ASCO 2015 Highlights

Feedback from their peers helped physicians refrain from ordering unnecessary tests for patients with newly diagnosed cancer, according to a recent study (Miller DC, et al. J Urol. 2011;186:844-849. Epub 2011 Jul 23).

New York, NY—Men with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) now have several different treatments that improve their survival—docetaxel (Taxo-tere), cabazitaxel (Jevanta), abiraterone (Zytiga), and sipuleucel-T (Provenge).

San Francisco, CA—Two treatments sig­nificantly extended survival in men with metastatic castration-resistant pros­tate cancer (CRPC) in separate phase 3 clinical trials reported at the 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

San Francisco, CA—A new, large comparative effectiveness analysis of 3 techniques for delivering radiation therapy for the treatment of localized prostate cancer supports intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) as the current standard, said Ronald Chen, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology, University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill, and Research Fellow, Sheps Center for Health Services Research, UNC at the 2012 annual Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

American adults would be willing to pay a median of $263 for a perfect prostate cancer prediction test and $232 for a perfect breast cancer prediction test, according to a recent survey (Neumann PJ, et al. Health Econ. 2012;21:238-251).

Miami, FL—Direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing of genetic tests represents personalized medicine in evolution. High-throughput genetic technologies have made it possible to evaluate individuals at a relatively affordable price, but a number of technologic, social, regulatory, and ethical issues must first be settled before DTC genetic testing takes personalized medicine to new heights.

San Antonio, TX—In a randomized phase 2 study of patients with metastatic breast cancer, peripheral neuropathy was less likely to occur in patients receiving eribulin mesylate than with ixabepilone.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common cause of serious morbidity and mortality, and patients with cancer are at particular risk. “VTE has a substantial burden on the current US medical system.

In the first comparative trial of its kind, the Catheter-Directed Venous Thrombolysis (CaVenT) study determined that treating a clot directly with the recombinant, antithrombotic agent alteplase reduced the frequency of postthrombotic syndrome (PTS) and improved long-term outcome in patients with proximal deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) compared with standard anticoagulation methods.

Few analyses to date have assessed the long-term costs associated with the management of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). At ASH 2011, Shrividya Iyer, PhD, of Pfizer, presented results of a retrospective analysis performed by a group of researchers at Pfizer and the Eliassen Group that looked at information from the Thomson Reuters MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database, and the Medicare Supplemental Database.