Clinical

Lung cancer screening rates in the United States remained low and unchanged in 2015 despite recommendations that high-risk current and former smokers be screened.

The FDA has been willing to explore the utilization of surrogate endpoints like tumor response in clinical trials, but it is unclear whether these endpoints correlate with overall survival, said David Fabrizio of Foundation Medicine, Inc. However, he emphasized that overall survival does not necessarily benefit the patient if the additional days gained are not quality days.

Amgen's Repatha was shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, such as cardiovascular death and myocardial infarction, in phase 3 of the FOURIER study. Full results will be presented in March 2017 at the American College of Cardiology 66th Scientific Sessions.

A review of 15 disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for the treatment of relapsing-remitting and primary-progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) has found that prices for most of these drugs are not well-aligned with added value for patients.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has received green light from the European Commission for the first-line treatment of a select population of adult patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

The criteria to enroll cancer patients in a clinical trial of CAR-T cells vary according to their disease, past therapy, and how far along they are in different treatments, said David L. Porter, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

With considerable evidence that interventions aimed at social determinants of health can positively influence health outcomes and costs, the discourse is changing among providers and policy influencers to look beyond disease and clinical conditions.

A retrospective analysis of evidence from prescription data gathered in Belgium and Italy has found that uncontrolled diabetes might be an early sign of pancreatic cancer.

A review of 2013 cancer statistics in the United States by the CDC showed that 67% of people survived at least 5 years after their cancer diagnosis.

Patients who have had at least 1 prior therapy or carry a 17p deletion or TP53 mutation are now eligible to be treated with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in the United Kingdom.

“Off-the-shelf” chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells, also known as universal donor cells, were used in 2 young infants with relapsed, refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia resulted in molecular remission in 28 days in both infants.

Researchers from the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute and Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Texas Southwestern may have found the ultimate drivers of glioblastoma cell proliferation.

At the 58th annual meeting of the 58th American Society of Hematology, representatives from 2 national clinical trials, Beat AML and NCI-MATCH, detailed how they were incorporating genomic profiling to assign patients to different treatment arms.

An analysis of cancer death records across the country, by researchers at the University of Washington, has identified clusters of counties that had a particularly high rate of mortality depending on the cancer type.

A system-wide immune response, not just a local response limited to the tumor, is what determines successful remission following cancer immunotherapy.

While one study identified novel mutations and gene amplifications, the other found a wider gap in racial disparity with respect to mortality rates.

Disease status, MUD/MRD donor, myeloablative conditioning regimen, GVHD prophylaxis other than tacrolimus/sirolimus, and Medicare and/or Medicaid as payer are significant predictors for cost of care in patient with acute leukemia who undergo allogenic hematopoietic cell transplant (AHCT).

Patients diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who relapsed following first-line treatment had higher rates of healthcare utilization and greater costs than the patients who had not relapsed.

Initiated by the American Board of Internal Medicine, Choosing Wisely® is a campaign that has seen participation by a number of different national medical organizations to promote conversations between clinicians and patients to ensure adequate, evidence-based care.

What we're reading, January 23, 2017: it is currently unclear what the impact President Donald Trump's executive order will have on the Affordable Care Act; New York requires that insurers cover birth control and abortions; and hospitals reexamine guidelines for opioid prescribing.

Outgoing FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, has announced that Richard Pazdur, MD, who was serving as the interim director, will now be heading the Oncology Center of Excellence.

At the 2016 annual meeting, the American Society of Hematology introduced the “Choosing Wisely Champions” to recognize the efforts of practitioners who are working to eliminate costly and potentially harmful overuse of tests and procedures.

What we're reading, January 20, 2017: Minnesota will help residents with steep insurance premium hikes; the director of the National Institutes of Health appointed by President Barack Obama will stay on under the new administration; Anthem will end pre-authorization for opioid use disorder treatments.

A joint session hosted by the American Society of Hematology and the European Hematology Association provided an update on the clinical progress with pluripotent stem cells.

A collaborative study has concluded that genomic assays can be successfully used to identify diagnostic, prognostic, and treatment-relevant alterations and can help guide precision treatment decisions for pediatric brain tumors.

The FDA is giving serious consideration to the economics of the drug or device development process, and to that effect, has released a draft guidance for manufacturers on how and what to communicate with payers and formulary committees.

The improved expansion of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells indicates a deeper clinical response.

A new report released by the American Cancer Society indicates that while the cancer-related death rate was higher among blacks than in whites in 2014, the racial gap could reduce as minority patients increasingly gain access to insurance and subsequent healthcare.

The abortion rate in the United States hit a historic low in 2014 with 2 likely contributing factors: improved access to contraceptives and increased restrictions to abortion services.