Episode 7 - Treatment Coverage in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

During this segment, the panelists explore issues faced by managed care during treatment coverage decisions in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Michael Kolodziej, MD, discusses the high costs of newly developed agents, their role in drug-sequencing plans, and the Affordable Care Act’s impact on treatment coverage in CRPC.

Jeffrey D. Dunn, PharmD, MBA, explains the need for improvements in the research that can help provide better data about a drug’s effectiveness, and can help professionals determine a product’s cost and availability for health coverage.

David Quinn, MD, agrees with Dr Dunn and suggests that a patient’s improvements in health and overall outcomes must be additive to the cost of therapy. Dr Quinn further explains that by studying the value of agents used to treat CRPC, a paradigm shift may provide results about the benefits of options given to treat patients over a sequence of time.