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Cancer remains one of the costliest diseases to treat in the United States. According to a 2020 report published by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the out-of-pocket costs patients faced in 2018 totaled $5.6 billion. Furthermore, evidence shows that the total amount attributed to direct cancer-1 related healthcare spending in 2015 was $183 billion, a number that is estimated to increase to approximately $246 billion by 2030. Read More ›

ALK inhibitor therapy achieved “remarkable” response rates in a small study of patients with ALK-positive adult-onset neuroblastoma. Some patients who did not respond to initial treatment with 1 ALK inhibitor had a subsequent response to lorlatinib (Lorbrena), which had the best showing among ALK inhibitors evaluated in this setting. The results of this retrospective study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2021 virtual annual meeting. Read More ›

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the importance of advance care planning. According to research presented at the virtual 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Care Symposium, pairing a highly trained nurse practitioner with a primary care team to engage patients in this process can lead to better healthcare utilization and higher quality end-of-life care. Read More ›

Early results from the CheckMate-648 clinical trial, which evaluated the 1 and safety of Opdivo (nivolumab), a PD-1 inhibitor, plus Yervoy (ipilimumab), a CTLA-4 inhibitor, or nivolumab plus chemotherapy, sugge1st a potential new standard of care for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma (ESCC). These findings were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 virtual annual meeting by Ian Chau, MD, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Gastrointestinal and Haemato-Oncology, Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, United Kingdom, and lead investigator of the trial. Read More ›

Preliminary results from the first prospective study of a genomic classifier for African-American men suggest that both disparities in access to care and biological factors may be responsible for the increased incidence and mortality in this patient population. The study also identified a significant age difference between African-American and non–African-American men with respect to high genomic risk. These findings were presented during the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2021 virtual annual meeting. Read More ›

Clinical trials are critical for evaluating novel therapies and determining the best treatment strategies to enhance outcomes for patients with cancer. However, most clinical trials do not meet their enrollment targets due to both structural and clinical barriers. Studies have shown that 85% of patients receive their treatment in a community setting, resulting in up to 55.6% not participating in clinical trials because there are none available, while an additional 21.5% are eliminated due to eligibility criteria. To further compound the situation, clinical trial activities have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More ›

Dual EGFR targeting with amivantamab-vmjw (Rybrevant) plus lazertinib (Leclaza) led to durable responses in more than one-third of chemotherapy-naïve patients with EGFR-positive non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease had progressed on osimertinib (Tagrisso) therapy, according to a cohort analysis of the CHRYSALIS trial, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2021 virtual annual meeting. The study also provided insights into resistance mechanisms in patients previously treated with osimertinib. Read More ›

On August 20, 2021, a group of 16 organizations representing patients, consumers, providers, and taxpayers published an open letter to officials from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Department of Health and Human Services asking them to consider enacting a zero copay policy for Medicare Part B patients, a move the groups said would improve access to biosimilars and save seniors in Medicare as much as $3 billion in out-of-pocket costs. Read More ›

The development of biosimilar medicines has provided an opportunity for patient utilization of oncology treatments at a lower cost, particularly in individuals for whom biologicals play a predominant role in providing effective therapeutic and supportive care. Although there has been an increase in the use of biosimilars in recent years, challenges to mass adoption remain. According to data presented at the virtual 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Care Symposium, however, utilization of the biosimilar trastuzumab-anns (Kanjinti) is trending in the right direction. Read More ›

Adoption of biosimilars continues to rise in the United States, but oncologists’ knowledge regarding these agents has not kept pace, according to data presented at the virtual 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Care Symposium. Read More ›