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Patients with progressive, symptomatic, or recurrent desmoid tumors who received sorafenib have significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) rates at 1 and 2 years compared with patients who received placebo, according to the results of a recent phase 3 trial.

Researchers hypothesized that because coffee and caffeine showed a beneficial effect on daytime tiredness in Parkinson disease, a similar positive effect might be assumed in multiple sclerosis (MS). Investigators compiled a systematic review focused on summarizing the possible effects of coffee and caffeine in MS.

Rather than offer support, physicians often reinforced the women's feeling of not being in control of their decisions, according to a study looking at why obese women are less likely to start or keep breastfeeding.

Maintenance therapy with lenalidomide remains a standard of care for patients with multiple myeloma. However, optimizing maintenance therapy in this setting is required as a result of lenalidomide’s lack of overall survival benefit and improvement in outcomes for patients with high-risk cytogenic abnormalities, according to a recent study.

Five highlights from our coverage of the 37th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.

The analysis discusses the strength of evidence that SGLT2 inhibitors have a class effect in preventing heart failure for patients with diabetes.

Patients with neutropenia who have multidrug-resistant organisms have better rates of overall survival when receiving granulocyte transfusions within 7 days of neutropenic sepsis.

This week, the top managed care news included the FDA commissioner discussing boosting drug competition; BMS offering details on its acquisition of Celgene; and cancer mortality rates declining for the 25th consecutive year.

Mutual of Omaha has agreed to no longer deny life insurance and long-term insurance to people using Truvada for HIV prevention following allegations of discrimination in 2 separate settlements.

Democratic presidential hopefuls for 2020 are targeting prescription drug prices; a US judge will hear arguments over California's attempt to block new Trump administration rules that would allow more categories of employers, including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women as required under the Affordable Care Act; Senate Democrats and Republicans are fighting over a proposed rule that would change how individuals are billed for abortion coverage, with both sides sending 2 letters to HHS this week.

Coverage of our peer-reviewed research and news reporting in the healthcare and mainstream press.

One-time curative treatments provide a huge challenge to health systems that were not created with them in mind. Despite having no approved treatments, bluebird bio has proactively released a model to pay for these one-time cures in a way that provides value to patients and the health system.

An analysis of 6 studies found an increased risk of all-cause dementia among patients with any headache. However, no association was found between headache and Alzheimer disease.

Rules around Medicaid work requirements can’t be fixed in such a way that would allow states to implement them without the negative effects of people losing health coverage, according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Since the start of January, hospitals are required by CMS to post their charges for services in a machine-readable format, but if they don’t, there are no penalties for noncompliance.

Less than two-thirds of women aged 30 to 65 years were up to date with cervical cancer screenings in 2016. The percentage was even lower for women aged 21 to 29, with just over half up to date on screenings.

While 1 in 5 Americans say they have a food allergy, 1 in 10 actually do; a patient with a rare form of brain cancer is the first patient to be treated under the Right to Try Law; and federal data show significant variation in fertility rates around the country.

During the 37th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, California, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, offered details on the addition of a new office of drug development science that he said will bring more structure to the drug review process.

A new study comparing 2 risk stratification models found that the Clinical Index of Stable Febrile Neutropenia (CISNE) Model is useful for identifying low-risk patients with febrile neutropenia, but the combination of the CISNE Model with the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer Risk Index Score may help emergency physicians cope with febrile neutropenia more confidently.

A phase 2 trial demonstrated that the regimen of rituximab, bortezomib, bendamustine, and dexamethasone is a viable treatment option for older patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), and highlighted the usefulness of using minimal residual disease (MRD) to guide early and late clinical decisions.

When to begin maintenance therapy for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with either a single drug, or a combination of long-acting bronchodilators, is not always clear. A new study looking at whether baseline symptomatic status influences response to treatment suggests that patients with more severe dyspnea benefit more from a combination of tiotropium/olodaterol than tiotropium alone.

For the 25th consecutive year, the cancer mortality rate in the United States has declined, according to The American Cancer Society’s annual report on cancer rates and trends. The overall 27% drop in mortality rate translates into 2.6 million fewer deaths from cancer between the years 1991 and 2016.

New York City is expanding health coverage to 600,000 uninsured residents; a transparency rule requiring hospitals to post prices online is confusing patients; and Eli Lilly has purchased Loxo Oncology in what some are calling a massive bet on cancer genetic.

In the past year, there have been tremendous advancements in precision medicine, and the big upfront investments are starting to come to fruition, according to panelists at the 37th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, held January 7-10 in San Francisco, California.

A recent report by The Commonwealth Fund found no consistent set of subgroups for high-need, high-cost patients managed by accountable care organizations (ACOs), but it did suggest methods by which segmenting the sickest and most costly patients could help drive improved care outcomes.

While rising costs of brand-name drugs are largely a result of existing drug price inflation, rising costs of specialty drugs and generics are mostly driven by new product entry.

The chief executive officer and president of CVS Health said the integration of CVS and Aetna is well underway—even while it complies with a US district court that is reviewing the deal—more than a month after the acquisition closed.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is one of the world’s top drivers of chronic disease burdens, the chief executive officer of ResMed told the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, as he explained the company’s strategy to help meet unmet needs using digital connectivity and data analytics.

Using state-level surveillance data of reported HIV and syphilis cases among men who have sex with men (MSM), researchers found a widely disparate impact of HIV and syphilis among black and Hispanic MSM compared with white MSM.

José Baselga, MD, who resigned his position as the chief medical officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center after failing to disclose millions of dollars in payments from drug companies, is joining AstraZeneca as its head of research and development in oncology; the end of the Affordable Care Act tax penalty on those without health insurance could roll back recent coverage gains for Hispanics, young people, the healthy, and the poor; rural hospitals are forming partnerships with home health agencies in order to survive.