Oncology

At the 58th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition, Jan Joseph Melenhorst, PhD, presented results of a study evaluating biomarkers of response to anti-CD19 CAR T-cell treatment in patients diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Phase 3 results from the LyMa trial have shown that rituximab, after autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT), prolongs event-free survival, progression-free survival, and overall survival (OS) in previously untreated young patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) following ASCT.

Early phase 1 results show that including the cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor palbociclib in the treatment plan of patients with mantle cell lymphoma can help overcome resistance to ibrutinib.

In high-risk patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells of defined composition can be administered with an acceptable early toxicity.

An experiment by Park Nicollet Health Services to document personalized pain management goals for patients in oncology clinics lowered documented pain, while physician education on cost information helped reduce treatment costs.

Oncologists need to ask patients the right questions and truly listen to the answers, but they must then balance the individuals’ goals with the practice’s efforts to provide consistently efficient cancer care to all patients, according to Robert W. Carlson, MD, CEO of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

A new study conducted at The University of Texas has found that a majority of federal exchanges do not include National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers.

Payers have been slow to adopt new technologies, but they are starting to be more proactive in seeking out genomic profiling companies, according to David Fabrizio, of Foundation Medicine, Inc. These molecular diagnostic tools make the healthcare process more efficient by performing a comprehensive test at the point of diagnosis.

This week, the top stories in managed care were that the Senate began the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act, Cigna and CVS moved away from the EpiPen, and the NCI Formulary will make it easier to study cancer drugs and their combinations.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) hopes that the principles will help ensure access to healthcare and adequate insurance, to improve outcomes among those diagnosed with cancer.

Research published in the Journal of Oncology Practice has identified high treatment burden among Medicare patients with early-stage non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

A conglomerate of 69 National Cancer Institute—designated cancer centers has come together to endorse the CDC’s recommendations for HPV vaccination of young children.

Described as a public—private partnership between the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, the NCI Formulary is expected to provide researchers rapid access to anticancer drugs for use in clinical trials.

The transformation to value-based oncology care must be centered upon the priorities and needs of patients and their families, said Joseph Alvarnas, MD, of the City of Hope and editor-in-chief of Evidence-Based Oncology. This vision is starting to be incorporated in areas like the Oncology Care Model, which looks at patient-reported outcomes and experiences.

A screening study conducted over 2 decades in Denmark has raised questions about the need and implications of biennial mammography for women between 50 and 69 years of age.

Researchers from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have developed a novel method using modified donor T cells to make stem cell transplants both safer and more effective for treating blood cancers

The study observed significant shifts in the treatment of advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), accompanied by only modest gains in survival and total Medicare spending.

Delayed adjuvant chemotherapy, started up to 4 months following resection of non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) could still be beneficial to patients, according to a new study published in JAMA Oncology.

As Cancer & Hematology Centers of Western Michigan starts to participate in the Oncology Care Model (OCM), it has dedicated its resources to understanding the model and analyzing data, said Stuart Genschaw, executive director of the Cancer & Hematology Centers of Western Michigan. Throughout this process, however, the practice’s main focus is always on “providing great care” to its patients.

CDC has opened up a portal for public comments on its National Tobacco Prevention and Control Public Education Campaign to gather input on the effectiveness of its existing efforts on data collection.

This week in managed care, readers chose the top healthcare news story of 2016, 4 physician groups appealed to Congress to have a replacement for Obamacare ready if it is repealed, and the American College of Physicians released a new guideline on oral medications for type 2 diabetes.

While rapid innovations in the field of oncology have improved treatments, the magnitude and dimension of clinical benefits vary widely.

What we’re reading, January 5, 2017: Vice President Joe Biden will create a nonprofit organization to focus on cancer research and drug prices; school telemedicine could help kids stay in the classroom and out of the doctor’s office; bundled payments for joint replacements saved $5577 in spending per episode.

David L. Porter, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, explains why treating tumors with a combination of CAR-T cells and other immune-stimulating agents is a logical next step for investigators.

Researchers in Australia conducted a systematic analysis of several randomized control trials that evaluated weight loss as an intervention for breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer.

A new single-patient case study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, has raised the possibility of using CAR-T cells in the treatment of glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain tumor.

Many patients have learned about the advances in immunotherapy treatments for cancer, but the media may not be portraying all the complexities and potential harms of these agents, according to Debra L. Madden, cancer research advocate and patient representative. Madden mentioned that biomarker research could help determine which patients are most likely to benefit from immuno-oncology.

The first patient has been treated with ruxolitinib (Jakafi), by Incyte Corporation, for steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease, as part of the REACH-1 phase 2 trial. The trial is evaluating ruxolitinib in combination with corticosteroids.

Oncologists must recognize the importance of the patient voice when making treatment decisions so that the treatment plan can be adapted to each patient’s goals and desires, said Carrie Stricker, PhD, RN, AOCN, chief clinical officer and co-founder of Carevive.

The TAPUR clinical trial is rapidly expanding to new sites, but the researchers have not yet collected enough data to analyze and publish the results, according to Pam Mangat, MS, associate director TAPUR study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology.