Articles by Tony Berberabe, MPH

As the AS strategy gains a foothold among urologists both here in the US and around the world, a study presented at the 110th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association suggests that among men in the US, very few are following the stringent protocol for AS that is recommended by major academic institutions.

The role of androgen receptor variant-7 in patients with early stage prostate cancer is not well characterized but data presented at the 2015 American Urological Association (AUA) Meeting is bringing the discussion into focus.

Treatment with olaparib demonstrated a durable overall response rate of 87.5% in a biomarker-defined subgroup of men with pretreated sporadic metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in a phase II multi-step adaptive trial.

Topline results announced today from the phase III Swedish trial 10TASQ10 demonstrated that tasquinimod failed to extend overall survival in men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer.

Treatment with enzalutamide reduced the risk of progression by 76% compared with bicalutamide in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Older, single white males with advanced bladder cancer have the highest suicide risk among those with other cancers of the male genitals and urinary system, researchers report.

Two studies investigating enzalutamide in men with early stage metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer further confirmed the overall survival and progression-free survival benefit of the agent over placebo.

With no major advances in survival in bladder cancer in more than 30 years, interest is high in the potential to deploy immunotherapeutic approaches in this setting.

A United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against the use of prostate specific antigen testing needs to be updated, said Gary Kirsh, MD, president of the Large Urology Group Practice Association.

Leonard G. Gomella, MD, told attendees at the 8th Annual IPCC that the decision to screen or not to screen for prostate cancer boiled down to "using common sense, shared decision making, and choosing the right patients to screen."

New checkpoint blockade agents that target the PD-1 pathway are moving forward quickly in the melanoma treatment paradigm and likely will become a frontline immunotherapy choice for patients with advanced or metastatic disease, according to Jason J. Luke, MD, FACP, a leading researcher in the field.

Standard chemotherapy remains part of the treatment paradigm for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia but its role is undergoing a major shift as significant advances are being made in novel therapies.

ASCO has endorsed new prostate cancer survivorship care guidelines from the American Cancer Society that provide a structure to help prostate cancer specialists and primary care physicians deliver high quality of care to patients with localized disease.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (ISMP Canada) worked collaboratively to create a self-assessment tool to assist oncologists in evaluating safe practices related to medication use.

Biopsy-based cell cycle progression gene expression testing can aid in the stratification of patients with localized prostate cancer based on disease aggressiveness.


The first iteration of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's (ASCO's) endeavor to capture and harness big data, CancerLinQ, is scheduled for release in late 2015.

One of the leading non-clinical attributes that affect how oncologists decide which therapeutic agent to prescribe over another is patient affordability.

Metastatic melanoma is associated with a poor prognosis, but recent breakthroughs in tumor biology and immune regulation have led to the development of agents that could change clinical practice.

Faced with steep regulations, slashed reimbursement rates, and a shift in focus from fee-for-service (FFS) to delivering value, insurers and physician groups are experimenting with new forms of payment incentives.

In May 2014, ASCO issued guidelines recommending the administration of adjuvant tamoxifen for 10 years in women with stage I-III hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer, based on data from the collection of 5 clinical trials.

The combination of a FLT3L-primed in situ vaccine, low-dose radiotherapy, and a toll-like receptor 3 (TLR) 3 agonist has been shown to be feasible, safe, and immunologically and clinically effective in a phase I/II study for patients with low-grade lymphoma

Patients with NSCLC who received postoperative radiation therapy lived 4 months longer on average than patients who did not receive radiation but who had the same disease site, tumor histology, and treatment criteria, according to a large retrospective study.

It seems like big data is everywhere these days. It's being touted as a solution for physicians and practices who would like to participate in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and accountable care-like contracts with payers.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is bringing unprecedented changes to how health care is paid for in the US, and both primary care physicians and specialists need to understand how these changes will affect their revenues.

BMS has filed a lawsuit over Merck's newly approved immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab, contending that the much-heralded PD-1 inhibitor will infringe upon patents that Bristol-Myers holds on the groundbreaking technology.

Women who received signed letters from their family physician along with scheduled postcard reminders are more likely to return for mammography screening than women who only received a postcard

Although advances in endocrine therapy for women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer have been made in recent years, de novo and acquired resistance to treatments remain important clinical problems, and efforts to identify effective modalities to overcome this challenge continue.

A federal program originally meant to require drug manufacturers to provide significant discounts for outpatient drugs is increasingly being used by hospitals to acquire private oncology practices.

Keeping your practice financially solvent is difficult because of the uncertainty of regulatory and reform mandates, electronic health records requirements, and diminishing reimbursements. But a type of care delivery, called concierge care, is making some inroads in the primary care arena-and may hold some usefulness in oncology practice.