Latest Conference Articles

Real-world results for hepatitis C drugs have been very closely aligned to the clinical trial outcomes, which is likely due to a combination of factors, such as the effectiveness of the agents and better knowledge of using direct-acting antivirals, according to Gail Bridges, PharmD, of Accredo Health.

Two of the most important determinants of cancer outcomes are the culture and behavior of both the provider and the patient, explained 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.

The Million Hearts initiative, with its goal of preventing a million cardiovascular events in 5 years, requires sustained efforts by cardiologists in conjunction with public health experts to achieve success, explained Janet Wright, MD, FACC, the program’s executive director.

After presenting the results of the REACH eCounseling hypertension intervention at the American College of Cardiology 66th Scientific Session, lead 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, discussed his team’s plans for future eCounseling research.

The market for tardive dyskinesia, a movement disorder affecting 500,000 patients in the United States, will go from zero approved treatments to 2 in 2017, making it an important area to watch, said Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant for emerging therapeutics at Express Scripts.

With a new administration in the White House and the issue of repealing or replacing the Affordable Care Act not completely addressed, managed care pharmacists should feel heartened to know their voices and concerns are being heard, said Susan A. Cantrell, RPh, CAE, CEO of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.

At the American College of Cardiology 66th Scientific Session, Seth J. Baum, MD, FACC, FACPM, FAHA, FNLA, FASPC, president of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology, discussed why insurers are so reluctant to approve coverage of PCSK9 inhibitors and how this hesitance could harm patients who are denied access to the cardiovascular drugs.

The Million Hearts initiative, which aims to prevent a million cardiovascular events in a 5-year period, will focus on utilizing its partnerships with health systems and employers as it embarks upon its second phase, according to Janet Wright, MD, FACC, the program’s executive director.

Robert P. Giugliano, MD, MSc, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, discussed the findings of the EBBINGHAUS study on evolocumab’s effect on cognition, which he presented at the American College of Cardiology 66th Scientific Session. He also explained how that study was related to the highly-anticipated FOURIER trial.

Panelists, during a session on value and value-based reimbursement at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting, held March 27-30 in Denver, Colorado, discussed the benefits and challenges of value-based contracting and the current and evolving use of value frameworks.

Since the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare never made it to a vote, insurers are still very uncertain about the future of healthcare. At this time it is unclear whether Republicans plan to shore up the law or actively undermine it.

Richard Mullvain, RPh, BCPS (AQC), CCCC, a cardiovascular clinical pharmacist and expert in cardiovascular care at the Essentia Health Heart & Vascular Center in Duluth, Minnesota, delivered a focused clinical review on the topic of the PCSK9 inhibitor Repatha (evolocumab), and its impact on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).

At the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, Kevin C. Maki, PhD, CLS, FNLA, FTOS, FACN, of Midwest Biomedical Research/Center for Metabolic and Cardiovascular Health in Chicago, Illinois, discussed methods of quantifying treatment effects in cardiovascular outcomes trials.

Rates of e-prescribing access is higher among pharmacists than physicians, which is partly due to older physicians at the end of their career who find implementing the system cost prohibitive, explained Doug Hillblom, PharmD, president at Arena Healthcare, LLC.

During an industry workshop at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, Cliff Goodman, PhD, of the Lewin Group, moderated a session that provided a health economic case study on cardiovascular outcome data for Repatha (evolocumab), the PCSK9 inhibitor from Amgen.

New targeted therapies reduce waste and identify patients that will benefit most, but their high price tags have left the healthcare industry scrambling to figure out how to pay for these treatments and cures.

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.