HOPA Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic may have temporarily overshadowed the opioid crisis in the United States, but deaths related to opioid overdose have risen to an all-time high in the past year. Although largely driven by synthetic opioids such as illicit fentanyl, frequently prescribed opioids have played a role in opioid overdose and opioid use disorder as well. Read More ›

Thrombosis in patients with cancer may be a relatively common complication, but the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in this patient population is anything but simple. Patients with cancer have up to 6 times increased risk for recurrent VTE compared with patients without cancer, and they are also at higher risk for treatment-related side effects, such as bleeding. Furthermore, patients with cancer require longer-term use of anticoagulants, which raises concerns about quality of life and medication adherence. Read More ›

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, but the treatment landscape is rapidly evolving. In the past 10 years alone, the number of drugs approved by the FDA for non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has exceeded the previous 10 decades combined. Read More ›

Given the high cost of oncology drugs, it is important for pharmacists to become more business savvy regarding their practices, said Andrea Ledford, PharmD, BCOP, Oncology Pharmacy Manager, Orlando Health UF Health Cancer Center, FL, at the 2019 Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association Annual Meeting. Read More ›

The oncology pharmacist plays an invaluable role in the management of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). However, as the pipeline for new anticancer drugs continues to expand, the pipeline for novel antiemetics appears to be drying up, underlining the importance of the pharmacist’s knowledge of currently available antiemetics for patients ­undergoing chemotherapy, said ­Michael J. Berger, PharmD, BCOP, Clinical Specialty Pharmacist, The James Cancer Hospital at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, at the 2019 Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) Annual Meeting. Read More ›

Read More ›