Articles

Over the past 2 years, we have written about the impact of accountable care organizations, value-based purchasing, health insurance exchanges, and other programs relevant to the oncology community. These initiatives were all born out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which, on June 28, 2012, had its major day of reckoning.

Houston, TX—Patient navigation assures timely access to care for many patients, especially the medically underserved population, and it will soon become mandated for institutions accredited by the Commission on Cancer, reported Mandi Pratt-Chapman, MA, Associate Director of the Community Programs, Codirector of the Center for the Advancement of Cancer Survivorship, Navigation and Policy, George Washington Cancer Institute, Washington, DC, at the Second Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

Chicago, IL—The novel androgen receptor–signaling inhibitor enzalutamide, also known as MDV3100, significantly prolonged overall survival (OS), slowed disease progression, and improved quality-of-life (QOL) measures in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer after docetaxel failure, according to results from a large phase 3 clinical trial.

Chicago, IL—Canadian researchers reported a finding at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncol ogy meeting that runs contrary to what other researchers have observed in the majority of studies.

Chicago, IL—Several presentations featured at a news conference at the 2012 American Association for Cancer Research meeting highlighted new therapies showing promising results in the early stage of research, potentially charting new options for patients with cancer.

There is progress in at least 4 areas: pediatric brain tumors, breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and generally advanced cancers, according to 4 current studies described at the 2012 American Association for Cancer Research meeting.

A combination of ipilimumab and the granulocyte-macrophage colonystimulating factor-transduced allogeneic prostate cancer cells vaccine (GVAX) was feasible and tolerable in an openlabel phase 1 study in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (van den Eertwegh AJM, et al. Lancet Oncol. 2012;13:509-517).

When oral navitoclax (ABT-263) was evaluated in an open-label, phase 2 study in adult patients with recurrent and progressive small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) who had received at least 1 prior therapy, this Bcl-2 inhibitor showed only limited activity (Rudin CM, et al. Clin Cancer Res. 2012;18;1-7).

Baltimore, MD—Radiation technologies rank as some of the most interesting new developments. However, the advantages of these new technologies in terms of patient outcomes are sometimes elusive, and the costs of acquiring radiologic facilities—and the revenue generated by them—are increasingly coming into question.

At the 2012 Association of Community Cancer Centers meeting, several presenters offered practical tips to help in the new climate of healthcare reform.