May 2010, Vol 1, No 1

Barcelona—Survival for patients with metastatic breast cancer has improved dramatically in the last 20 years, especially in the subgroup of patients with HER2-positive tumors, according to research presented at the 7th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC7).

At a roundtable held during the NCCN’s 15th Annual Conference, moderator Clifford Goodman, PhD, Senior Vice President at The Lewin Group, predicted, “The appropriate use of evidence-based guidelines is on a collision course with the financial nonsustainability of the healthcare system.”

Researchers from the University of California and the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have begun working on a prototype “cyberinfrastructure” that would allow cancer researchers to collect and interpret data from multiple sources to compare the effectiveness of preventive measures, drugs, treatments, and interventions during the course of clinical trials.

As health plans grapple with the rapidly rising cost of oncology medications and a “buy and bill” system that does not work for physicians or for the plans, they are seeking new strategies for providing these life-saving drugs to their members and for freeing up oncology and hematology practices to focus solely on caring for patients, not managing a pharmacy.

Due to changes in the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process for cancer drugs, many new cancer drugs have been approved over the past 10 to 15 years. Although the availability of these new drugs has improved survival for many cancer patients, there is increasing concern over the cost of these agents.

New chemotherapies for metastatic colon cancer have improved life expectancy, but at a significant cost, say the authors of a study that explores the value of medications including bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech), capecitabine (Xeloda, Roche Laboratories), cetuximab (Erbitux, Bristol-Myers Squibb), irinotecan hydrochloride (Camptosar, Pfizer, Inc), and oxaliplatin (Eloxatin, Sanofi-Aventis LLC).

A Canadian study examining the reasons why a patient with cancer will visit the emergency department near the end of life points out shortcomings in current care delivery systems and suggests a greater role for more effective palliative care, say the authors.

Barcelona—A meta-analysis of 4 large breast cancer trials reveals that a particular chromosome abnormality is a highly significant indicator that a patient’s breast cancer will respond to anthracycline therapy, announced an international team of researchers at the EBCC7 meeting.

Barcelona—A protein previously thought to exist only in a limited number of tumors in fact exists across all breast cancer subtypes, a finding that can help predict the tumor’s response to chemotherapy and guide treatment decisions.