By Stanton R. Mehr

Clinical Abstracts From Overseas: June 18, 2010

June 18th 2010

Articles in this issue include: United Kingdom: The Pill's Anti-Ovarian Cancer Effect Lasts for Decades The Netherlands: Catheter-Related Infection Prevention Improves With Specialized Rinse Italy: Obesity May Help Survival in Women Who Have Endometrial Cancer Germany: One-Two Punch for B-cell Lymphoma in the Elderly South Korea: Predicting Survival by Counting Metastatic Lymph Nodes Poland: Do Chest X-Rays in Young Women Raise the Risk of Breast Cancer? Australia: Concurrent or Sequential Anthracycline and Docetaxel?

Reimbursement and Managed Care News: June 17, 2010

June 17th 2010

Topics covered in this issue include: 1. Cost Effectiveness of Extended Letrozole Treatment After Discontinuation of Tamoxifen 2. The Effect of Consumer Cost Sharing on Mammography Rates 3. National Poll: Government Coverage Decision on Anemia Drugs Hurt Patient Outcomes 4. Updated Breast Cancer Clinical Practice Guidelines 5. DNA Testing for Disease: Will Insurance Worries Limit Their Value? 6. Women With Breast Cancer Get Lower Pay 7. Lack of Health Insurance Equals Delayed Cancer Diagnoses

Clinical Trial Reports: June 16, 2010

June 16th 2010

Clinical Trial Reports in this issue include: Phase IV: 1) Long-Term Aspirin Therapy Reduces Colorectal Cancer Risk Phase III: 1) Does Adding Cisplatin to Adjuvant Chemotherapy Improve Outcomes in Advanced Gastric Cancer? 2) FOLFIRI Plus Bevacizumab Provides Better Survival Than Other Irinotecan-Containing Regimen in First-Line Colorectal Cancer Phase II: 1) Single-Agent Activity of Sunitinib in Refractory Non������¢���¯���¿���½���¯���¿���½Small Cell Lung Cancer 2) The Importance of Targeting Androgen Receptor Signaling for Prostate Cancer Response Rate 3) Improving Survival in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor 4) Improving Overall Survival in Patients With Hormone- Resistant Prostate Cancer 5) Breast Cancer Stem Cells Decreased With Neoadjuvant Lapatinib Phase I/II: 1) Patients With Recurrent Glioblastoma May Benefit From Implant Combinations

Clinical Abstracts From Overseas: June 16, 2010

June 16th 2010

Articles in this issue include: 1) Germany: Drop the Syringe, Pick up the Tattooing Needle 2) Israel: Putting Women Under the Spotlight: Higher Frequency of Breast Cancer? 3) Japan: Esophagectomy in Patients Older than Age 75 4) Multiple Sites in Asia: Combination Treatment With Cetuximab for Colorectal Cancer Refractory to Irinotecan 5) Italy: Clinical Benefit of Sorafenib in Patients With Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Hepatitis C 6) Sweden: Dietary Fiber: Does It Mitigate Breast Cancer Risk? 7) India: Indoor Air Pollution and Cancer Risk in Developing Countries

Clinical Trial Reports: June 15, 2010

June 15th 2010

Phase IV: 1) Cancer Risks and Postmenopausal Hormone Link Confirmed Phase III: 1) Do Vitamins Protect Against Lung Cancer? 2) Longer Life Expectancy in Pancreatic Cancer When Gemcitabine Is Added to Chemotherapy 3) Outcomes Improve With Letrozole Treatment in Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer 4. Pemetrexed vs. Docetaxel for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment Phase II: 1) Talactoferrin-Alfa Treatment for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer 2) Advanced Carcinoid Systemic Therapy

Reimbursement and Managed Care News: June 15, 2010

June 15th 2010

1) Cost Is Creeping Into the Therapy Decision-Making Discussion 2) Rounding Down Chemotherapy Doses: Does It Save Money for the Health System? 3) HER2 Testing and Treatment Patterns in Breast Cancer 4) Cost Effectiveness of a Drug Combination in Malignant Mesothelioma 5) The Effect of Epoetin Alfa on Quality of Life in Patients With Anemia 6) ASCO Seeks to Improve Coordination of Care, Introduces Treatment Template 7) What Factors Increase the Likelihood of Colon Cancer Screening?

Clinical Abstracts From Overseas: June 14, 2010

June 14th 2010

Clinical Trial Reports: June 10, 2010

June 10th 2010

Reimbusement and Managed Care News

June 10th 2010

Clinical Abstracts From Overseas: June 10, 2010

June 10th 2010

Clinical Trial Reports: June 7, 2010

June 7th 2010

Reimbursement and Managed Care News: June 7, 2010

June 7th 2010

Clinical Abstracts From Overseas: June 7, 2010

June 7th 2010

Clinical Trial Reports: May 28, 2010

May 28th 2010

Reimbursement and Managed Care News: May 28, 2010

May 28th 2010

Clinical Abstracts From Overseas: May 26, 2010

May 26th 2010

Clinical Trial Reports: May 25, 2010

May 25th 2010

Clinical trials covered include: 1) Phase III: Quality of Life with Sunitinib or Interferon Alfa for Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma 2) Phase II: Children%u2019s Oncology Group Pilot Study, and more

Reimbursement and Managed Care News: May 25, 2010

May 25th 2010

The topics covered in this issue include: 1) NICE Ruling on Kidney Cancer Drugs Stirs Outrage, 2) Watchful Waiting Versus Surgery for Prostate Cancer? Question Has Yet to be Settled, 3) Bone Mineral Density Predictive of Breast Cancer Risk, and more

Back to the Future: Can Congress Resurrect an Independent Technology Assessment Entity?

May 25th 2010

A bill sponsored by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), is circulating through the legislature to fund a new center, the Health Care Comparative Effectiveness Research Institute. The Institute would perform largely the same function as the former Office of Technology Assessment.

Do Medicare Patients with a Cancer Diagnosis Disenroll From Managed Care Plans?

May 25th 2010

Managed care organizations tend to shy away from rigid management of patients with cancer, owing to the number of acceptable regimens for various tumors, the difficulty in controlling the use of oncologic (particularly biologic) agents, and the fact that prior authorization requests are rarely denied in these patients.