ASCO 2015 Highlights

Tampa, FL—Genetic testing and targeted medicines, the key players in personalized medicine, are seen as the waves of the future for managing patients with cancer, but getting there remains a challenge when it comes to insurance coverage for these expensive tests and therapies.

Charles Kennedy, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Aetna’s Accountable Care Solutions, is responsible for leading Aetna’s accountable care partnerships with healthcare providers. Dr Kennedy also serves as the health insurance industry representative on the Health IT Policy Committee, a federal advisory committee that makes recommendations to the National Coordinator for Health IT on a policy framework for the development and adoption of a nationwide health information infrastructure.

San Diego, CA—Tobacco researchers and regulators lauded progress in tobacco control, but they emphasized that the health burden of tobacco use continues, reflecting the expanding list of diseases caused or exacerbated by tobacco.

Chicago, IL—A head-to-head comparison of 2 monoclonal antibodies for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) has shown no difference in their benefit when paired with chemotherapy in the first-line setting.

Chicago, IL—AZD9291, a novel mutation-selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), may become a treatment option for patients with advanced, EGFR-mutated non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has progressed with standard EGFR inhibitors, according to results of a phase 1 study presented at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting and highlighted at a press briefing.

Chicago, IL—Obesity increased the risk for breast cancer–associated death in premenopausal patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer, had little effect in postmenopausal women with ER-positive disease, and had no effect in patients with ER-negative disease, according to results of a large study of 80,000 women with early breast cancer that were reported at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.

Chicago, IL—The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends annual low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) lung cancer screening for patients at high risk. What would it mean in terms of cost to society if those recommendations were implemented in the Medicare population?

Chicago, IL—The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced the concept of a breakthrough therapy designation in 2012 to help expedite patient access to new therapies for the treatment of serious or life-threatening diseases.

Chicago, IL—Delaying androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for at least 2 years did not lead to worse overall survival or prostate cancer–specific survival compared with the initiation of ADT within 3 months of rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in men with PSA-only relapse (ie, biochemical relapse) after the primary treatment of prostate cancer with surgery or radiation, according to the results of a large population-based study presented at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting and highlighted at a press briefing.