Conference Correspondent

The need to optimize the treatment of patients with cancer while using healthcare resources wisely—in other words, providing “value-based cancer care”—is not a topic of debate, but how to achieve this pressing goal is far from clear. In a panel discussion during the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care’s Second Annual Conference, held in Houston, Texas, strategists from the payer side of the issue discussed the current trends and the challenges they are facing.

At the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) second annual meeting, Winston Wong, PharmD, expressed concerns that the site of delivery of cancer care affects efforts to rein in costs and provide value in cancer care. Wong expanded on this issue in the following interview.

Why do you believe that the site of delivery of cancer care can impact the attempt to rein in costs of cancer care and provide value?

The inaugural annual conference of the Global Biomarkers Consortium brought together an international panel of oncology experts to explore the rapidly evolving field of biomarker research. Cochairs of the event were Hope S. Rugo, MD, director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education at the University of California San Francisco, and Rüdiger Hehlmann, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Heidelberg. Michael Kattan, PhD, Vincent Miller, MD, Edith Perez, MD, and Charles Bennett, MD, PhD, served as session chairs.

The Oncotype DX breast cancer assay for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a strong and significant predictor of 10-year risk of recurrence in women with DCIS, according to a study presented at the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) held in December 2011. It is the first clinically validated genomic assay to predict risk of local recurrence for women with DCIS, and it is now available from Genomic Health.

BRCA mutation carriers who have had breast cancer are at increased risk of developing contralateral breast cancer, according to a study presented at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. In fact, women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation had a greater than 10% risk of developing contralateral breast cancer, and the risk was strongly associated with younger age at diagnosis and a diagnosis of triple-negative (estrogen receptor–negative, progesterone receptor–negative, and HER2-negative) breast cancer.

Administering gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) on a new schedule achieved impressive progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with standard chemotherapy in older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with favorable cytogenetics, according to a phase 3 study presented at the Plenary Session of the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). GO was taken off the market in 2010 due to toxicity concerns and is no longer available in the US.

An outreach effort aimed at Latina women was unveiled at a poster session during the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). The innovation was a novela called “Se Valiente … Son Tus Senos” (Be Brave … They’re Your Breasts) that conveys accessible and personal information for Latina women in an effort to overcome barriers in this community to accessing healthcare. The novela was developed by SHARE (Self-help for Women with Breast or Ovarian Cancer), a peer-group organization for survivors of breast and ovarian cancer.

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Although management of lymphoma during pregnancy is not well studied, a retrospective review at 10 academic centers in the United States suggests that in selected cases, lymphoma can be treated with minimal maternal and fetal complications, and that treatment can be deferred until after giving birth in patients with low-risk lymphomas. The study was presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology held December 2011 in San Diego, California.

Patients with rectal cancer who use a combination of chemotherapy (capecitabine) with 5 weeks of radiation (50 Gy) prior to surgery may have an 88% chance of surviving the cancer 3 years after treatment, according to results presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology held October 2-6, 2011, in Miami Beach, Florida.

A higher dose of radiation (74 Gy) does not improve overall survival for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has spread to the lymph nodes, compared to the standard radiation dose (60 Gy), according to a new study, according to results presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology held October 2-6, 2011, in Miami Beach, Florida.