Articles

A Medically Integrated Pharmacy Care (MIPC) model represents the true integration of pharmaceutical and medical oncology care. At the virtual 2020 Community Oncology Alliance (COA) Community Oncology Conference, Jim Schwartz, RPh, Executive Director, Pharmacy Operations, Texas Oncology, Dallas, discussed this model, which he said provides clarity of focus around complex disease states.

A survey of oncology practices participating in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Oncology Care Model (OCM) revealed that a “surprising” number of practices are willing to enter into a 2-sided risk arrangement, according to Bo Gamble, Director, Strategic Practice Initiatives, Community Oncology Alliance (COA). Mr Gamble, who discussed these survey results at the virtual 2020 COA Community Oncology Conference, said these results suggest that practices are becoming more comfortable with the OCM, and more confident in their own ability to operate within a value-based care model.

This section provides a brief overview of new cancer drugs or new indications approved by the FDA between June 30, 2020, and July 24, 2020.

Breast cancer doctors got it right a long time ago when they began characterizing malignancies with classifications such as hormone-receptor and HER2 status, according to Alexander Spira, MD, PhD, FACP, Medical Oncologist, Virginia Cancer Specialists, Fairfax.

Capmatinib (Tabrecta), an oral kinase inhibitor, has shown clinical activity in patients with high-level MET-amplified advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to new data presented at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

As the complexity of cancer care continues to evolve, adhering to evidence-based treatment guidelines is a growing challenge for oncologists. The use of clinical decision support tools within the electronic health record (EHR) system can boost provider compliance and drive quality improvement, according to data presented at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

A novel intratumoral chemotherapy agent delivered by direct injection permits the dispersion of cytotoxic drugs into cancer cells to eradicate tumors.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with chemotherapy demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared with chemotherapy alone as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) whose tumors express PD-L1.

The small molecule inhibitor of tyrosine kinase WEE1 adavosertib demonstrated promising clinical activity in a single-arm, phase 2 study of patients with unselected uterine serous cancer (USC), with an objective response rate of 29.4%, said Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH, Director of Clinical Research, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

Adjuvant therapy with atezolizumab (Tecentriq) did not meet the primary end point of disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with muscle-invasive urothelial cancer (MIUC) at high risk for recurrence versus observation alone in the primary analysis of the IMvigor010 trial.