In the October 28 webcast session of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) 10th Annual Summit, panelists agreed with John Doyle, MPH, DrPH, Vice President, Global Healthcare Innovation Lead at Pfizer, who said that issues surrounding affordability and healthcare inequities have been amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we come out the other end of this cloud of confusion, the patients that could benefit the most from innovation in [clinical trials] are those who likely have the lowest level of trust and are underrepresented in the system,” said Mitch Higashi, PhD, Vice President of Health Economics & Outcomes Research at Bristol Myers Squibb.
Michael Kolodziej, MD, Senior Advisor at ADVI Health, who moderated the session, brought the conversation around to at-home chemotherapy.
Jill DeSimone, BPharm, Senior Vice President in the United States and Latin America of Oncology at Merck Oncology, said that at-home chemotherapy is not a simple answer, as it would require several various considerations, including who the patient is, what the home environment is like, and how to effectively monitor adverse effects.
Marcus Neubauer, MD, Chief Medical Officer at The US Oncology Network agreed, stating that patients don’t want this option. He went on to say that, although less patients were visiting their healthcare providers at the height of the pandemic, infusion volumes were barely dented.
Lauren Barnes, MHS, Senior Vice President of Market Access at Blueprint Medicines, asserted that this is an issue that can be seen across medical fields, noting that there have been similar arguments made regarding dialysis treatments.
Additional topics of discussion in this session included the benefits of real-world evidence, accruing patients for clinical trials, immuno-oncology therapy, outcome-based contracts, and health inequities in disparate populations.
If you haven’t registered for the AVBCC 10th Annual Summit, now is the time! You don’t want to miss out on this timely and insightful session, or the 40-plus other webcasts featuring top experts from every area in the cancer care continuum.
