ASCO 2015 Highlights

The high cost of cancer care follows patients well into survivorship, as annual medical costs and losses in productivity exceed those of people without cancer by 50% to 100%, a study for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed (Ekwueme DU, et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2014;63:505-510).

Tampa, FL—Patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer consume 2.5 times more financial resources in their last 6 months of life, according to study results presented at the 2014 Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy meeting.

Toronto, Ontario—New laser-based imaging technology differentiates malignant melanoma from other cancerous and benign skin lesions, according to a preliminary study presented at the 2014 Canadian Dermatology Association annual conference.

Los Angeles, CA—Predictive testing offers greater value over prognostic testing to most stakeholders in cancer care, because it has a direct impact on disease treatment rather than simply predicting the course of the disease (which is, ironically, the role of prognostic testing), said S. Macey Johnson III, MBA, Vice President, Managed Care and Reimbursement, bioTheranostics, San Diego, CA, at the Fourth Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

Predictive multiplex genomic (or genetic) testing may revolutionize the treatment of cancer by identifying targetable mutations in cancer genes for their individual patients. Although genetic testing is commercially available, its use in clinical practice has not been fully investigated.

Chicago, IL—With finite healthcare resources, do physicians have a duty to serve society broadly by being responsible stewards of those shared resources, or is their obligation to the patients before them incompatible with any rationing?

We have all had that patient—the patient who is prescribed a new targeted therapy and cannot comply with it because it is just too expensive. When asked directly about the reasoning for the noncompliance, the patient suggests that taking the treatment is just too expensive and, in fact, it is cheaper to die.

Los Angeles, CA—An understanding of the genomic drivers of cancer and linking therapy to these genetic alterations provides value to all stakeholders, including oncologists, payers, researchers, and patients, said Gary Palmer, MD, JD, MBA, MPH, Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at Foundation Medicine.