Oncology

On the second day of the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), Kilian E. Salerno, MD, of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, walked the audience through updates to the NCCN Guidelines, explaining clinical situations in which radiation is indicated, appropriate targets of radiation treatment, and optimal approaches for minimizing toxicity.

Recent research has shown the potential of immunotherapy treatments for treating lung cancer, explained Matthew Gubens, MD, MS, assistant clinical professor of thoracic oncology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr Gubens also spoke about oncologists’ hopes for using immuno-oncology agents in combination with one another or with chemotherapy.

The unique cancer burden among Asian Americans calls for a multifaceted strategy to address these disparities, according to Moon S. Chen Jr, PhD, MPH, professor of hematology and oncology at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and principal investigator of The National Center for Reducing Asian American Cancer Health Disparities.

While multigene panels are extremely important in precision cancer care, high levels of variance and insufficient insurance coverage are significant barriers to rapid adoption, according to Kenneth Offit, MD, MPH, from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

The first treatment for Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare form of skin cancer, has been approved to treat adults and pediatric patients 12 years or older. The drug is also under consideration through Priority Review for treatment of patients with urothelial carcinoma.

At the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, held March 23-25, 2017, in Orlando, FL, policy researchers with interest in cancer care disparities discussed the source of existing disparities and how they can be successfully addressed.

The report, which provides an update on all the monumental changes witnessed by the field of oncology over the last year, highlights 3 key achievements: new investments in science and insurance coverage, payment models that emphasize quality, and rapid-learning healthcare systems.

The field of immunotherapy is a work in progress and researchers are now expanding the use of this treatment and doing a better job of identifying the patients that will benefit the most from it.

If the burden of cost sharing no longer fell on cancer patients, they would be more likely to access care and maintain treatment as prescribed, leading to improved outcomes, according to Samantha Watson, founder and CEO of The Samfund. When faced with high copays, patients are more likely to skip appointments or take only half of their prescribed medications.

Do newer forms of radiation treatments surpass standard radiation in prostate cancer?

According to a new clinical trial, circulating tumor cells can serve as a biomarker that alerts clinicians to the recurrence of non-small cell lung cancer months before it is detected by CT scans.

The use of biomarkers in immunotherapy has some technical and biological limitations, and is complicated further by the qualitative aspect of cancer treatment, said David Fabrizio, of Foundation Medicine, Inc. A genomic-based solution could help develop more unified quantitative approaches.

Oncology physicians and nurses need to listen to their patients’ needs and expectations to determine the right way to present information on cancer treatments, including immuno-oncology, according to Debra L. Madden, cancer research advocate and patient representative.

A preview of some of the discussions at the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).

This week, the top managed care stories included the Congressional Budget Office releasing its rating of the GOP's health plan, the Senate voted to confirm Seema Verma for CMS administrator, and Scott Gottlieb, MD, was nominated to lead the FDA.

The White House budget “blueprint” for 2018, which was released today, has recommended substantial cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A new study has found that an educational program can help ease worries associated with palliative care, and make cancer patients more likely to use it if referred.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) received an accelerated approval for adult and pediatric patients with refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma or those who have relapsed after at least 3 lines of therapy.

A new economic study has found that cancer types that were the focus of articles receiving public or private research support had fewer hospitalizations and lower mortality.

Ken Tarkoff, formerly at RelayHealth, is joining Syapse as its new CEO.

New research published in Nature Medicine has identified a broader population of individuals with breast cancer who can have therapeutic sensitivity to PARP inhibitors.

The FDA has approved Novartis’ ribociclib (Kisqali) for treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 negative (HR+/HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

A new study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, has confirmed that mammographic density change following estrogen and progestin treatment increases the risk of breast cancer.

A recent study in Health Affairs assessed cost and utilization outcomes for 3 innovative care models for Medicare beneficiaries with cancer: oncology medical homes, patient navigator programs, and palliative care initiatives.

The cost of oncology care has increased significantly in recent years, leading employers to worry about how they can provide consistent benefits for employees with cancer and their family members, according to Karen van Caulil, PhD, president and CEO of the Florida Health Care Coalition.

Years of experience as an oncology nurse practitioner have underscored the importance of evidence-based resources for both patients and clinicians, says Carrie Stricker, PhD, RN, AOCN, chief clinical officer and co-founder of Carevive.

When discussing value in oncology, the outcomes that matter are those that are important to the patient, said Stuart Goldberg, MD, chief medical officer, Cancer Outcomes Tracking and Analysis, John Theurer Cancer Center. He also discussed how the use of data to stratify patients is important for providing value-based cancer care.

The selective BCR-ABL1 kinase inhibitor imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) has been found to be safe and effective following almost 11 years of follow-up in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

This week, the top managed care news included a bill from House Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, a new program at Walgreens to train pharmacists on an advanced cancer-care curriculum, and findings that health coaching helps the neediest patients most.

A study evaluating patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer who refused a clinical intervention for fear of being overdiagnosed has reported that the individuals feel isolated and anxious.