November 2013

The mantra in oncology over the last several years has revolved around how practices should deal with the myriad of challenges they face: new guidelines and regulations, lower reimbursement and a shift toward value-based patient care.

Owing to the high clinical failure rates, genetically variable tumor characteristics, and skyrocketing drug development costs, the era of traditional blockbuster oncology agents has come to an end.

The US Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act but allow states to decide whether to expand Medicaid has raised a question in many states: Where political leaders have been opposed or split on President Obama's healthcare reforms, is it smart or foolish to cover more people?

The increased cost of new branded oncology drugs continues to receive much negative press. Recent editorials have criticized the high cost of new cancer therapies, and their less than stellar improvements in efficacy, over already existing, lower-cost treatment options. Such critics have argued that little or no correlation between drug efficacies and pricing exists.