Oncology

Although there is still a need for more education around the use of biosimilars in cancer, it seems oncologists have become more knowledgeable in the past few years, said Gary H. Lyman, MD, MPH, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

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.

Erich Mounce, chief operating officer, OneOncology, drew on his experience from West Cancer Center to discuss how community oncology can improve access to care and other inequalities in cancer care.

This week, the FDA sent out an alert to various healthcare professionals and the public to warn about the risks associated with the investigational use of venetoclax (Venclexta) for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). The alert is based on data from the ongoing phase 3 BELLINI trial evaluating the drug for this treatment.

CancerIQ is reducing barriers that make it difficult to utilize genetic testing to predict or pre-empt a patient’s cancer diagnosis, explained Feyi Olopade Ayodele, MBA, chief executive officer at CancerIQ.

This week, the top managed care news included new primary prevention guidelines that could increase the use of some diabetes drugs; the FDA expanded criteria for which patients can take part in clinical trials; a summit on value-based insurance design showed the need for tough conversations with stakeholders.

Multigene testing provides a lot of information that providers have to be familiar with in order to adequately explain it to their patients, said John H. Ward, MD, Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.

CMS’ proposal that patients be enrolled in a clinical trial or registry to get Medicare coverage for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies will help improve access, for the most part, but there is the risk that some organizations will choose not to offer this treatment, said John W. Sweetenham, MD, of Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.

A diverse panel of representatives from different practice models provided insights into what has worked for them and what has not in trying to improve cancer care. The discussion took place in Washington, DC, at the Association of Community Cancer Centers

While there is currently a presence of technology in healthcare, the future holds much more promise, said Allen Lichter, MD, FASCO, senior partner of TRG Healthcare.

Patients with high-risk breast cancer who receive a 21-gene assay genomic test may be able to avoid chemotherapy and ultimately save a significant amount of money.

Fear and denial can contribute to a patient’s hesitancy to seek prompt treatment, says Beth Wittmer, RN, OCN, manager of care management at Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute.

On day 2 of the Community Oncology Alliance's annual Community Oncology Conference, held April 4-5 in Orlando, Florida, we spoke with Debra Patt, MD, MPH, MBA, executive vice president of Texas Oncology, and Jeffrey Vacirca, MD, chief executive officer of New York Cancer & Blood Specialists.

On day 1 of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA)'s annual Community Oncology Conference, held April 4-5 in Orlando, Florida, we spoke with Ted Okon, executive director of COA, and Sibel Blau, MD, medical director of Northwest Medical Specialties, PLLC.

On day 2 of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC)'s 45th Annual Meeting & Cancer Center Business Summit, we spoke with Ali McBride, PharmD, MS, BCPS, BCOP, clinical coordinator of hematology/oncology in the Department of Pharmacy at The University of Arizona Cancer Center, and James Hamrick, MD, senior medical director at Flatiron Health.

On day 1 of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC)'s 45th Annual Meeting & Cancer Center Business Summit, we spoke with Tom Gallo, the outgoing president of ACCC and Nicole Braccio, PharmD, director of policy at the National Patient Advocate Foundation.

While the high price of drugs is an issue, what is really important is the actual cost patients are faced with at the pharmacy counter, said Ted Okon, executive director of the Community Oncology Alliance, and Daniel Klein, president and executive director of the Patient Access Network Foundation, at the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID), V-BID Summit.

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.

This week, the top managed care news included the 2020 budget plan proposing a mix of healthcare spending cuts and increases; the FDA approving the first immunotherapy regimen for breast cancer; and researchers uncovering how sodium glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors work.

Care coordinators are a support system for the clinical and the clerical teams to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks, explained Jessa Dunivan, patient services manager, Northwest Medical Specialties.

There are similarities between the challenges of accessing good cancer care in rural areas of the United States and Rwanda, such as poverty, transportation, and lack of routine care, said Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, director of the Center for Global Cancer Medicine at the Abramson Cancer Center, and professor of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

In an effort to increase patient accrual, broaden patients’ access to cancer clinical trials, and lead to trial results that better represent treatment effects in the real world, the FDA published 4 draft guidances and 1 final guidance to promote the inclusion of pediatric patients and patients with comorbidities that can occur alongside cancer.

Sometimes, patients may misunderstand the role of the social worker as part of the care team, but ultimately, they end up really being appreciative of the services, said Abra Kelson, MSW, LSWA-IC, medical social work supervisor, Northwest Medical Specialties.

The approval is based off of progression-free survival data from the IMpassion130 study and represents the first approved immunotherapy regimen for breast cancer.

I think we’re in a bit of a lull for exciting new therapy developments, likely because the development of the checkpoint inhibitors has just been so extraordinary revolutionary, explained Janice Mehnert, MD, Head of the Phase I Developmental Therapeutics Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and the Head of the Melanoma Research Team.

While use of palliative care at the end of life has increased, disparities remain, and not all patients who are terminally ill with blood cancers are having discussions about their goals of care at the end of life.

Administration of immuno-oncology therapy for cancer diagnoses in the community clinic setting is associated with lower costs compared with administration in a hospital-based clinic setting.

Two abstracts presented at the Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Meetings analyzed the detection of minimal residual disease during and after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Since carfilzomib was approved at a 27 mg/m2 twice-weekly dose, it has since been optimized at 56 mg/m2 twice-weekly and a recent study found benefits of a 70 mg/m2 once-weekly dose. However, most patients are still treated with the original approval dosage, suggesting they might be undertreated.

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have recently found that biologic age, or a DNA-based estimate of a person’s age, is associated with future development of breast cancer.