Mary Caffrey is the Executive Editor for The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®). She joined AJMC® in 2013 and is the primary staff editor for Evidence-Based Oncology, the multistakeholder publication that reaches 22,000+ oncology providers, policy makers and formulary decision makers. She is also part of the team that oversees speaker recruitment and panel preparations for AJMC®'s premier annual oncology meeting, Patient-Centered Oncology Care®. For more than a decade, Mary has covered ASCO, ASH, ACC and other leading scientific meetings for AJMC readers.
Mary has a BA in communications and philosophy from Loyola University New Orleans. You can connect with Mary on LinkedIn.
FDA Grants Orphan Drug Status to Regulus Therapeutics' Treatment for Common Type of PKD
July 30th 2020Although the name suggests the disease affects only the kidneys, development of fluid-filled cysts can spread to the liver, the pancreas, and other organs. While a healthy kidney is about the size of a fist, a kidney filled with cysts from polycystic kidney disease (PKD) can grow to be about the size of a football weigh up to 30 pounds
Humana Forms Partnership With Heal, to Invest $100M in Home-Based Primary Care
July 29th 2020Through the partnership, Humana and Heal will expand the startup’s current markets to include Chicago, Charlotte, Houston and others that are part of Bold Goal, a multi-year effort to improve overall health of communities by addressing both medical needs and working with partners to address social determinants of health, such as food insecurity.
Dapagliflozin Meets All Targets in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease, With and Without Diabetes
July 28th 2020Data from DAPA-CKD show that the trial met all its primary and secondary end points for patients with chronic kidney disease, with and without type 2 diabetes. The announcement comes after a data monitoring committee halted the trial in March 2020 when it found the evidence of efficacy was overwhelming.
Vascepa Brings 36% Drop in Surgeries to Restore Blood Flow, Results Show
July 25th 2020Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart & Vascular Center and Harvard Medical School, presented the latest round of data from REDUCE-IT at the American Society of Preventive Cardiology Virtual Summit 2020 this morning
Antibody "Cocktail" Could Offer Potent Treatment, Prevention of COVID-19
July 23rd 2020Writing in Nature, scientists found the antibodies fell into 2 distinct groups, targeting different regions of the viral spike. Thus, they say, the battle against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could be opened on separate fronts, much like the approach Ho and others have studied in HIV and some forms of cancer.
COVID-19 and Cancer: NCI's Sharpless Says COVID-19 Could Halt Streak of US Cancer Mortality Gains
July 19th 2020The talk by Ned Sharpless, MD, director of the National Cancer Institute, preceded presentations on some of the earliest findings about the effects of COVID-19 on cancer: It appears that patients treated with chemotherapy for lung or thoracic cancer shortly before being diagnosed with COVID-19 face a higher risk of death, and so do patients with cancer who take the combination of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin.
More Research Needed on Effects of MS in Women, Authors Say
July 17th 2020The review article highlights the many ways that multiple sclerosis (MS) affects women over the lifespan, from pregnancy to childbirth to menopause and beyond—and how both research and clinical practice fall short in meeting their needs.
Researchers Find Alternatives for Acetaminophen Without Liver, Kidney Effects
July 10th 2020The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic presents a new challenge: patients have severe flu-like symptoms, but the virus can also cause renal failure. Doctors and patients need analgesics that go easy on the liver and kidneys but are not addictive, and this week researchers at LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence announced they have discovered a new class of drugs that can do the job.