Dr David Eagle: Progress in Hematology/Oncology Is Not Without Its Difficulties

David A. Eagle, MD, chair of legislative affairs and patient advocacy at New York Cancer & Blood Specialists, explains how even progress has its drawbacks, as for all the success the hematology/oncology space has seen over the past 20-plus years, difficult discussions now focus on paying for that care.

Transcript

In the past 2-plus decades, what have been some of the biggest advancements in hematology/oncology?

The biggest advantages have clearly been on the scientific level: immunotherapy, targeted therapy. It begins with oncogenes, where we finally figured out, really, what makes a cancer a cancer. That’s clearly been the biggest progress in oncology. The problem is, as we talked about earlier, that that’s creating a natural tension between what we can do for patients and how we actually pay for that care.