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Conference Correspondent

Orlando, FL—Today’s patient with cancer is concerned with more than just cell counts. These patients want to discuss topics such as parenting, financial toxicity, and sex and intimacy, according to Laura Holmes Haddad, author of This Is Cancer, and a cancer survivor. Read More ›

Orlando, FL—Mary Elizabeth Williams, a journalist and author of A Series of Catastrophes and Miracles: A True Story of Love, Science, and Cancer, was one of the first patients in the world to be enrolled in a groundbreaking combination immunotherapy clinical trial, and was one of the first to have a complete response to the treatment used in that trial. She is also white, educated, and privileged, and she openly admits that this played a role in her survival. Read More ›

Reduced-dose chemotherapy is as effective as full-dose chemotherapy in frail elderly patients with advanced gastroesophageal cancer, according to results of the phase 3 GO2 clinical trial presented at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Lower doses of oxaliplatin plus capecitabine (OCap) led to similar survival but improved quality of life compared with higher doses of that regimen in this patient population.

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Results from a new clinical trial suggest that limited access to care is the main contributing factor to the disparities in outcomes that exist between African-American patients and white patients with cancer. Read More ›

Although clinical trials are essential for evaluating novel therapies and determining the most effective treatment options for patients with cancer, participation in these trials remains low, especially among ethnic and racial minorities. At the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Kessely Hong, PhD, MPA, Faculty Chair, MPA Programs, and Lecturer, Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, MA, and Electra D. Paskett, PhD, Marion N. Rowley Professor of Cancer Research, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, discussed strategies to enhance clinical trial enrollment and retention. Read More ›

The FDA has announced the launch of an oncology-specific pilot program for physicians and patients who need access to investigational therapies. The expanded access pilot program is a concierge service, said Richard Pazdur, MD, Director, FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, who spoke at a press conference at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. Read More ›

A growing number of targeted therapies and immunotherapies are now recommended in the updated National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guideline for metastatic colo­rectal cancer (CRC). New first-line immunotherapy options for patients with mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) and microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) CRC are also listed in the new guideline. Read More ›

The updated guideline on the management of metastatic ­renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), version 3.2019, underwent a major shift in its risk categories to define preferred and alternative first-line treatments. Read More ›

Formed 10 years ago with the Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) has been tasked with developing new payment and delivery models designed to improve the efficiency of specialty care. Among those specialty models is the Oncology Care Model, which aims to improve cancer care delivery by providing higher quality, more coordinated care to Medicare beneficiaries at the same or lower cost than under traditional fee-for-service structures. At the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Lara M. Strawbridge, MPH, Director, Division of Ambulatory Payment Models, Patient Care Models Group, CMMI, shared recent data from the model, which began in 2016 and is scheduled to run through the middle of 2021. Read More ›

The increased availability of wearable technologies has enabled patients to track and report their health outcomes, and, in ­theory, has helped healthcare providers manage their patients’ symptoms and utilize resources more effectively. Read More ›

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