ASCO 2015 Highlights

The Patient Protection and Af­fordable Care Act (ACA) has been a major topic in the news of late. In addition to providing better healthcare and allowing the uninsured to obtain affordable insurance coverage, the ACA has provided funding for outcomes research and healthcare innovation.

New Orleans, LA—Novel options for the treatment of patients with hematologic conditions are in the pharmaceutical pipeline, with many drugs showing promising results. Here is a look at key studies presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology annual meeting.

San Francisco, CA—Enzalutamide (Xtandi) prolonged survival and delayed radiographic progression of disease in men who had not received chemotherapy for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

New Orleans, LA—Mounting evidence from several research centers shows that autologous T-cells genetically engineered with a chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T; also called CTL019) achieve dramatic responses in patients with advanced leukemia and lymphoma who have exhausted all treatment options.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has proposed a radical new model for the reimbursement of oncology services under Medicare, with the new paradigm consisting of incentives for oncologists to emphasize quality rather than quantity of care as the greater good to the bottom line.

Vancouver, Canada—The odds of having a major complication after a radical cystectomy, which is performed as part of the treatment for bladder cancer, are higher for Hispanics than for Caucasians, researchers have found. They calculated that the rate of such complications was 23.53%  for Hispanic Americans compared with 16.09% for Caucasian Americans.

The recent Institute of Medicine report “Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis” addressed the important issues of delivering high-quality cancer care, including end-of-life care.

Atlanta, GA—Patients with cancer treated with pelvic radiation did not have fewer bouts of diarrhea when treated prophylactically with the anti-inflammatory drug sulfasalazine (Azulfidine), a randomized trial showed. Patients receiving sulfasalazine had radiation-associated severe diarrhea almost 3 times as often as patients receiving placebo.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands—Expanded radiotherapy led to significantly better disease-free survival (DFS) and metastasis-free survival (MFS) rates in women with early breast cancer, according to the results of a large study reported at the European Cancer Congress 2013.

Phoenix, AZ—The staff at the Mayo Clinic are working to “bend the cost curve” and optimize resource utilization efficiency while continuing to provide high-quality care to their large population of patients, said Kari Bunkers, MD, Chief Medical Information Officer, Mayo Clinic Health System, and Medical Director, Mayo Clinic Office of Population Health Management (OPHM) at the American Medical Group Association 2013 Institute for Quality Leadership conference.