Value Propositions

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted priority review for the investigational drug ruxolitinib as a potential treatment for patients with myelofibrosis, a blood cancer with few treatment options.

New results from the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial have shown that in individuals at high risk for lung cancer, screening with lowdose computed tomography (CT) significantly reduces mortality in this subpopulation (N Engl J Med. 2011;365:395-409).

In July, the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) approved the use of thalidomide (Thalomid) for the first-line treatment of multiple myeloma in patients in whom high-dose chemotherapy with stem-cell transplantation is deemed inappropriate.

The immunochemical fecal occult blood test (iFOBT), a new version of the traditional FOBT, has demonstrated 90% specificity in detecting colon growths.

Approximately 77,000 healthcare providers have already registered by July of this year with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for the electronic health records (EHRs) program.

New understanding of the mechanism of cancer as genetic and molecular cancer–causing lesions has enabled the development of targeted therapies that are producing excellent results in early clinical trials.

The Florida Comprehensive Care Network (FCCN), a statewide network of medical and radiation oncologists providing comprehensive, evidence-based care to patients with cancer, has signed an agreement with ITA Partners that allows FCCN to use ITA’s oncology decision-support platform (called eviti) across its network of oncologists.

A new report published in March in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2011;103:714-736) shows slow but consistent reductions in some cancer types in men and women between 2003 and 2007, the most recent years for which data are available.

Researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, identified 2 regulatory molecules that enable a tumor, which originally is usually not deadly, to metastasize.

A survey of 61 patients with cancer suggests that many patients are willing to undergo extra tests to participate in clinical trials that will give them access to experimental cancer treatments that may offer improved outcomes and potentially increased survival options.