AJMC® in the Press, April 19, 2019

An article from The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®) was highlighted by Orthopedics This Week. The article, “Bundled Payments for Joint Replacement Brings Better Outcomes, Lower Costs in NYU Pilot,” covered reports that the 3-year pilot study resulted in the average cost-per-episode dropping by $6708 from the first year of the pilot to the third year, and that NYU’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery saw reductions in overall length of stay, fewer admissions for follow-up care, and lower readmission rates at the 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day marks.

OBR Oncology’s Wednesday newsfeed included an article from AJMC^®’s sister site The Center for Biosimilars^®. The article, “Updated ASCO and ASH Guidelines on Managing Anemia Support Safety, Efficacy of Biosimilar ESAs,” covered the updated practice guideline on the use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents in cancer care, which states that the available literature suggests that biosimilars of epoetin alfa have similar efficacy and safety to reference agents and that biosimilars and their references may be offered to patients with chemotherapy-associated anemia whose cancer treatment is not curative in intent.

The Center for Biosimilars^®’ article “Diverging from US, Canada Approves Biosimilar Rituximab in Both Oncology and Rheumatology Indications” was cited by the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society. The article reported that last week, Health Canada approved Celltrion and Teva’s biosimilar rituximab, Truxima, for the treatment of adults with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and rheumatoid arthritis.