June 7th 2024
Defining the goals of a clinical team within a cancer program or oncology practice group, where the focus will be on maximizing QOL, may be difficult.
May 9th 2024
Maurie Markman, MD, expands on the debate regarding the appropriate primary outcome end point for improved clinical benefit in a trial.
April 12th 2024
Randomized trials are widely recognized to play a pivotal role in the decision-making associated with the establishment of clinical guidelines.
March 25th 2024
Two items in the medical world should send chills down the spines of those considering the possible financial future of oncology care in the United States.
February 9th 2024
The foundation of physician recommendations and medical/regulatory policy will be guided by the outcomes of published clinical research.
January 31st 2024
Maurie Markman, MD, discusses the need for a decision support strategy to assist oncologists in treatment selection for patients with actionable mutations.
January 23rd 2024
The absence of clearly articulated definitions and transparency related to how clinical trial outcomes are interpreted and utilized raise concerns.
January 12th 2024
Maurie Markman, MD, details how public trust is critical in the future of cancer care, diving into what leads to mistrust and misinformation today.
January 2nd 2024
The goal in highlighting this development is to attempt to raise awareness of the critical issue of information overload and the need for multiple involved parties to actively and aggressively search for appropriate, effective, and fiscally rational solutions.
December 27th 2023
Maurie Markman, MD, highlights inroads made with immunotherapy, antibody-dependent cytotoxic agents, and molecular testing across oncology.
December 1st 2023
This commentary examines the use of words and expressions in the oncology domain and the implications of different interpretations by patients and their families from professionals employing this language, including academic authors and members of their clinical teams.
November 9th 2023
Maurie Markman, MD, discusses the importance of designing clinical trials for patients with ovarian cancer that are based on real-world data and consider the increasing complexity of treatment sequencing in this disease.
November 6th 2023
It is time for society to address the critical nature of our current unsustainable oncology pharmaceutical marketplace, and it is also essential that whatever solutions are proposed and implemented do not incorporate inappropriate labeling of outcomes that negate meaningful measures of clinical benefit.
October 13th 2023
Maurie Markman, MD, highlights the rather profound fiscal implications of the combined effect of 2 quite different but closely related components of the rapidly evolving cancer treatment paradigm.
September 6th 2023
The well-publicized severe shortage of vitally important generic antineoplastic agents has highlighted a serious misalignment in the existing market-based and regulatory environment that permitted such an extraordinary situation to develop without meaningful resolution.
August 14th 2023
Several articles featured in a recent issue of the highly respected publication the Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics highlight themes across drug development that are relevant within the broad antineoplastic arena. The topics range from appropriate control arms in randomized clinical trials to sponsorship of trials to the rationale for developing novel agents when suitable, cost-effective biosimilar and generic products are available.
July 24th 2023
An evaluation of the utility of a cancer therapeutic in a clinical trial is determined through metrics that define 2 distinctive features of an antineoplastic strategy: efficacy and toxicity. Although that may be an oversimplification, the aim of such therapy is to improve clinical outcomes.
July 10th 2023
In our fast-moving world where a report of a clinically important trial finding may be simply a 60-second sound bite for both lay and medical communities, it is critical that great care must be taken that reported conclusions are understandable to all, not just the statisticians.
June 13th 2023
Maurie Markman, MD, discusses changes in cancer management as seen in ovarian cancer.
May 19th 2023
The potential effectiveness of employing placebo in cancer clinical investigation is not difficult to appreciate, but the use of this approach has been, and continues to be, controversial.