Articles
The inaugural annual conference of the Global Biomarkers Consortium brought together an international panel of oncology experts to explore the rapidly evolving field of biomarker research. Cochairs of the event were Hope S. Rugo, MD, director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education at the University of California San Francisco, and Rüdiger Hehlmann, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Heidelberg. Michael Kattan, PhD, Vincent Miller, MD, Edith Perez, MD, and Charles Bennett, MD, PhD, served as session chairs.
The need to optimize the treatment of patients with cancer while using healthcare resources wisely—in other words, providing “value-based cancer care”—is not a topic of debate, but how to achieve this pressing goal is far from clear. In a panel discussion during the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care’s Second Annual Conference, held in Houston, Texas, strategists from the payer side of the issue discussed the current trends and the challenges they are facing.
At the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) second annual meeting, Winston Wong, PharmD, expressed concerns that the site of delivery of cancer care affects efforts to rein in costs and provide value in cancer care. Wong expanded on this issue in the following interview.
Why do you believe that the site of delivery of cancer care can impact the attempt to rein in costs of cancer care and provide value?
Oncology pharmacists should understand the characteristics of 7 emerging drugs and biologics. At the 2012 Pharmacy Program held during the 17th Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) in Hollywood, Florida, Van Anh Trinh, PharmD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and Robert Ignoffo, PharmD, of the University of California San Francisco and the Touro University College of Pharmacy in Vallejo, described the appropriate use of axitinib, crizotinib, ipilimumab, and vemurafenib, and previewed carfilzomib, regorafenib, and vosaroxin.
The leading cause of cancer death among men and women is lung cancer. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), more people die of lung cancer than of breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined. Because this deadly disease affects so many Americans, lets delve into these lung cancer–related statistics.
Lung cancer (both small cell and non–small cell) is the second most common cancer in both men (after prostate cancer) and women (after breast cancer).
Approximately 14% of all new cancers are lung cancers.
The link between cancer and thrombosis has been known for many years. Recently this connection has come to the forefront with increased recognition by healthcare providers and mandates by governing bodies. The results of a thromboembolic event can be catastrophic in a patient with cancer.
With advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the estimated 5-year survival rate for cancer patients has significantly improved to approximately 67%.1 The most common malignancies in men and women in the United States—breast and prostate cancers—have 2 of the highest 5-year survival rates reported, at 90% and 99%, respectively.1 As oncology patients are living longer, bone health has become a pertinent issue in the treatment of both metastatic and nonmetastatic oncology patients.2
Flexible sigmoidoscopy, which has fewer side effects, requires less bowel preparation, and presents a lower risk of bowel perforation than colonoscopy, is effective in decreasing the rates of new colorectal cancer cases and deaths, according to results from a study that spanned almost 20 years. The study is published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.