Interviews

Enrique Ocio, MD, PhD, hematology department head, Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Santander, Spain, discusses phase 1b trial results for subcutaneous (sub-Q) vs intravenous isatuximab, both formulations administered in combination with pomalidomide and dexamethasone for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM).

Michael Ciarametaro, MBA, vice president of research at the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC), explains the ways that the gene therapy market is working to address concerns regarding contractual riders for value-based contracts for expensive therapies.

Randall A. Oyer, MD, medical director, oncology, and medical director, Cancer Risk Evaluation Program, Lancaster General Health, and clinical professor of cancer biology at Penn Medicine, discusses the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology/Association of Community Cancer Centers recommendations for improving diversity in clinical trials.

Kashyap Patel, MD, CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates, current president of the Community Oncology Alliance, and associate editor of Evidence-Based Oncology™, talks with us ahead of the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

Susan Redline, MD, MPH, professor of sleep medicine and epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, gives a preview of her SLEEP 2022 keynote and discusses her 30 years of sleep epidemiology advocacy.

Will Nutland, DrPH, is cofounder of PrEPster, honorary assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and an activist.

Allogeneic, or off-the-shelf, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies will bring new logistical challenges, said Aklilu Tedla, vice president, insights and engagement, regulatory science, cell and gene, Cardinal Health.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Hui Zheng, PhD, discusses his recent research on the association between childhood income inequality and declining adult health.

Leaders from Banner|Aetna discuss the joint venture that has grown to 375,000 members since it launched in 2017 to offer health plans to employers in Arizona.

Leaders from Banner|Aetna discuss the joint venture that has grown to 375,000 members since it launched in 2017 to offer health plans to employers in Arizona.

Leaders from Banner|Aetna discuss the joint venture that has grown to 375,000 members since it launched in 2017 to offer health plans to employers in Arizona.

The organizations that can take on 2-sided risk are usually bigger and that’s not always better for health care, said Jayson Slotnik, partner, Health Policy Strategies, Inc.

Alignment of incentives in the United States do not always support the use of biosimilars or other lower-cost alternatives, said Sonia T. Oskouei, PharmD, BCMAS, DPLA, vice president of biosimilars at Cardinal Health.

Jessica Brooks, MPM, president and chief executive officer, Pittsburgh Business Group on Health, spoke on the core themes of her keynote address related to diversity, equity, and inclusion at the 2022 Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health annual conference.

Many payers are not familiar with digital therapeutics, indicating the need for better education among payers, said Jayne Hornung, chief clinical officer, pharmacy, MMIT.

Sharon Phares, PhD, MPH, chief scientific officer of the National Pharmaceutical Council, describes the lasting equity concerns regarding the use of health technology assessments (HTAs) for women.

Gary Owens, MD, president of Gary Owens Associates, describes mechanisms, trials of treatments in the works for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

Steven Yeh, MD, professor of ophthalmology at the Truhlsen Eye Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, talks about what he sees in the future of suprachoroidal administration and other unmet needs in ophthalmology.

Miruna Sasu, PhD, MBA, president and CEO of COTA Healthcare, discusses 3 ways in which the FDA can provide, and has provided, assistance on the capture of real-word data (RWD) in electronic medical records.

The logistics for storing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies remain a challenge, said Joel Wayment, vice president of operations for 3PL Services, Cardinal Health.

At Digestive Disease Week 2022, John M. DeWitt, MD, professor of medicine, Indiana University Health, explains his findings on the diagnosis and management of achalasia in 2022 and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected these trends.

At Digestive Disease Week 2022, Sravanthi Parasa, MD, gastroenterologist at Swedish Gastroenterology, talks about how artificial intelligence (AI) is used in gastroenterology and what challenges it may pose for clinicians.

Investigational microbiota-based live therapeutic RBX2660 was found to be safe and effective at reducing Clostridioides difficile (C difficile) recurrence, said Paul Feuerstadt, MD, assistant clinical professor at Yale University School of Medicine, gastroenterologist at PACT Gastroenterology Center, at Digestive Disease Week 2022.

Outcomes were worse for patients hospitalized once for Clostridioides difficile infection compared with alternative reasons for hospitalization, but the risk of adverse outcomes did not seem to increase with recurrent admissions for C difficile, explained Preethi Venkat, MD, second-year internal medicine resident at University of California, San Diego, at Digestive Disease Week 2022.

Roxana Siles, MD, FAAAAI, staff in the Department of Allergy and Immunology at Cleveland Clinic and codirector of the Asthma Center at Cleveland Clinic, discusses the important need for chronic cough therapies and what issues with current treatments should be addressed by next-generation medications.

Because symptoms are similar to those of gastroesophageal reflux disease, achalasia is often misdiagnosed, explained Eric Low, MD, MPH, gastroenterology fellow at University of California, San Diego at Digestive Disease Week 2022.

The accumulation of screening and treatment disparities are contributing to colorectal cancer incidence and mortality disparities, said Folasade (Fola) May, MD, PhD, gastroenterologist, health services researcher at University of California, Los Angeles, at Digestive Disease Week 2022.

The value of multicancer early detection tests is based not only on cost, but cost in relation to the outcomes, said Patricia Deverka, MD, MS, senior researcher, deputy director at the Center for Translational and Policy Research and Precision Medicine, University of California San Francisco.