June 2014, Vol 5, No 5

Approximately 15% to 20% of patients with breast cancer have HER2-positive disease. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released new clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of women with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, focusing on systemic therapies.

Orlando, FL—Delaying a prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-triggered prostate biopsy to allow for additional PSA assessments might have avoided more than 70% of subsequent biopsies, according to a study of negative biopsies for >28,000 men reported at the 2014 American Urological Association annual meeting.

Tampa, FL—Intravenous (IV) cancer therapies are more costly, by approximately 10%, when patients receive them in a hospital outpatient setting rather than in a community-based physician office, according to a study presented at the 2014 Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy meeting.

Tampa, FL—Combining dabrafenib (Tafinlar) with trametinib (Mekinist) as upfront treatment for patients diagnosed with BRAF V600 mutation–positive metastatic melanoma should lead to improved survival, but it increases the direct costs of treatment compared with other first-line therapies.

Tampa, FL—Genetic testing and targeted medicines, the key players in personalized medicine, are seen as the waves of the future for managing patients with cancer, but getting there remains a challenge when it comes to insurance coverage for these expensive tests and therapies.

Charles Kennedy, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Aetna’s Accountable Care Solutions, is responsible for leading Aetna’s accountable care partnerships with healthcare providers. Dr Kennedy also serves as the health insurance industry representative on the Health IT Policy Committee, a federal advisory committee that makes recommendations to the National Coordinator for Health IT on a policy framework for the development and adoption of a nationwide health information infrastructure.

San Diego, CA—Tobacco researchers and regulators lauded progress in tobacco control, but they emphasized that the health burden of tobacco use continues, reflecting the expanding list of diseases caused or exacerbated by tobacco.

Chicago, IL—A head-to-head comparison of 2 monoclonal antibodies for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) has shown no difference in their benefit when paired with chemotherapy in the first-line setting.

Chicago, IL—AZD9291, a novel mutation-selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), may become a treatment option for patients with advanced, EGFR-mutated non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has progressed with standard EGFR inhibitors, according to results of a phase 1 study presented at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting and highlighted at a press briefing.

Chicago, IL—Obesity increased the risk for breast cancer–associated death in premenopausal patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer, had little effect in postmenopausal women with ER-positive disease, and had no effect in patients with ER-negative disease, according to results of a large study of 80,000 women with early breast cancer that were reported at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.