Articles

Recognizing the complexities of treatment with oral medications is an important step toward successful outcomes.

In this supplement, expert faculty offer detailed perspectives based on their experience to summarize, examine, and analyze the emerging results from studies of anticancer biosimilars and provide recommendations to improve the adoption of and access to biosimilar products.

Madrid, Spain—A perioperative regimen of neoadjuvant nivolumab (Opdivo) plus chemotherapy followed by surgery and adjuvant nivolumab demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in event-free survival versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus placebo followed by surgery and adjuvant placebo in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer.

On November 8, 2023, the FDA approved fruquintinib (Fruzaqla; Takeda Pharmaceuticals), an inhibitor of VEGFR-1, -2, and -3, for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) in adults who received previous fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin-, and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF therapy, and, if RAS wild-type and medically appropriate, an anti-EGFR therapy. The FDA granted fruquintinib priority review for this indication.

At the 13th Annual Association for Value Based Cancer Care Summit, held October 18-20, 2023, in New York City, Scott Gottlieb, MD, Former Commissioner of the FDA, gave the keynote lecture on how to foster innovation in oncology.

On October 27, 2023, the FDA approved toripalimab-tpzi (Loqtorzi; Coherus BioSciences), a PD-1 monoclonal antibody, in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine chemotherapy, for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic or recurrent, locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and as a single agent for adults with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma that progressed during or after treatment with a platinum-containing chemotherapy.

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots showed mixed results when it came to providing treatment strategies and direct-to-patient cancer advice for a variety of malignancies, according to 2 studies recently published in JAMA Oncology.

On November 16, 2023, the FDA approved the use of pembrolizumab (Keytruda; Merck) with fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of adults with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-negative gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma.

On October 24, 2023, the FDA approved ivosidenib (Tibsovo; Servier Pharmaceuticals), an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of relapsed or refractory myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in adults with a susceptible IDH1 mutation, as detected by an FDA-approved test.

Beware of a new model that at least one, if not more, of the BlueCross BlueShield plans are offering to their self-insured employer customers as a way to compete with the alternate funding programs that have been pushed heavily onto those same employers in recent years.