December 2020, Vol 11, No 6

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred adjustments to the current Oncology Care Model (OCM) and is also affecting considerations for future models, according to Lara Strawbridge, MPH, Director, Division of Ambulatory Payment Models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, who delivered the keynote address at the 2020 NCCN Oncology Policy Summit.
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Although smoldering myeloma is acknowledged as a clinical entity, debate continues about whether to treat, when to treat, and how to treat this condition, said Natalie S. Callander, MD, Leader, Myeloma/Lymphoma Disease-Oriented Team, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, at the 2020 NCCN hematologic malignancies conference.
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At the 2020 NCCN hematologic malignancies conference, multiple myeloma expert Shaji Kumar, MD, Consultant and Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Rochester, MN, discussed the “bonanza of treatment regimens for multiple myeloma.”
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Enrollment in clinical trials is vital for the advancement of knowledge and improvement of patient outcomes, but few adults participate in cancer clinical trials. The numbers are even lower among minority adolescent and young adults (AYAs).
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Total growth in the oncology pipeline in 2020 has been driven by targeted therapies, said Doug Long, Vice President, Industry Relations, IQVIA, at the 10th Annual Summit of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) in 2020.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many of the cracks in our healthcare system. According to Maurie Markman, MD, MS, FACP, FASCO, President, Medicine and Science, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, COVID-19 disproportionately affects the elderly, those with comorbidities, and racial and ethnic minority populations, all of whom are more likely to have serious or fatal illness. At the 10th Annual Summit of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) in 2020, Dr Markman served as a co-moderator of a session about minority representation in clinical trials.
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Greg Simon, JD, led the Cancer Moonshot program for the Obama administration, raising $1.8 billion in new funding for cancer research and the development of new cancer programs. In 2017, Joe Biden called on him to serve as President of the Biden Cancer Initiative. Mr Simon is also a survivor of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a consultant and public speaker at Simonovation, LLC, and one of the thought leaders in cancer care.
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In an environment of increasing vertical and horizontal integration in healthcare, are new value-based care models in oncology—such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ pilot payment project, the Oncology Care Model (OCM)—working? Five years from now, will we still be talking about efforts to go from volume to value using alternative payment models?
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In April 2020, the FDA granted accelerated approval to pemigatinib (Pemazyre), the first targeted therapy for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). The FGFR inhibitor was approved for adults with CCA and FGFR2 fusion.
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First-line treatment with the high-affinity, highly potent PD-1 inhibitor cemiplimab-rwlc (Libtayo) significantly improved overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) compared with standard platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and PD ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on at least 50% of tumor cells. The results of the second preplanned interim analysis of the phase 3 EMPOWER-Lung 1 clinical trial were presented at the 2020 virtual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).
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