ASCO 2015 Highlights

San Francisco, CA—In patients with breast cancer with bone metastases, skeletal-related events (SREs) are associated with high treatment costs. For example, the cumulative cost of treating 1 spinal cord compression exceeds $100,000, according to a new cost analysis presented at the 2012 Breast Cancer Symposium.

The cost of cancer care matters; in fact, it matters so much that Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City has decided not to include in its formulary the newly approved drug ziv-aflibercept (Zaltrap), which was recently approved for use in patients with progressive metastatic colorectal cancer.

A study presented at the 2012 American Society for Radiation Oncology annual meeting found few differences in toxicity between the 2 techniques, but demonstrated that PBRT was associated with a 57% increase in median cost per patient.

Researchers in Denmark set out to investigate whether statin therapy can help to reduce cancer-related mortality by limiting cancer-cell proliferation in patients who have used statins before they were diagnosed with cancer (Nielsen SF, et al. N Engl J Med. 2012;367:1792-1802).

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved omacetaxine mepesuccinate (Synribo; Teva Pharmaceutical) to treat adults with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a hematologic disease. An estimated 5430 Americans will be diagnosed with CML in 2012, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Boston, MA—In the United States right now, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has largely replaced 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy as the technique of choice for most patients with organ-confined prostate cancer that is being treated with radiation as the primary therapy.

San Francisco, CA—The Oncotype DX Recurrence Score (the 21-gene) test can help identify patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer with any number of positive lymph nodes who will have residual disease after adjuvant chemotherapy, and who may benefit from additional treatment, reported Eleftherios P. Mamounas, MD, Medical Director, Aultman Hospital Cancer Center, Canton, OH, at the 2012 Breast Cancer Symposium.

We should all read with great interest the New York Times opinion piece by Peter B. Bach, MD, and colleagues from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center on their rationale for not including ziv-aflibercept (Zaltrap) in its formulary for patients with metastatic or advanced colorectal cancer.

Houston, TX—Delta Air Lines has a commitment to preventive health and comprehensive cancer care for its 140,000 health plan members; the company is piloting a “high-performance cancer network,” said Lynn Zonakis, Managing Director of Health Strategy and Resources, Delta Air Lines, Atlanta, GA, at the 2012 Second Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

“Non–small cell is the most common type of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in the United States,” said Mark A. Socinski, MD, Director, Lung Cancer Section, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pittsburgh, and lead investigator of phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials of paclitaxel protein-bound in lung cancer.