinical trials.

The Special Symposium on Quality at the 58th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition, looked at how health information technology can be utilized to improve healthcare quality, enhance patient-provider shared decision-making, and facilitate efforts in quality research.

Phase 3 results from the LyMa trial show that rituximab maintenance therapy after autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) prolongs event-free survival, progression-free survival, and overall survival (OS) in previously untreated young patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Innovative health IT tools like those developed by Carevive help maximize the balance between patient self-management and care team engagement, which is especially important in the era of value-based care, according to Carrie Stricker, PhD, RN, AOCN, chief clinical officer and co-founder of Carevive.

A cancer patient’s comorbid diseases have important implications for setting goals and selecting treatment, said Joseph Alvarnas, MD, of the City of Hope and editor-in-chief of Evidence-Based Oncology. Clinicians must keep comorbidities in mind as they base oncology care upon that person as an individual.

Early phase 1 results show that including the cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor palbociclib in the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) can help overcome resistance to ibrutinib.

Distinct genetic signatures can help distinguish responders from nonresponders of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatment in patients diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Surrogate endpoints, or endpoints other than overall survival, will help accelerate drug discovery and provide additional solutions for patients, according to David Fabrizio, of Foundation Medicine, Inc. However, alternate endpoints are not without their drawbacks.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells have been dramatically effective in treating B-cell cancers, according to David L. Porter, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. He also identified the use of CAR T-cells for treating solid tumors as a research area that will see more development in the coming years.

NICE recommends pembrolizumab for use in advanced lung cancer following additional data review and a further discount in price.

Research from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute, published in Nature, has identified genomic changes that could explain the development of testicular cancer and why this disease is more responsive to chemotherapy.

This week, the top stories in managed care included the president-elect's picks for HHS and CMS, the American Diabetes Association addressed psychosocial care for patients with diabetes, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology released criteria on creating clinical pathways.

Interim data analysis of a phase 1 trial of chimeric antigen receptor-T cells (CAR-T) targeting the B-cell maturation antigen in heavily pretreated patients with multiple myeloma has identified an objective anti-tumor response, with limited toxicity.

Statin use was associated with a reduction in all-cause and multiple myeloma-specific mortality.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on health will gather testimonial from leaders of the US Preventive Services Task Force, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Urologic Association, on a bill called H.R. 1151.

Cancer patients can now receive individually personalized treatment thanks to algorithms that account for their own unique factors, according to Leonard M. Fromer, MD, FAAFP, executive medical director of the Group Practice Forum.

A nationally representative study among patients enrolled in Medicare, who were diagnosed with cancer, found that out-of-pocket costs averaged at 23.7% of their household income. A majority of these costs could be attributed to hospitalization.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has released the Criteria for High-Quality Clinical Pathways in Oncology, which is expected to help providers assess the quality, utility, and integrity of pathway programs in the United States.

What we're reading, November 29, 2016: Warren cries foul over pharma's role in legislation; women fear what will happen to coverage under Trump; and Gallup poll finds most Americans want changes or repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

With $372 million carved out for the National Institutes of Health innovation account in 2017, and about $114 million assigned to President Barack Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative for the fiscal year 2018, the 21st Century Cures Act has a lot at stake for healthcare in the United States.

Oncology is a perfect fit for the bundled payment model, because it evaluates the outcomes, patient satisfaction, and cost of an oncology episode, said Kim Eason, manager at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ. She said that Horizon adopted the bundled payment model early to cope with New Jersey’s rising healthcare costs.

Trial data on the use of plinabulin for mitigating chemotherapy-induced neutropenia with docetaxel will be presented as a poster at the American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting in San Diego.

A study published in the Annals of Oncology has analyzed data on young patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) to evaluate risk factors for febrile neutropenia and infection-related complications.