Latest Conference Articles

The creation and implementation of a new quality measure is a long process that includes considering other measures on the market, actually developing the measure and, ultimately, testing its scientific acceptability, explained Matthew Pickering, PharmD, RPh, associate director of research and quality strategies at the Pharmacy Quality Alliance.

In a session covering the future of the business of healthcare in the United States, Kevin Grabenstatter, managing director for L.E.K. Consulting, asserted that healthcare is an unsustainably big business, which means that change is coming.

There is a trend of making value-based deals to pay for treatments in order to ensure the drug works as advertised while also protecting payers from financial risk, explained Richard J. Willke, PhD, chief science officer of ISPOR.

Liz Zhou, MD, director of evidence-based medicine at Sanofi Medical Affairs outlined the purpose of a study on real-world results of comparing basal insulin dose changes in type 2 diabetes patients using Lantus who either stay on Lantus or switch to Toujeo.

Value frameworks are one tool that can be used to inform the formulary decision-making process, but transparency in the development of these frameworks is important, said Susan A. Cantrell, RPh, CAE, CEO of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP).

The move away from fee-for-service has driven some health plans to embrace value-based care contracts and accountable care organizations. During a session at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting, held March 27-30, 2017, in Denver, Colorado, panelists outlined how the marketplace has evolved.

The first drug to treat primary progressive multiple sclerosis and a new drug approved for atopic dermatitis are the 2017 approvals most exciting to Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, of Express Scripts.

The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting kicked off on March 28, 2017, in Denver, Colorado, with a look at the specialty pharmaceutical pipeline with Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant for emerging therapeutics at Express Scripts.

At the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, in Orlando, Florida, Paul M. Cinciripini, PhD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center delivered a presentation on a mission he said he has spent the better part of his life working on: getting patients with cancer to quit smoking cigarettes.

Until the underlying community health factors like poverty and education are addressed, disparities in cancer outcomes will persist, according to Shauntice Allen, PhD, assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health. She also discussed how health systems and providers can contribute to efforts to improve community health.

Despite the abundance of new drugs that have been approved recently and the promising clinical trials of other novel therapies, multiple myeloma remains incurable, explained Shaji Kumar, MD, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. However, he believes that with better options for early intervention and personalized therapies, researchers are on a path to curing the disease.

At the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, held March 23-25, 2017, in Orlando, FL, Gregory J. Riely, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, spoke about the what, when, and how of biomarker testing in non-small cell lung cancer.

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.

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.

It remains unclear why insurers approve some patients for PCSK9 inhibitors while denying others with similar clinical characteristics, according to Seth J. Baum, MD, FACC, FACPM, FAHA, FNLA, FASPC, president of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology, who presented an abstract on the subject at the American College of Cardiology 66th Scientific Session.

The CVD-REAL study presented at the American College of Cardiology 66th Scientific Session asked whether cardiovascular outcomes seen in the EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial could be seen in a real-world environment, and for the entire class of SGLT2 inhibitors, according to AstraZeneca’s Jim McDermott, PhD, vice president for Medical Affairs, Diabetes.

Heart disease is America’s top killer, and people living in poverty are affected at higher rates. With that in mind, the American College of Cardiology devoted devoted a 3-part intensive to this issue at the 66th Scientific Session.

The Million Hearts initiative launched in 2012 set a lofty goal of preventing 1 million cardiovascular deaths in 5 years, but did not quite achieve that target. According to the program’s executive director, Janet Wright, MD, FACC, Million Hearts will continue to make progress in part due to the solid foundations it has formed in the initial stage.

The Quality Payment Program (QPP) from CMS, including the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), represents a shift toward focusing on quality measures, but there are resources available to help clinicians adjust to these changes, explained William Borden, MD, FACC, FAHA, associate professor of medicine and director of healthcare delivery transformation at the George Washington University.

Research from the REACH trial presented at the American College of Cardiology 66th Scientific Session indicated that participants who received the REACH eCounseling intervention showed significant improvements in measures of hypertension management, according to lead study author Rob Nolan, PhD, CPsych, director of Cardiac eHealth at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and clinical psychologist and scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute.

Results from the CVD-REAL study seek to answer questions raised by the EMPA-REG OUTCOME study: do the effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on heart failure apply to a broad population?

At the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session, a study of prescriptions for PCSK9 inhibitors confirms what doctors say about trying to get their patients access to the cholesterol drug.

Past study results had raised concerns about the effect of lipid-lowering drugs like evolocumab on cognitive function, but the EBBINGHAUS trial presented at the American College of Cardiology 66th Scientific Session may finally help put those fears to rest, explained lead study author Robert P. Giugliano, MD, MSc, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The study was the first head-to-head trial to compare 2 common options for treatment to prevent recurrent venous thromboembolism.

Coverage from the American College of Cardiology 2017 Scientific Session.

The study's lead author said the findings may show something similar to the "obesity paradox," where high-risk patients fare better than expected due to frequent follow-up by physicians.

The study from Sweden found a substantial benefit for men taking the class of drugs that was discovered by accident when researchers were developing a treatment for angina 2 decades ago.