Value Peer-spectives

A simplified administration schedule of only 1 dose, instead of the current standard of 3 doses, of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine appears to be all women need to be protected from cervical cancer, according to new data from a study funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and recently published (Safaeian M, et al. Cancer Prev Res [Phila]. 2013;6:1242-1250).
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Researchers led by Nobuhide Ueki, PhD, Assistant Research Profes­sor, Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, Stony Brook University, have found a new way to get targeted cancer drugs to selectively affect only the cancer cells of a patient and not the healthy cells that are also normally affected by the drug (and cause its toxicity), thereby removing many of the potential side effects of the drugs, which would of course greatly enhance the value of cancer drugs.
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A team of researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, led by Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD, Professor at Sanford-Burnham’s National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Center and Director of the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program, discovered that they can block the rapid growth of cancerous brain cells by using small-molecule inhibitors.
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Researchers have identified new molecular markers—microribonucleic acids (RNAs)—that, combined with their target genes, are believed to be able to identify which breast cancer will metastasize to the brain.
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The cost of cancer care has become a frequent topic of conversation in oncology conferences and publications, as well as among other stakeholders, including patients and payers. In a recent editorial published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, David G. Pfister, MD, Chief, Head and Neck Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, joined the discussion, acknowledging previous discussions related to the cost of cancer drugs and the notion that the status quo in drug pricing allows for arbitrary setting of a price for a drug that is not necessarily based on a demonstration of true value.
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In a recent guest blog on the Harvard Business Review website, Toby Cosgrove, MD, President and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, suggested that value-based care represents a life-saving “breakthrough,” not unlike penicillin or decoding the human genome, by focusing on lowering costs and improving quality of care and outcomes as its main goals.
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On September 10, 2013, the Institute of Medicine (IOM), part of the National Academy of Sciences, published a 315-page report, titled “Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis”.
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The following quotes were assembled from interviews and news coverage by FierceHealthFinance, revealing healthcare decision makers’ value-based perspectives on some of the main problems currently facing providers and the US healthcare system.
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The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill for fiscal year 2014 that provides $30.9 billion to the National Institutes of Health, of which one sixth—$5.1 billion—is designated for the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
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A group of scientists led by Tak Mak, MD, Director of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and Dennis Slamon, MD, PhD, Director of Clinical/Translational Research, University of California, Los Angeles, and supported by funding from donor grants only, has filed a New Drug Application with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a drug developed based on the target enzyme PLK4, which plays a crucial role in cancer-cell division.
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