ASCO 2015 Highlights

The 340B Drug Pricing Program was a result of Public Law 102-585, the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, which was codified as Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act.

Los Angeles, CA—Patient comfort and emotional support are part of the quality components in value-based cancer care.

The cancer drug pipeline continues to boast many new therapies, reinforcing the recent trends of new and improved monoclonal antibodies and other classes of targeted therapies for different types of tumors.

According to the 2013 Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer published in 2014 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), cancer death rates have declined by 21% among men and by 12% among women since the 1990s, and more than 13 million cancer survivors are alive in the United States today.

Nonadherence to medication has been associated with financial burden; however, little is known about the association between the discussion of cancer treatments between patients and oncologists regarding out-of-pocket cost and medication adherence.

Cutaneous melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer that develops in the melanocytes of the skin, is becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States.

Approximately 15% to 20% of patients with breast cancer have HER2-positive disease. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released new clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of women with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, focusing on systemic therapies.

Orlando, FL—Delaying a prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-triggered prostate biopsy to allow for additional PSA assessments might have avoided more than 70% of subsequent biopsies, according to a study of negative biopsies for >28,000 men reported at the 2014 American Urological Association annual meeting.

Tampa, FL—Intravenous (IV) cancer therapies are more costly, by approximately 10%, when patients receive them in a hospital outpatient setting rather than in a community-based physician office, according to a study presented at the 2014 Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy meeting.

Tampa, FL—Combining dabrafenib (Tafinlar) with trametinib (Mekinist) as upfront treatment for patients diagnosed with BRAF V600 mutation–positive metastatic melanoma should lead to improved survival, but it increases the direct costs of treatment compared with other first-line therapies.