Laura is the vice president of content for The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) and all its brands, including The American Journal of Accountable Care®, Evidence-Based Oncology™, and The Center for Biosimilars®. She has been working on AJMC® since 2014 and has been with AJMC®’s parent company, MJH Life Sciences®, since 2011.
She has an MA in business and economic reporting from New York University. You can connect with Laura on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Amivantamab Plus Lazertinib Improved PFS for EGFR-Mutated Advanced NSCLC
MARIPOSA demonstrated the combination reduced risk of progression or death by 30% compared with osimertinib. MARIPOSA-2 found amivantamab plus chemotherapy and amivantamab plus chemotherapy and lazertinib also improved progression-free survival (PFS) over chemotherapy after progression on osimertinib.
Trastuzumab Deruxtecan Demonstrates Efficacy Reducing Brain Metastases in HER2m NSCLC
Regardless of presence of brain metastases, patients with HER2-mutant (HER2m) non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showed systemic responses to trastuzumab deruxtecan. In addition, the therapy showed intracranial efficacy to reduce the size of brain metastases.
Adding Adjuvant Nivolumab Builds on Standard of Care for Resectable NSCLC
The results of CheckMate 77T showcase the improved event-free survival for patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer who receive nivolumab in both the neoadjuvant and adjuvant setting and may have practice-changing implications.
Overcoming the Efficacy-Effectiveness Gap in Cancer Therapy Research
With stringent criteria, randomized controlled trials are the cornerstone of cancer intervention research, but the result is they do not represent the majority of patients, which leads to a gap between the efficacy seen in trials and the effectiveness in the real-world setting.
Christine Pfaff on Ensuring Patient Access to Affordable Treatments
To ensure patients are getting timely access to their treatments, there needs to be better collaboration between payers and providers, said Christine Pfaff, RPh, senior regional director of operations, American Oncology Network.
Patient, Provider Education and Payer Management Can Improve Biosimilar Uptake: Dr Bincy Abraham
Biosimilars are becoming more common as more launch on the market in the United States, but patient and provider education can help speed uptake of these products, explained Bincy Abraham, MD, Houston Methodist – Weill Cornell.
Novel Approaches to Head and Neck Cancer at Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center
Speakers at an Institute for Value-Based Medicine event with Vanderbilt University Medical Center highlighted the novel therapies and techniques being used to improve outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer.
Updates Are Driving the Field of MDS Forward, but Changes Still Needed
In just the last 2 years there have been updates in classification, risk assessment, and response criteria in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), but additional efforts are needed to improve these, and there remains a need for better therapies.
Biosimilars Had a Huge Impact on Total Cost of Care, Says AON’s Christine Pfaff
In a few short years, biosimilars have driven down total cost of care in oncology through providing competition for expensive drugs, explained Christine Pfaff, RPh, senior regional director of operations, American Oncology Network (AON).
Switching Back to Originator From Biosimilar Infliximab Results in Higher Discontinue Rates
One-fourth of patients who switched to an infliximab biosimilar retransitioned back to the originator, but they were more likely to subsequently discontinue treatment due to an unwanted response after switching back.
Regional Disparities Remain in Breast Reconstruction for Patients With Breast Cancer
While regional variations were identified in rates of breast reconstruction, complications, and cost for patients with breast cancer, these differences did not seem to be associated with any implicit bias.