Houston, TX—The Oncology Management Program at CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) continues to evolve, producing nearly 10% in cost-savings over prepathways practice, and ensuring that patients get more appropriate care, said Winston Wong, PharmD, Associate Vice President of Pharmacy Management at CareFirst BCBS, who described the program at the Second Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

Chicago, IL—In men with metastatic prostate cancer, especially those with minimal disease spread, continuous rather than intermittent hormonal therapy should be considered the preferred therapy, according to the results of a large multicenter phase 3 international trial.

Chicago, IL—Abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) delays disease progression when used with prednisone before chemotherapy in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, said Charles J. Ryan, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Med icine, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco, who reported a planned interim analysis of a phase 3 study at the 2012 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Chicago, IL—At the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, attendees flocked to sessions on the treatment of melanoma to hear about the next generation of agents that are building on the success achieved with the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf), and the immunotherapy drug ipilimumab (Yervoy), which have added new treatment options where, not long ago, none existed.

Hollywood, FL—Is corporate America doing enough to promote optimal cancer care? The provision of insurance coverage alone is no longer sufficient for America’s workers. Advocates for persons with cancer contend that professional and emotional support should also be part of the “benefits package” that companies offer.

In an interview with the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC), Jennifer Malin, MD, PhD, Medical Director of Oncology at WellPoint, emphasized that patients should remain the central focus in novel or innovative reimbursement models.

AVBCC: Dr Malin, you have talked about the importance of keeping patient-centered care the focus of reimbursement strategies. How can this be done while still controlling cost?

Houston, TX—The use of the Level I Pathways Program at McKesson Specialty Health/US Oncology Network over the past 5 years has reduced treatment variability and resulting costs, according to Roy A. Beveridge, MD, chief medical officer, McKesson Specialty Health/US Oncology Network.

“We fundamentally believe that the use of these pathways significantly reduces the variation in patient care, and we have been able to demonstrate this,” Dr Beveridge said at the Second Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

Houston, TX—“Personalized medicine can improve healthcare delivery, improve healthcare outcomes, and help manage healthcare costs and spending,” said Jeffrey Scott, MD, Senior Vice President, General Manager for P4 Healthcare/Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions, at the Second Annual Con ference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

Chicago, IL—Immunotherapy is nontoxic, tumor-specific, long-term therapy with a long-term memory. The expectation is that once the patient has been treated with immunotherapy, the therapeutic effect will remain and safeguard the patient for life by provoking the immune system to attack any return of the cancer.

There is progress in at least 4 areas: pediatric brain tumors, breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and generally advanced cancers, according to 4 current studies described at the 2012 American Association for Cancer Research meeting.

A combination of ipilimumab and the granulocyte-macrophage colonystimulating factor-transduced allogeneic prostate cancer cells vaccine (GVAX) was feasible and tolerable in an openlabel phase 1 study in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (van den Eertwegh AJM, et al. Lancet Oncol. 2012;13:509-517). Based on the toxicity profile and clinical activity, the authors recommended further clinical evaluation of ipilimumab and tumor vaccines in combination.

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