A clinical trial has shown that patients with a specific molecular subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) are more likely to respond to the drug ibrutinib (Imbruvica) than patients with another molecular subtype of the disease. The study appeared online July 20, 2015, in Nature Medicine.
Chicago, IL—An analysis of chemotherapy infusion by Aetna shows that approximately 75% of their patients still receive chemotherapy in a community oncology setting, suggested Michael A. Kolodziej, MD, National Medical Director for Oncology Strategy, Aetna at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.
Science and technology have taken us through a dynamic portal, transforming medicine into a business and cancer into an industry that is challenged by its clinical benefits, safety, and cost-effectiveness. We are now witnessing a change in oncology with the migration from doctor- to patient-centric treatment.
Chicago, IL—An economic analysis presented by Daniel Goldstein, MD, of Emory University, Atlanta, GA, at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, was conducted to see at what price will necitumumab (which is currently being reviewed by the FDA for use in metastatic squamous-cell lung cancer) be cost-effective. According to this analysis, necitumumab will have to be priced at less than $1300 per cycle to be cost-effective based on the accepted willingness-to-pay threshold of $150,000.
At the Fifth Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care in Washington, DC, Grant Lawless, RPh, MD, FACP, of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, moderated a multidisciplinary panel on value-based care for patients with multiple myeloma. The panel included Gary Palmer, MD, JD, MBA, MPH, medical director of NantHealth, who highlighted the growing role of genomics testing in multiple myeloma, and Carol Ann Huff, MD, of the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, who discussed therapies in development for multiple myeloma, including novel monoclonal antibodies. The panelists outlined trends that are likely to affect costs and care patterns in multiple myeloma, including increasing use of triplet-drug regimens, maintenance therapy, and antibody-based therapies in development.
Chicago, IL—Immunotherapy with the anti–PD-1 agent nivolumab (Opdivo) prolonged survival in patients with nonsquamous non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as second-line therapy for disease progression with standard platinum-based therapy, based on results of CheckMate 057, which were presented at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.
Chicago, IL—The results of the phase 3 GADOLIN trial provide the first proof of efficacy for obinutuzumab (Gazyva) in patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Obinutuzumab added to standard bendamustine (Treanda) chemotherapy almost doubled progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with rituximab (Rituximab)-refractory indolent lymphoma—the median PFS was 29.2 months with obinutuzumab plus bendamustine versus 14 months with bendamustine alone.
Washington, DC—Emerging trends in oncology care management include economic transparency, high-value narrow networks (now also referred to as “power networks”), patient–provider profile matching, and an evolving role for risk management. Narrow networks have been shown to lower overall costs and premiums, reduce care variation, and increase patient outcomes and satisfaction, said Grant D. Lawless, RPh, MD, Associate Professor, Clinical Pharmacy and Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, at the Fifth Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancer diagnoses in the United States. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 231,840 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and nearly 40,300 women will die from the disease in 2015. Overall, 61% of women with breast cancer are diagnosed while the disease is confined to the breast; for these women, the 5-year survival rate is 98.6%. However, for women with metastatic breast cancer, the 5-year survival rate falls sharply, to 26%.
Washington, DC—Personalized medicine is the best way to take advantage of innovation in therapy, but the method in which it is paid for must be addressed to fully realize its potential, said Michael Kolodziej, MD, National Medical Director, Oncology Solutions, Aetna, at the Fifth Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.