ASCO 2015 Highlights

Chicago, IL—In a cohort of patients at risk for colorectal cancer (CRC), the majority were willing to pay some out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses for genetic testing, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers reported in a poster that was presented at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting and earned an ASCO Merit Award.

Chicago, IL—Older patients with cancer and Medicare coverage often incur greater out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses compared with their counterparts without cancer.

Approximately 1 in 5 patients with cancer who are undergoing radiotherapy as part of their treatment can count on unexpected hospital stays—adding an economic and clinical burden on the patient and on the healthcare system, according to an analysis by Nabeel H. Arastu, BS, and colleagues at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, which was presented at the 2012 ASCO meeting.

The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommended in an 11 to 0 vote (and 1 absentee) to approve carfilzomib (Kyprolis; Onyx), a new-generation proteasome inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with refractory and relapsed multiple myeloma who have failed at least 2 other myeloma therapies—the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib (Velcade) and the immunomodulatory drug lenalidomide (Revlimid).

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Access Hybritech p2PSA (Beckman Coulter) test, which measures a form of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) called [-2]proPSA in the blood and can help men whose PSA test scores are elevated decide whether they should have a biopsy to rule out prostate cancer.

Several researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have been studying the effects of exercise on patients with cancer for some time now.

Greenville Hospital System (GHS) has launched the Center for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship, which offers emotional services for cancer survivors developed by Cancer Support Community (CSC), an international provider of cancer-related social and emotional services.

Texas Children’s Cancer Center has opened the first center dedicated entirely to the research, care, and treatment of children with lymphoma. The Fayez Sarofim Lymphoma Center at Texas Children’s Cancer Center was made possible by a gift of $10 million to Texas Children’s Hospital.

A team of researchers from the University of Colorado led by Tyler Robin, PhD, Department of OB/GYN, Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, has discovered a new biomarker in Ewing’s sarcoma that explains the lack of disease response to current chemotherapy in some patients with this cancer, who until now have had a very poor prognosis.

>According to Genome Health Solutions cofounder Mark S. Boguski, MD, PhD, FCAP, Harvard Medical School’s Center for Biomedical Informatics and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, at this point in time, the promise of genomics lies “not so much in therapeutics or disease prevention, but in precision diagnostics that will really enable personalized medicine.