Clinical

Although minimal residual disease (MRD) is increasingly being used to predict treatment outcomes and as a surrogate marker of progression-free survival, there remains controversy over whether it is ready to be used in treatment decision making.

A recent survey of patients with bipolar I disorder showed the extent to which they are so bothered by side effects to antipsychotic (AP) medications that they will stop taking them, or will trade more symptoms for fewer side effects.

Pimavanserin may be an effective treatment option for patients with Parkinson disease who develop Parkinson disease psychosis, according to a recent study published by Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment.

Myelofibrosis has a very heterogeneous disease presentation, which means patients with it can present to the clinic with a number of different symptoms, explained Naveen Pemmaraju, MD, associate professor in the Department of Leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

While current guidelines recommend that only women with breast cancer who have a family history or who meet clinical criteria undergo genetic testing, a new cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that genetic testing should be expanded to all women with breast cancer.

Ozanimod, under development to treat relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), has greater efficacy on the annualized relapse rate (ARR) than most other first-line disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), according to 2 abstracts presented at ECTRIMS 2019, the 35th Annual Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis.

The development and access to orphan indications rely on reimbursement models that require regulatory action toward out-of-pocket costs for patients, said Scott Gottlieb, MD, former FDA commissioner (2017-2019).

Patients with psoriasis who were treated with biologics were less likely to develop psychiatric illnesses compared with patients not treated with biologics; however, the researchers did note treatment selection may have influenced the findings.

Measurement of drug levels early in treatment with ustekinumab for patients with psoriasis may be able to successfully predict patient response and, therefore, direct a treatment strategy.

Migraines and cluster headaches can have devastating consequences on people’s lives, and there is a need to educate the public about the impact these disorders can have, said Abraham Nagy, MD, chair of neurology at University of Las Vegas and director of Nevada Headache Institute.

Providing access to complex therapies through the Medicare market can benefit patients who are disproportionately ignored by socioeconomic status, said Scott Gottlieb, MD, former FDA commissioner (2017-2019).

Patients with polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia may be able to reduce their symptoms through a low-cost drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a new study in British Journal of Haematology.

Oncologists may be able to use circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to guide treatment decisions and predict which patients will have disease recurrence, according to 2 studies in JAMA Oncology.

To make headroom for expensive, potentially curative therapies in the pipeline, the healthcare needs to remove ineffective care from the system, said Susan Dentzer, visiting fellow at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy.

As orphan drugs account for an increasing share of drugs approved, they are driving up the cost of drug launches and drug prices. In a new paper, America's Health Insurance Plans analyzes these rising costs and the use of orphan drugs and asserts that policy makers need to revisit the Orphan Drug Act.