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Articles

Colon cancer recurrence risk falls below 0.5% at 6 years post-surgery, offering a practical benchmark for defining cure, according to new research.

Colon Cancer Recurrence Risk Nearly Gone After 6 Years, Study Reveals

Julia is an associate editor for The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) and joined AJMC® in 2022. She produces written and video content covering multiple disease states, and assists in the screening process for manuscripts submitted to AJMC®.

She has a BA in English language and literature from Rutgers University. You can connect with Julia on 

Lurbinectedin has been approved to be used in combination with atezolizumab or atezolizumab and hyaluronidase.

Lurbinectedin Combo Approved by FDA for Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

 in 2023, where she produces written content covering multiple disease states.

She has a BA in journalism from Seton Hall University. You can connect with Brooke on 

Videos

Five experts share their key takeaways from Patient-Centered Oncology Care® (PCOC) 2025, highlighting AI integration and collaboration to improve care.

Experts Highlight AI, Innovation, and Collaboration as Key PCOC Takeaways

Study finds slight temperature shifts are linked to changes in physiological stress responses. 

Ambient Temperature Linked to Stress Hormone Changes, Study Finds

The American Journal of Managed Care provides insights into the latest news and research in managed care across multimedia platforms.

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Compendium

Today we are bringing you a conversation between 3 experts on paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).

Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, MS, MBA, vice president of Pharmacy at Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute, spoke with Jamie Koprivnikar, MD, of John Theurer Cancer Center; David Dingli, MD, PhD, of Mayo Clinic; and Brian P. Mulherin, MD, of American Oncology Network.

The topics of conversation for today’s podcast include the pathophysiology of PNH, complement inhibitors, treatment strategies, and the challenges of managing this rare, life-threatening disorder.

Listen above or through one of these podcast services:

A trio of experts discuss the challenges of diagnosing and managing paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare and life-threatening disorder.

Managed Care Cast Presents: Challenges of Diagnosing and Managing PNH

 recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

This week, the top managed care news included medical groups asking CMS to halt or slow down its plans to cut physician reimbursement for evaluation and management services; the Senate weighs a package of bills to combat the opioid epidemic; new research shows the Affordable Care Act pushed the uninsured rate down to 10%.

Read more about the stories in this podcast:

Medical Groups Tell CMS to Stand Down From Linking Reimbursement to Paperwork Burdens

What We're Reading: Senate Opioid Bills; Michigan's Medicaid Work Requirements; Missouri Abortion Ruling

ACA Pushed Uninsured Rate Down to 10% in 2016, Even More So in Medicaid Expansion States

Prescription Drug Coverage Improved Survival for Patients With MM

Every week, The American Journal of Managed Care® recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

Podcast: This Week in Managed Care—Pushback on Proposed Payment Rules and Other Health News

This week, the top managed care stories included a report that insurance coverage gains are reversing; a deal to lower the cost of Praluent for Express Scripts members; findings that synthetic opioids are playing a bigger role in overdose deaths.

Increases in Insurance Coverage Rates From ACA Beginning to Reverse

Sanofi, Regeneron to Cut Praluent Prices Under Exclusive Express Scripts Deal That Ends Prior Approval Delays

Dr Jay Edelberg on Safety, Efficacy of Praluent and Remaining Payment Challenges

Synthetic Opioids Overtake Prescription Opioids as Driver of Overdose Deaths in 2016

FDA Approves CAR T-Cell Treatment Kymriah for Adult B-Cell Lymphoma

Verma Highlights CMS Initiatives to Empower Patients and Promote Competition

Former HHS Secretary Price Identifies a Path to Moving Forward in Healthcare Reform

Podcast: This Week in Managed Care&mdash;Insurance Coverage Gains Reverse and Other Health News

This week, the top managed care stories included Cigna's deal to buy Express Scripts; Seema Verma, Alex Azar, and Scott Gottlieb, MD, made the rounds at health conferences; an analysis finds FDA's accelerated approval pathway has been a success with hematology and oncology drugs.

Healthcare Mergers Continue With Deal for Cigna to Acquire Express Scripts

What We're Reading: Verma on Health Data; More Medicaid Work Requirements; NJ Individual Mandate

Azar Tells Insurance Industry Patients Must Be in Charge of Their Own Data

FDA's Gottlieb Blames Rebates, Reimbursement Issues for Holding Back Biosimilar Market

What We're Reading: Azar to Announce Healthcare Actions; Opposition to CMS Opioid Limits; Diabetes Disagreement

Expedited Approval Is Successful for Cancer Therapies, FDA Says

The Shift From Episodic to Continuous Care: Wearable Technology and Telemedicine in Cardiology

American College of Cardiology’s 67th Annual Scientific Session & Expo

Podcast: This Week in Managed Care&mdash;Verma on Health Data and Other Health News

This week, the top managed care news included coverage from the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition; recommendations on the use of diabetes drugs with cardiovascular indications; and a new study found that despite changes in insurance plans to give consumers more clout, unnecessary medical spending remains a problem.

Listen below or through one of these podcast services:

What We're Reading: Medical Device Approval; Medical Laboratories Sue Government; ACA Sign-Up Deadline

CAR T Progress: Global Submissions for Kymriah, 42% Ongoing Response With Yescarta in ZUMA-1 Patients

Dr Stephen Schuster Outlines CAR T Results Seen in Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma

ADA 2018 Standards Address Drugs With CV Benefits, Hold Firm on Blood Pressure

Impact of Consumer-Directed Health Plans on Low-Value Healthcare

Podcast: This Week in Managed Care&mdash;CAR T Treatments and Other Health News

Overuse of medical services has been a costly issue in US healthcare for decades. Now in its fifth year, the Choosing Wisely initiative from ABIM Foundation seeks to increase conversations between physicians and patients to help them make wise decisions about appropriate care and reduce the use of low-value services.

In a set of interviews, Daniel Wolfson, of the ABIM Foundation, and Lisa Hicks, MD, the chair of the American Society of Hematology's Choosing Wisely Task Force, discuss the progress made in the last 5 years.

Five Years of Reducing Overuse of Medical Services With Choosing Wisely

Patients with immunoglobulin M-type monoclonal gammopathy did not experience a survival benefit from targeted therapies, a study found.  

Monoclonal Gammopathy Subtypes Associated With CLL Outcomes 

Findings suggest bispecific CD3xCD20 therapy may offer an option for patients with Richter syndrome who are ineligible for transplant or CAR T-cell Therapy.

Epcoritamab Shows Promise in Case of Richter Syndrome

Patients with essential thrombocythemia live with a risk of developing serious bleeding complications, a new study explains.

Major Bleeding Prevention, Treatment Requires Vigilance in Patients With ET

A case series suggests using minimal residual disease to trigger anti-CD20 therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) can add years to some patients’ lives.

MRD-Triggered Anti-CD20 Therapy Effective in High-Risk CLL

Teclistamab shows promising real-world effectiveness and safety in older adults with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (R/R MM), matching clinical trial outcomes.

Teclistamab for R/R MM Effective and Safe When Administered in a Community Setting 

Interview with Marc S. Raab, MD, PhD, University Hospital Heidelberg

Teclistamab Shows "Tremendous Efficacy" in MajesTEC-5 Trial: Marc S. Raab, MD, PhD

In a session at the recent 22nd International Myeloma Society annual meeting, Marc S. Raab, MD, PhD, presented the oral abstract, “Post-Induction Outcomes and Updated Minimal Residual Disease Analysis from GMMG-HD10/DSMM-XX (MajesTEC-5): A Study of Teclistamab-Based Induction Regimens in Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma (NDMM).” These updated data on the first-in-class B-cell maturation antigen x CD3 bispecific antibody are from among 3 induction cohorts who received steroid-sparing regimens of teclistamab (Tecvayli; Janssen Biotech Inc) with daratumumab/lenalidomide with or without bortezomib.

Raab and his team saw that 100% of minimal residual disease (MRD)–eligible patients achieved MRD-negative status at 10

 thresholds at completion of induction. Here, Raab, who is a professor of medicine Department of Medicine V Hematology, Oncology, and Rheumatology, University Hospital Heidelberg in Germany, highlights some of these important findings among patients with newly diagnosed 

This transcript was lightly edited for clarity; captions were auto-generated.

Can you provide an overview of the MajesTEC-5 trial, including the patient population and results you would like to highlight?

This was a trial for newly diagnosed patients considered transplant-eligible, so that's why, not surprisingly, they're comparatively younger patients—the median age was 58—and most of them, of course, were relatively fit, but had a high tumor load of 30%; 45% had a pulmonary filtration of more than 60%; cytogenetic risk markers were seen in 20% of the patients. It’s a more or less typical fit patient population eligible for transplant.

We mainly found, we're looking, of course, mainly for safety—that was the purpose of the trial—in different setups, combinations. We found that safety is manageable, as we say. You have to keep an eye on infections, you have to keep an eye on the CRS [cytokine release syndrome] at the beginning, but that's all manageable, and with prophylactic measures, especially for the infections, like IVIg [intravenous immunoglobulin] supplementation, antiviral prophylaxis. You can at least prevent really severe infections in most cases. Although we had a grade 3/4 infection rate of about 36%, so about a third of the patients experienced higher-grade infections, no grade 5 infections were reported. Of course, the most important part is the efficacy, and we see tremendous efficacy with all patients tested, and that was 48 out of 49 patients. Only 1 patient could not be tested, but all patients tested reached MRD [minimal residual disease] negativity down to the 10

 in all patients, so I think that speaks for itself.

The MajesTEC-5 trial shows teclistamab's impressive efficacy in achieving MRD-negative status in newly diagnosed transplant-eligible patients, explains Marc S. Raab, MD, PhD.

Multiple Myeloma

Dr Brian Koffman, hematology, survivorship care, CLL

Hematology Survivorship Care Lags Behind Therapeutic Innovations: Brian Koffman, MDCM, DCFP, FCFP, DABFP, MSEd

Despite recent treatment advancements, significant gaps remain in 

 survivorship care, as it is often unclear which provider or specialist is responsible, according to Brian Koffman, MDCM, DCFP, FCFP, DABFP, MSEd, a retired family physician, 

 (CLL) survivor, and executive vice president and chief medical officer of the 

Yesterday, he shared his insights and experiences at the 

This transcript has been lightly edited; captions were auto-generated.

From your experience as a family physician and now as a CLL advocate, what gaps have you noticed in survivorship care for patients within the hematology space?

When I was diagnosed in 2005 with CLL, survivorship wasn't even on the map. While we recognized that CLL is a very heterogeneous disease, and 30% or more of patients never need treatment and may have a normal life expectancy, patients who were treated for their CLL usually died of their CLL. Survivorship was not really on the table, because all therapies were essentially seen as palliative, with some wonderful exceptions, but for most patients. So, there wasn't a gap; there was nothing. It was all a gap. 

Now, fast forward a decade, and we have these wonderful new targeted therapies, mostly oral oncolytics, some wonderful monoclonal antibodies, bispecific T-cell engagers, trials, and cellular therapies, and people are living longer and longer. 

Over the last 10 years, every memorial service or funeral that I've attended for someone with CLL has not been because of disease progression but has been a complication of their CLL. Either they've died of an infection (most recently, a lot of people died of COVID-19 because CLL is a cancer of the immune system), or people are also dying of second malignancies. One out of 2 CLL patients has some kind of significant second malignancy. Recognizing this has meant that we have to start looking at survivorship, but the gap has been, who's going to pick this up? 

Primary care doctors are generally afraid of cancer patients, especially hematologic malignancy cancer patients. It's complicated, and they're afraid to make the wrong move. Then, you add maybe a cellular therapy, or a bone marrow transplant to that patient, they're really frightened that they're going to make the wrong move. Hematologist oncologists haven't really been trained, or have an expertise or interest, to be honest, in dealing with survivorship. The ball gets dropped, unless it's an academic center or a community center that has a survivorship team; there's huge gaps in this area.

Patients with hematologic malignancies face ongoing survivorship challenges as providers struggle to coordinate care, according to Brian Koffman, MDCM, DCFP, FCFP, DABFP, MSEd.

Conference

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma

Interview on early linvoseltamab with Paula Rodríguez-Otero, MD, PhD

Early Linvoseltamab Use Prevents Myeloma Progression: Paula Rodríguez-Otero, MD, PhD

At the 22nd International Myeloma Society annual meeting today, Paula Rodríguez-Otero, MD, PhD, presented late-breaking data from the phase 2 LINKER-SMM1 trial (

), which is currently investigating the safety and efficacy of linvoseltamab in patients with high-risk smoldering 

. The research from her and her team, “Safety and Efficacy of Linvoseltamab (LINVO) in Patients (Pts) With High-Risk Smoldering Multiple Myeloma (HR-SMM): First Results From the Phase 2 LINKER-SMM1 Trial,” shows promising results: a 100% overall response rate, 74% achieving a very good partial response or better after 1 treatment cycle, and 37% reaching a complete response or better.

Rodríguez-Otero is medical coordinator of the Central Unit for Clinical Trials; associate clinical professor, preclinical and hematology seminars; and deputy director of the expert degree in immuno-oncology, School of Medicine, Cancer Center Clínica Universidad de Navarra (University of Navarra) in Pamplona, Spain.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity; captions were auto-generated.

The LINKER-SMM1 trial evaluates linvoseltamab's safety and efficacy in high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma, aiming to delay disease progression.

Hematology

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