Laura Joszt, MA

There are an increasing number of targeted therapies in oncology, but challenges around biomarker testing and treatment selection remain.

Across commercial insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid populations, oncology is the top category of spend, and the drug pipeline has increasing specific and complex therapies.

Pediatric patients with asthma and their caregivers are faced with significant health and cost burdens, and biologics provide an opportunity to improve quality of life and asthma control, according to a panel of experts.

Negative positron emission tomography/CT examinations 6 months after induction therapy in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) is associated with prolonged time to next treatment and overall survival.

Biosimilar adoption can be accelerated or stymied depending on actions taken by the managed care space, explained Sonia Oskouei, PharmD, vice president, biosimilars, Cardinal Health, during a session at Asembia’s Specialty Pharmacy Summit.

Coverage, equity, and value-based payments are critical areas of focus for the Biden administration’s health care agenda leading up to the midterm elections, according to 3 experts from Avalere.

Adam Fein, PhD, of Drug Channels Institute, and Doug Long of IQVIA discussed trends in the specialty pharmacy market in the United States.

Not only did a majority of each group say they hadn’t heard of biosimilars, but those who had heard of them had negative perceptions.

A simple score can identify the patients at risk of severe infection within 4 months of initiating treatment, highlighting candidates to be treated with prophylactic antibiotics.

Increased uptake of biosimilars on par with the utilization rates of filgrastim biosimilars could have saved Medicare Part D $84 million in 2019.

The lack of effective long-term control of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) highlights the unmet need for targeted systemic therapies.

Patients may have unrealistic expectations of how a new treatment or procedure may help them, and the conversation between the patient and physician is crucial for setting expectations, explained Robert G. Fante, MD, FACS, president of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery and facial plastic surgeon and cosmetic surgeon, Fante Eye & Face Centre in Denver, Colorado.

Predictive models can help find high-risk patients with asthma and manage them proactively, but prior models miss the highest-risk patients and may mislabel low-risk patients.

Alymsys from Amneal Pharmaceuticals and mAbxience is the third biosimilar referencing Avastin approved in the United States and the second of 3 biosimilar approvals Amneal expects in 2022.

Delayed diagnosis of wild-type transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) results in inappropriate treatments prior to diagnosis and worse clinical outcomes after diagnosis.

In Medicaid, delivering care needs to address the lack of resources and other socioeconomic factors that impact patients, said Steve Evans, MD, chief medical officer of SilverSummit at Centene.

In patients with intermediate- to high-risk, use of pegfilgrastim biosimilars could optimize management of FN risk.

Across 3 disease states, dupilumab has been shown to create rapid, clinically meaningful responses that were sustained, which could improve adherence and the patient-provider relationship.

While teprotumumab, a new FDA-approved therapy for thyroid eye disease (TED), has its adverse events, the other options to treat TED can have severe consequences, said Shoaib Ugradar, MD, UCLA Stein Eye Center Santa Monica.

More than a quarter of patients experience disruptions and delays in treatment for chronic heart failure (CHF) after the initial prescription for sacubitril/valsartan was abandoned/rejected.

Many of the accountable care organization (ACO) models are being tested to find changes to make to the Medicare Shared Savings Program, but there is a general problem with short-lived models ending and being replaced by new ones, said Michael Chernew, PhD.

Certain types of ophthalmic care were more successful with video visits based on what was required to treat patients, said Darren Chen, MD student at Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences.

Implementing changes in a health system to promote biosimilar adoption is not easy, but by implementing a program, there could be substantial savings.

The clinical effectiveness of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies adds a new weapon in the arsenal to treat patients with relapsed and refractory disease; however, they come with access, logistical, and reimbursement challenges that make it difficult to treat all the patients who could benefit.

Value-based contracts are growing as drugs get more expensive and effective, but it’s still an emerging area with a lot of unknown and uncertainty.

In 2022 and 2023, there are a number of big therapies losing patent exclusivity, which opens the door to generics that could save as much as $30 billion.

While the pandemic will have lasting impacts on the US health care market, much of it has bounced back and returned to normal, said Doug Long, MBA, of IQVIA, during the Thursday keynote at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy annual meeting.

Patients with severe asthma continue to have residual disease despite initiating treatment with biologics, and severe uncontrolled asthma is associated with higher economic burden compared with controlled asthma, according to 2 posters.

Racial and ethnic health disparities are documented and substantial, but the data are out there to create programs that successfully address these disparities, said panelists.

Everything from the genomic data for the cancer to the zip code of a patient matters when delivery care, said Edmondo Robinson, MD, MBA, MS, FACP, senior vice president and chief digital officer at Moffitt Cancer Center.