Oncology Business Management

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.

There is a growing chorus that seems to be debating separate issues-340B drug pricing, the sequester, site of service differential, etc. But the debate revolves around a singular issue-where should cancer care be delivered?

The FDA has approved eltrombopag as a treatment for patients with severe aplastic anemia following an insufficient response to immunosuppressive therapy.

Medicaid patients in states that pay more for office visits had an increased likelihood of being screened for cancer, according to results of a study published in CANCER.

How much physicians get paid is increasingly determined by a payment formula that penalizes doctors whose patients are more expensive-even when those higher costs stem from services that other doctors perform says a new report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.

In an interview with Oncology Business Management, Barbara L. McAneny, MD, explains how the program will address fragmented care, suboptimal outcomes, high costs, and patient dissatisfaction.

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.

Although the Affordable Care Act (ACA) made accessibility to health insurance easier, consumers are finding themselves shouldering greater out-of-pocket costs in the form of copayments and deductibles for the care that they receive. Physicians are also feeling the need to collect more fees from more of their patients.

Starting in January 2015, Medicare will begin paying physicians for the care coordination they provide beneficiaries with chronic conditions.

The FDA has approved bevacizumab in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin or paclitaxel and topotecan as a treatment for patients with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer.

The ever-evolving treatment landscape for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer leaves several questions unanswered regarding therapeutic sequences and whether an optimal standard of care exists.

The FDA has approved the noninvasive stool-based DNA test Cologuard for the detection of colorectal cancer or cancer precursors in asymptomatic patients at average risk.

When it comes to the personalized treatment of genitourinary cancers, biomarkers hold an immense amount of promise. Already, there are predictive and prognostic tools available to urologists.

For many years, we in the medical and research communities have tried to use proteins and DNA fragments as disease markers to find cancer early.

I find it striking that some of my colleagues believe the changes in reimbursement that are under consideration in oncology care delivery will be one of many trends that rises dramatically from the ever present background noise only to later fade into oblivion

The FDA has approved idelalisib in combination with rituximab for patients with high-risk relapsed or refractory CLL and as a single-agent for two types of iNHL.

The FDA has assigned a priority review designation to bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with chemotherapy for patients with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

For the past 10 years, John Sprandio, MD, has been standardizing care delivery processes for cancer patients.

The combination of the immunotherapy CRS-207 and the vaccine GVAX Pancreas has received a breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA for its potential as a treatment for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

The ASCO annual meeting is always a time of excitement for the nearly 30,000 clinicians and scientists who gather every year to see "what's new."