June 2010 Vol 3, No 4

Steeplechase Cancer Center at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, New Jersey, was established in 2007 in response to community needs for easily accessible high-quality cancer care. The center is named for the steeplechase horse race, held each October in the neighboring community of Far Hills, New Jersey. Proceeds from the race are donated to the center and go to support expanded facilities and services.

NEW ORLEANS—With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, many changes are in store that will affect the field of oncology. Joseph S. Bailes, MD, chairman of the Government Relations Council and past-president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, described what oncology pharmacists can expect in his keynote address.

NEW ORLEANS—A retrospective analysis of healthcare resource utilization for patients with ovarian cancer receiving intraperitoneal (IP) cisplatin chemotherapy identified a trend toward more hospital readmissions for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) among patients receiving ondansetron prophylaxis, as compared with palo nosetron.

The study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston was presented by Ann McDonnell, PharmD, BCOP.

NEW ORLEANS—Implementation of an explicit order form for darbepoetin alfa significantly improved compliance with current guidelines and led to large cost savings, California pharmacists report.

NEW ORLEANS—Oncology pharmacists can save their institutions thousands of dollars annually by reducing chemotherapy waste, according to the experience of the Veterans Affairs’ North Texas Health Care System in Dallas. Sarah Gressett Ussery, PharmD, described her institution’s chemotherapy monitoring and management.

NEW ORLEANS—The use of standardized pediatric chemotherapy forms can improve safety by creating a consistent and streamlined method of ordering Children’s Oncology Group (COG) trial protocols and regimens, according to investigators from Memorial Regional Hospital and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Florida.

SAN ANTONIO—Interim analysis of a large trial of women treated with trastuzumab for human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2)+ breast cancer before or after surgery indicates that concurrent use with a taxane may improve overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) compared with sequential administration. Previous trials have shown a large benefit of trastuzumab but left open the question of the optimal timing of its use. (See, eg, the HERA trial: Piccart-Gebhart MJ. N Engl J Med. 2005;353:1659-1672.)

Three new drugs are in the pipeline to treat human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) type 2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Two appear to have the potential to provide incremental gains, and one looks like a game changer.

Characterized by thrombocytopenia and bleeding manifestations, particularly mucocutaneous, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder seen in both adults and children. Although the majority of ITP cases in children are considered acute and typically resolve within 6 months often without therapy, adult ITP is generally chronic and requires therapeutic interventions to raise platelet counts.¹