RA Drug May Reduce Toxicity Caused By CAR T Treatment
June 15th 2018Last year, the FDA expanded the indications of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drug tocilizumab (Actemra) to include the treatment of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) caused by CAR T-cell therapy. Recently, 2 studies have identified another rheumatoid arthritis drug that could be more effective in the treatment of CRS.
Read More
Pembrolizumab Indications Expand to Include Cervical Cancer
June 13th 2018Yesterday, the FDA announced that it has expanded the indications of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to include recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer with disease progression on or after chemotherapy whose tumors express PD-L1.
Read More
MS Drug Could Reduce Adverse Events Associated With Cancer Treatment
June 4th 2018In a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers found that fingolimod (sold as Gilenya), an FDA-approved orally administered drug to treat multiple sclerosis, could reduce painful side effects of multiple myeloma treatments.
Read More
Clotting Factor Associated With Greater Metastases in Certain Lung Cancers
May 29th 2018Immune cells that promote clotting within tumors in a specific type of lung cancer are actually assisting the tumor to spread throughout the body, according to a recent study published in Nature Communications.
Read More
Patients With Hemophilia A, With or Without Factor VIII, Benefitted from Emicizumab in HAVEN Trials
May 22nd 2018Trial results show that patients with hemophilia A with or without factor VIII inhibitors treated with emicizumab-kxwh every 4 weeks can have clinically meaningful control of bleeding.
Read More
CAR T Therapy Case Study Shows Early Success in Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia
May 9th 2018A new case study found that an acute myeloid leukemia patient has remained cancer free for 9 months following treatment with the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatment, CYAD-01, and a bone marrow transplant.
Read More
5 Things to Know About Pharma's Far-Reaching Influence
April 13th 2018Many Americans are concerned about pharma’s influence throughout the healthcare industry and the implications such influence may have on drug costs. Here are 5 things to know about trends in public concern about pharma's reach.
Read More
ICER Review Finds Hemlibra Lowers Costs and Improves Outcomes in Hemophilia A
March 25th 2018Recently, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) released an evidence report that investigated the comparative clinical effectiveness and value of emicizumab (marketed as Hemlibra, developed by Genentech) in the treatment of hemophilia A.
Read More
CBT Reduced Pain Intensity in Disadvantaged Patients, Study Finds
March 23rd 2018Learn About My Pain (LAMP), a recent study published in Annals of Internal Medicine that evaluated the efficacy of simplified group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) versus group pain education (EDU) and usual care in a disadvantaged population, was found to be effective. Researchers found that in general, both CBT and EDU, but not usual care, were associated with statistically significant improvements in pain intensity.
Read More
NCI Researchers Find Drug May Prevent Resistance in Toxin-Based Leukemia Treatment
March 15th 2018A new study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has identified a possible solution for improving the efficacy of moxetumomab pasudotox, or moxe, in patients with relapsed and chemotherapy-resistant acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Read More
Modest Improvement in Heart Failure Patients With Collaborative Care Intervention
March 4th 2018A recently published study in JAMA Internal Medicine sought to determine whether a symptom and psychosocial collaborative care intervention improves heart failure–specific health status, depression, and symptom burden in patients with heart failure.
Read More
Novo Nordisk Announces Phase 3a Trial Results for Oral Semaglutide
February 26th 2018On Friday, Novo Nordisk announced the results from PIONEER 1, a phase 3a trial featuring oral semaglutide for treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Oral semaglutide is a new glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue taken once daily as a tablet, making this investigational therapy the first oral treatment in this class.
Read More
Study Finds Written Standardized Protocol Leads to Better Surgical Outcomes
February 24th 2018A study to be published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons found that a safety-net hospital in Florida could perform an esophagectomy, a highly complex operation, with fewer complications and shorter hospital stays than the national average.
Read More
New Risk Group Model for Prostate Cancer May Lead to Better Treatment
February 23rd 2018A new study integrates traditional National Comprehensive Cancer Network prostate cancer guidelines with genetic information found in biopsied tissue to more accurately predict which men have more aggressive forms of prostate cancer.
Read More
Recent Approval of Trastuzumab Biosimilar, Ogivri, Has Implications for Patients and Industry
February 21st 2018Last year's approval of trastuzumab biosimilar, Ogivri, will be the first competitor to blockbuster drug, Herceptin, for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer since its discovery.
Read More
New ECPR Protocol Shows Increase in Survival of Some Cardiac Arrest Patients
February 17th 2018A new protocol is being tested at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center called an ECPR alert. The alert is designed for usage after ventricular fibrillation has been administered 3 times and the patient has remained in this rhythm.
Read More
ASCO Review Finds Clinical Pathway Programs Adhere to Guidelines
February 13th 2018Last week, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) published its review of the leading oncology pathway vendors in the United States in the Journal of Oncology Practice. The report found that overall, the prominent commercial pathway programs in the United States are aligned with ASCO’s evaluation criteria.
Read More
Phase 3 CheckMate-227 Trial Met Co-Primary Endpoint of PFS in NSCLC
February 9th 2018This week, drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb announced in a press release that the ongoing Phase 3 Checkmate-227 trial met its co-primary endpoint of progression-free survival with Opdivo plus Yervoy combination versus chemotherapy in first-line advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients whose tumors have high levels of an emerging biomarker called tumor mutation burden.
Read More
Adhering to Heart Failure Treatment Guidelines More Important Than Volume, Study Finds
February 7th 2018A recent study appearing in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, found that looking at how well hospitals adhere to treatment guidelines for heart failure is more important than comparing patient volumes at hospitals.
Read More
Catheter Ablation More Effective Than Traditional Therapy in Atrial Fibrillation
February 3rd 2018A new study published in the February issue of the New England Journal of Medicine found that patients that received radiofrequency catheter ablation compared with traditional drug therapies for atrial fibrillation (AF) had significantly lower hospitalization and mortality rates.
Read More
Study Shows Interactive Tool Increases Patient Knowledge of Breast Cancer Treatment Options
January 31st 2018The Cancer Surveillance and Outcomes Research Team at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center recently developed an interactive online tool to help patients with breast cancer understand their treatment options more fully.
Read More
Study to Determine Accuracy of Stool Tests for Colorectal Cancer
January 27th 2018The gold standard test for colon cancer detection is for patients to undergo a colonoscopy. However, the development of the fecal immunochemical test (FIT) provides patients with a noninvasive option that can be completed at home and would allow patients to forego the colonoscopy, if results are negative.
Read More
Treating Patients With Melanoma With Targeted Therapies Before Surgery Can Delay Relapse
January 20th 2018Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center recently reported in Lancet Oncology that a pair of targeted therapies given before and after surgery for melanoma produced a 6-fold increase in time to progression of the disease, compared with standard-of-care surgery for patients with stage 3 melanoma.
Read More
Risk-Targeted Lung Cancer Screening Shows Modest Benefits
January 19th 2018Although risk targeting may improve screening efficiency in terms of early lung cancer mortality per person screened, the gains in efficiency are modest in terms of life-years, quality-adjusted life-years, and cost-effectiveness, according to a study recently published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Read More
Promacta Earns Breakthrough Therapy Designation by FDA for Severe Aplastic Anemia
January 11th 2018Recently, the FDA granted a breakthrough therapy designation to eltrombopag (Promacta, Novartis) for combination use with standard immunosuppressive therapy as a first-line treatment for patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA).
Read More