Center on Health Equity & Access

Clinical

Health Care Cost

Health Care Delivery

Insurance

Policy

Technology

Value-Based Care

News

All News

Press Releases

Product Approvals and Launches

Video

All Video Types

AJMC TV

Guidelines

Insights

OnLocation

Payer Perspectives

Peer Exchange

Post Conference Perspectives

Stakeholder Summit

Podcasts

Journals

All Journals

The American Journal of Managed Care

Population Health, Equity & Outcomes

Evidence-Based Oncology

About Supplements and Featured Publications

Supplements and Featured Publications Issues

Submit a Manuscript

Conferences

Conference Coverage

Conference Listing

Events

Institute for Value-Based Medicine

Patient-Centered Oncology Care

Resources

Interactive Tools

Formulary Central

Clinical Spotlight

Microsites

About AJMC

AJMC Staff

Anniversary

Seema Sonnad Award

Strategic Alliance Partners

Subscribe

Laura is the vice president of content for 

) and all its brands, including Population Health, Equity & Outcomes; Evidence-Based Oncology™; and The Center for Biosimilars

She has an MA in business and economic reporting from New York University. You can connect with Laura on 

Articles

Blinatumomab enhances survival in pediatric B-cell ALL, yet homecare challenges hinder its outpatient delivery.

Blinatumomab Boosts Survival in Pediatric ALL, but Faces Delivery Hurdles

From immunotherapy breakthroughs to early-stage scientific advances shaping the next generation of cancer care, these were the top oncology stories from AACR. 

ICYMI: Highlights From AACR 2025

Sabrina McCrear is an assistant editor for 

 (AJMC®), which she joined in 2025. She produces written and video content across a range of disease areas and manages social media platforms for 

Sabrina holds a B.A. in Journalism with a minor in Biology from Howard University in Washington, D.C. You can connect with her on 

Pediatric atopic dermatitis advances, ruxolitinib safety, IgE insights, and more at the Society for Pediatric Dermatology (SPD) 2025 meeting.

ICYMI: Highlights From SPD 2025

Maggie is a senior editor for The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) and produces written, video, and podcast content covering several disease states. She joined AJMC® in 2019, and has been with AJMC®’s parent company, MJH Life Sciences®, since 2014, when she started as a copy editor.

She has a BA in English from Penn State University. You can connect with Maggie on 

Videos

Jonathan Strober, MD, discusses advancements in pediatric myasthenia gravis, emphasizing the need for better treatment standards and effective patient care strategies.

There Is Great Need to Better Understand Pediatric Myasthenia Gravis: Jonathan Strober, MD

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

About

Contact

Editorial Boards

Advertise

Do Not Sell My Information

Terms & Conditions

Privacy Policy

AJMC - Managed Care News, Research, and Expert Insights

Facebook

LinkedIn

Instagram

Specialty Area

Biosimilars

Cardiorenalmetabolic

Dermatology

Gastroenterology

Hematology

Hepatology

Immunology

Infectious Disease

Mental Health

Neurology

Obesity

Oncology

Ophthalmology

Pulmonology

Rare Disease

Respiratory

Rheumatology

Women's Health

Spotlight

Free In-Person Regional Events Focused on Oncology and Population Health

Topics

Digital Health

Formulary

Gene Therapy

Health Care Administration

Population Health

All Coverage

Event Coverage

Interviews

AJMC Journals

Author Forms

Authors

Nominate a Rising Leader

1rem

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

AMCP Nexus 2025 explored innovative health care policies, oncology advancements, and the impact of new regulations on patient access and treatment outcomes.

ICYMI: Highlights From AMCP Nexus 2025

New research highlights INCA033989's potential in treating mutCALR-driven essential thrombocythemia and myelofibrosis, achieving significant molecular responses.

INCA033989 Demonstrates Promising Activity in mutCALR-Driven MPNs

FDA has granted sonrotoclax priority review for relapsed mantle cell lymphoma, showcasing promising trial results.

Sonrotoclax Receives FDA Priority Review for R/R Mantle Cell Lymphoma

A study reveals a U-shaped relationship between BMI and CAR T-cell therapy outcomes in multiple myeloma (MM), highlighting the impact of overweight status on efficacy.

BMI in CAR T: Overweight Status Predicts Worse MM Outcomes

AI, especially deep learning applied to blood smear imaging, can greatly improve the speed and accuracy of leukemia detection and subtype classification.

How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming Leukemia Detection and Diagnosis

 Precision Medicine Advances Highlight Ongoing Equity Challenges: Tina Bhatnagar, DO

 event held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bhavana (Tina) Bhatnagar, DO, was a panelist for “The Impact of Precision Medicine in Value-Based Care.” An associate professor of medicine at the West Virginia University Cancer Institute in Wheeling Hospital, she specializes in treating 

Here she speaks to the overall impact of targeted treatment in oncology, but that much work remains to bring these specialized therapeutics to all patients.

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

How have biomarker-driven targeted therapies changed survival outcomes or quality of life across different cancer types?

I think precision oncology has changed the lives of many patients. It's always gratifying for me as an oncologist to be able to offer patients treatments that are specifically targeted toward their disease. One particular patient who comes to mind is a gentleman I took care of who had 

 [AML], which is a very aggressive blood cancer. At the time of this patient's diagnosis, he was admitted to the hospital concurrently with a new heart attack, some type of a severe infection, and a new diagnosis of AML, and was clearly not a candidate for our frontline therapy, which is very intensive and usually involves a 4- to 6-week hospital stay.

We ended up testing his leukemia cells for the presence of certain genetic mutations and found out he had a mutation in a gene called 

, which is mutated in about one-third of people with AML. Fortunately, there are medications directed toward the 

 mutation called FLT3 inhibitors, and I was able to obtain a FLT3 inhibitor for this patient and get him safely out of the hospital and into full remission, with an excellent quality of life and a very long remission on a pill for a cancer that would have otherwise been fatal.

Where has precision medicine achieved the most success to date, and where is there still much work to be done?

In my mind, I think the biggest successes of precision medicine are the ability to be able to provide targeted therapies that usually have fewer toxicities than our standard chemotherapy regimens, because they go directly after the cancer cells as opposed to chemotherapy that is kind of like a blanket treatment for the cancer and also unfortunately affects healthy cells as well. I think it’s paved the way for lots of new therapeutics that have really helped our patients.

The other area where precision oncology has been really helpful is with prognostication. We’ve been able to use next-generation sequencing studies in order to better risk-stratify patients across a broad range of cancers, and that's kind of helped modify or give us a better understanding of how a patient's cancer is likely to behave beyond just the clinical data that we routinely collect.

What are some of the principal bottlenecks limiting equitable access to precision medicine?

All these precision oncology platforms are amazing, but they become limiting when people aren't able to access them. I think one of the biggest challenges is being able to make sure that patients in rural populations have access to precision oncology and are getting their tissue tested for the presence of various gene mutations. 

 about the underrepresentation of minorities in precision oncology, large data sets, and so sometimes that limits the applicability of specific gene testing to certain populations, and that can also affect outcomes, especially if there's a knowledge gap in terms of how specific gene mutations affect certain minority populations. Also, it will help inform whether those populations are able to respond to some of the treatments that we have available.

I think as a community we need to make sure that we are focusing our efforts. We have to work collectively with policy makers, with our institutions, with our patients, to make sure that equitable access is achieved for patients regardless of where they live and that various social determinants of health and barriers are also addressed, because patients come from all different walks of life and I think, as their physician, it's important to know who they are as a person and what kinds of challenges that they might have that might prevent them from being able to get really what's considered gold-standard care.

Despite the impact of targeted treatment in oncology, much work remains to bring these therapeutics to all patients, says Bhavana (Tina) Bhatnagar, DO.

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia/Acute Myeloid Leukemia

IVBM

IVBM Events

Precision Medicine Advances Highlight Ongoing Equity Challenges: Tina Bhatnagar, DO

Interview with Peter Voorhees, MD, about the Darzalex Faspro approval.

Daratumumab Offers Hope for Delaying Progression to Active MM: Peter Voorhees, MD

 (MM) is intensely focused on strategies that can change its natural history of smoldering multiple myeloma, that intermediate stage between monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and full-fledged active MM.

 daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj (Darzalex Faspro; Janssen Biotech Inc) as a subcutaneous monotherapy for high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma based on results from the randomized phase 3 AQUILA trial (

). This subcutaneous formulation, at a dose of 1800/30,000 units, requires only 3 to 5 minutes for administration.

AQUILA enrolled 390 high-risk patients. High risk was defined by the following criteria: having clonal bone marrow plasma cells of at least 10%, an M spike of 3 g/dL or higher, or an involved-to-uninvolved free light chain ratio of at least 8 but less than 100. Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive either active monitoring (the prior standard of care) or daratumumab for up to 36 months.

The trial’s primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS), defined as progression to active multiple myeloma based on the International Myeloma Working Group SLiM-CRAB Criteria, not just biochemical progression. Daratumumab demonstrated superior efficacy in delaying progression. The median PFS for the active monitoring arm was 41.5 months, while the median PFS in the daratumumab arm was not reached. Patients treated with daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj experienced a 51% reduced mortality risk vs the active monitoring cohort, achieving a 63.1% PFS rate vs 40.8% among those actively monitored. The overall response rate was 60%, double that previously seen in relapsed/refractory MM.

Secondary end points also favored the treatment. The median time to first treatment was not reached in the daratumumab arm compared with 50.2 months for active monitoring. Furthermore, patients on the daratumumab arm outperformed the control group regarding PFS on their first subsequent treatment (PFS2).

about the daratumumab approval, Peter Voorhees, MD, hematologist, Medical Oncology, Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute, noted, “I don't necessarily think that there was anything that was all that surprising, to be honest with you. We know that the CD38 antibodies are very active in multiple myeloma. We figured that daratumumab monotherapy would perform better in patients with smoldering multiple myeloma compared to those who have relapsed/refractory disease.”

Peter Voorhees, MD, explains how daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj show superior efficacy in delaying progression of MM compared with active monitoring.

Hematology

Latest News