Interviews

Milena Pavlova, MD, neurologist, and medical director of the Sleep Testing Center at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, highlights how even mild cases of sleep apnea can increase the number of seizures a patient with epilepsy experiences and harm organs.

Kevin Davies, PhD, executive editor, The CRISPR Journal and GEN Biotechnology, discusses how CRISPR technology has seen success and potential areas for future application.

Fran Gregory, PharmD, vice president of emerging therapies at Cardinal Health, discusses the role the new wave of biosimilars will have on rebate practices for both pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and payers.

Cost sharing for several treatments could disappear following the Braidwood v Becerra ruling, according to A. Mark Fendrick, MD, director of the V-BID Center at the University of Michigan and co-editor in chief of The American Journal of Managed Care®.

Keeping up-to-date on information, whether it is about clinical matters or information systems, is critical to a deliberate learning mindset that is beneficial to health care providers, says Lee A. Norman, MD, MHS, MBA, the senior medical director for Optum Care Kansas City.

Jeffrey E. Lancet, MD, chair of the Department of Malignant Hematology at Moffitt Cancer Center, discussed the issue of cost and optimizing patient outcomes acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Jessica Robinson-Papp, MD, MS, professor of neurology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, talks about what factors can contribute to medication nonadherence in people with HIV, and the different levels of support that might be available to patients.

Jeffrey E. Lancet, MD, chair of the Department of Malignant Hematology at Moffitt Cancer Center, gave insight on the evolving treatment landscape of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the potential of immunotherapy and targeted therapies going forward.

Mark A. Socinski, MD, executive director of AdventHealth Cancer Institute, gave insight into treatment resistance and the importance of repeat biomarker testing at the time of disease progression in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Neal Dave, PharmD, executive director of pharmacy operations at Texas Oncology, discusses updates to the National Community Oncology Dispensing Association (NCODA) Center of Excellence pharmacy accreditation program.

David Spencer, MD, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and professor of neurology at Oregon Health and Science University, discusses the importance of patient safety in a first-in-human trial of NRTX-1001 GABAergic interneuron cell therapy for focal epilepsy.

Stephen M. Schleicher, MD, MBA, Tennessee Oncology, co-authored a recent paper on the complexities of the rural cancer experience; the principal conclusion was potential for a streamlined care process to optimize care efficiencies and access, thereby improving patient outcomes.

Naveen Mansukhani, director of operations and account management of Retail Pharmacy Services at Cardinal Health, talks about how the responsibility for saving costs does not just fall on one department or person, but is collaborative and requires strategy.

Connie Sullivan, president and CEO of the National Home Infusion Association (NHIA), discusses why at-home infusion is beneficial to patients and why so many patients reported feeling satisfied with home administration.

Oncology has been an easy area for employers to adopt biosimilars because of the rising costs in the space, said Margaret Rehayem, vice president, National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions. Now that multiple adalimumab (Humira) biosimilars are hitting the US market, employers should take a step back to review their current strategy around the drug.

David Spencer, MD, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and professor of neurology at Oregon Health and Science University, talks about the first-in-human trial of interneuron cell therapy for treatment of focal epilepsy and explains the next steps.

Fran Gregory, PharmD, vice president of emerging therapies at Cardinal Health, discusses what's to come as a result of a "second wave" of biosimilars hitting the market.

Technology and automation within patient assistance programs can enhance the patient journey and assist pharmaceutical manufacturers at a lower cost, explained Josh Marsh, vice president of Sonexus at Cardinal Health.

Andy Blauvelt, MD, MBA, president of Oregon Medical Research Center, discusses the use of systemic therapies vs biologics and why adherence is so important when treating patients with atopic dermatitis (AD).

Larry Eichenfield, MD, professor of dermatology and pediatrics and vice chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and chief of pediatric and adolescent dermatology at Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, discusses the use of different treatments and biologics for atopic dermatitis (AD) in infants, which he presented at the Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis conference.

Melinda Gooderham, MSc, MD, FRCPC, dermatologist and clinical researcher at Peterborough Regional Health Centre, discusses emerging topical and biologic therapies expected to be available later this year.

Robert Sidbury, MD, MPH, professor of pediatrics at Seattle Children's Hospital, discusses treatment approaches for atopic dermatitis of the face in infancy, which he presented at the Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis conference.

A. Mark Fendrick, MD, co–editor in chief of The American Journal of Managed Care® and director of the V-BID Center at the University of Michigan, discusses how the Braidwood ruling can affect the efficacy of preventive care.

The DRCR Retina Network is undertaking research to develop preventive strategies for diabetic eye disease, explained Jennifer K. Sun, MD, MPH, associate professor of ophthalmology and chief of the Center for Clinical Eye Research and Trials, Harvard Medical School; and chair, DRCR Retina Network.

It is likely that social determinants of health (SDOH) may affect the differences in outcomes from multiple sclerosis (MS) that we see among Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx populations, absent more data on their genetics and ancestry, noted Mitzi Joi Williams, MD, FAAN.

Challenges around data are mostly around data itself, particularly if it is not timely, says Lee A. Norman, MD, MHS, MBA, the senior medical director for Optum Care Kansas City.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Bruce W. Sherman, MD, of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, about a recent study on wage-level disparities affecting the utilization of mental health resources, for which he was lead investigator; the study article appears in the April issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®.

Rebates remain very attractive for many employers, but they should push back on the reliance on rebates that may be preventing biosimilars from being added to formularies, said Margaret Rehayem, vice president, National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions.