Breast Cancer

San Antonio, TX—Assessing all eligible patients with breast cancer for recurrence risk with the 21-gene Oncotype DX assay at diagnosis could save $330.8 million annually by avoiding ineffective chemotherapy, according to data presented at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Grapevine, TX—A New Jersey research team is making the case for relying less on the Oncotype DX test for breast-cancer prognosis and instead focusing on conventional pathological analyses.

San Antonio, TX—Women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer are unlikely to benefit from dosedense chemotherapy, but many are receiving this type of treatment, which involves the use of colonystimulating factors (CSFs), that is, growth factors. Limiting the use of these therapies in a population that is unlikely to benefit from it, would save nearly $40 million annually, suggests a study presented at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

San Antonio, TX—In a randomized phase 2 study of patients with metastatic breast cancer, peripheral neuropathy was less likely to occur in patients receiving eribulin mesylate than with ixabepilone.

San Antonio, TX—When copayments were eliminated, annual screening mammography rates among insured rural women improved significantly, researchers from Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center reported at the 2011 CTRC AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

San Antonio, TX—One of the few clinical science symposia at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium focused not on clinical issues but on delineating the economic issues facing oncologists.

Philadelphia, PA—The new biologic therapy eribulin (Halaven) was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Stephen C. Malamud, MD, Attending Physician, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York City, discussed the benefits and risks associated with this new treatment option at a special session during the meeting.