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This week Bristol-Myers Squibb's phase 3 nivolumab study ended early because renal cell carcinoma patients were experiencing significantly better overall survival, the American Society of Clinical Oncology called for the inclusion of more geriatric patients in trials, and Medicaid expansion states are finding more people enrolling than they planned.

Consolidation among the biggest health insurers in the US continues as Anthem announces it will purchase Cigna for $54 billion after a month of rocky negotiations.

The Sanofi and Regeneron therapy, to be marketed as Praluent, was among the most-anticipated FDA approvals of the year. Late-day reports put pricing at $40 a day wholesale, well above estimates, although insurers will seek discounts.

The FDA approved Daklinza (daclatasvir) for use with sofosbuvir to treat hepatitis C virus genotype 3 infections.

The proposal marks the latest attempt to give consumers more information about the foods they consume.

End-stage cancer patients who were in general the healthiest and most active displayed worse quality of life signs in their last week of life when they were given palliative chemotherapy and there were no benefits to overall survival.

A study published in Nature Medicine has identified a gene signature that can predict cancer patient outcomes across a wide spectrum of malignancies.

Recent surveys have found that public sentiment on drug costs runs high and crosses the political divide. A move this week by the nation's leading oncologists to rein in therapy pricing may be a sign that this is the breakthrough issue of the presidential campaign.

The study has policy implications since Americans 65 and older are eligible for Medicare, and trustees reported this week that the hospital fund will only be solvent until 2030.

Some safety-net hospitals are seeing the best bottom lines in years. But for those in states that refused to expand Medicaid, little has changed.

Health plans are top targets for cyber attacks. Fortunately, more are taking steps to prevent a data breach.

A study in JAMA Oncology has found that chemotherapy for patients with end-stage cancer was associated with worse quality of life near death while they still retained their ability to perform many life functions.

While the study found differences in hazard ratio for age-specific survival, improved care and better treatment options might have resulted in increased survival, the authors deduce.

Despite concerns that an increasing number of insured individuals could mean longer wait times for doctors' appointments, a new study found that the availability for primary care physicians improved for individuals obtaining Medicaid improved in Michigan after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

ASCO's Breast Cancer Guideline Advisory Group and Clinical Practice Guideline Committee have published an updated guideline in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on using breast cancer biomarkers to guide clinical decisions when treating advanced metastatic breast cancer.

The findings have policy importance in the developing world, where low birth weight is often followed by rapid transition to Western lifestyles.

By 2050 more than 28 million additional baby boomers will develop Alzheimer's disease and the cost of caring for them will account for nearly one-fourth of Medicare spending by 2040, according to research presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.

Since the adoption of the Affordable Care Act, CMS has removed 28,000 questionable providers from Medicare. But the Government Accountability Office found more needs to be done to verify addresses and weed out those who have lost their licenses.

Zarxio (filgrastim-sndz), manufactured by Sandoz as a biosimilar to Amgen's Neupogen, has finally received marketing approval from a federal appeals court.

More than half of patients in numerous disease states are nonadherent to their medications and 30% of patients do not fill their prescriptions.

Merck (MSD) has announced that its PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was approved by the European Commission for the treatment of advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma in adults.

A new program from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review will produce public reports that include a full analysis of the comparative effectiveness, the cost-effectiveness, and the potential budget impact of new drugs.

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, examined antibiotic prescribing pratices within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The results will not wipe out a recent $2.37 billion settlement reached in about 9000 bladder cancer claims involving the drug.

The new law was part of a 21-bill package to fight one of the nation's highest rates of opioid and heroin abuse.

Researchers at UCLA have discovered that inhibiting SGLT2 in pancreatic and prostate adenocarcinomas can reduce cancer cell survival.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has issued a position statement in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, calling for federal agencies and the cancer research community to broaden clinical trials to include older adults.

Instead of making patients suffering from life-limiting illnesses choose between hospice care and curative care, CMS will test coverage that allows individuals to receive palliative and curative treatment concurrently.

In the first clinical study to demonstrate the importance of precision medicine in lymphomas, researchers determined that patients with a specific molecular subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma responded better to ibrutinib than patients with a different molecular subtype.

The Exchange Pulse Report published by Express Scripts predicts that compared with 2014, the year 2015 will see a greater number of younger enrollees signing up on healthcare exchanges, which could potentially drive down drug costs for specialty medications.