Home – Page 36 – The Cancer Letter

Issue 36 - Sep 28, 2018

TCL44-36 (1040 downloads)

Oregon flirts with—and quickly abandons—plan to deny Medicaid payment for next-generation sequencing
The Oregon Health Authority did a considerable amount of work to prepare a plan that would deny Medicaid coverage for next-generation sequencing tests in the state.
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
UIC’s Stewart: Oregon draft guidance is “an assault on the treatment of underrepresented populations”
The unwillingness to provide patients with targeted therapies based upon their genetic profile, I think, is unconscionable. The logic to me behind that is, “It’s okay to be elderly and sick, but it’s not okay to be poor and sick.” That’s how the draft guidance reads to me, because you won’t have access to state-of-the-art diagnostics.
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
WVU’s Goldberg: Oregon draft guidance would widen disparities for low-income cancer patients
My opinion is that patients should have equal access to technology that is becoming useful in improving outcomes, regardless of which insurer they are covered by. I can tell you that every week, we’re doing NGS tests on Medicaid patients in West Virginia as well as on patients with every other kind of insurance.
In Baselga’s wake: Debate focuses on COIs of academics on boards of for-profit firms
As the fallout from the ethics scandal at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center continues, cancer center officials are investigating allegations contained in an anonymous letter from a group that identifies themselves as “Concerned Employees of MSKCC.”
In Brief
- NIH receives $2B raise as House passes FY19 spending package
- NIH memorial service for Alan Rabson scheduled for Oct. 30
- Heidi Nelson named medical director of the American College of Surgeons Cancer Programs
- American Cancer Society honors John Ruckdeschel with St. George Award
- Carlos Arteaga awarded $600,000 to study breast cancer therapy resistance
- ASCO recognizes Rep. Kevin Yoder with 2018 Congressional Leadership Award
- NCCN moves global headquarters to Plymouth Meeting
- Cuomo announces U.S.-Cuba venture to develop new cancer treatments
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
Anne-Marie Langevin receives Harry Hynes Award
Anne-Marie Langevin, of the South Texas Pediatric Minority/Underserved NCI Community Oncology Research Program site in San Antonio, won the 2018 Harry Hynes Award, which is given annually to the PI who reflects the outstanding contribution to clinical trials and community research.
Clinical Roundup
- CT screening reduces lung cancer mortality, NELSON study finds
- Imfinzi significantly improves OS in unresectable, stage III NSCLC
- Tecentriq + chemo significantly improves OS as initial treatment for ES-SCLC
- Atezolizumab + carboplatin & pemetrexed improves PFS in stage IV non-squamous NSCLC
- Myriad’s Variant Reclassification Study published in JAMA
- Alunbrig improves PFS by over 50% vs. crizotinib in first-line advanced ALK+ NSCLC
- Cancer patients have lower risk of opioid-related death than general public
- Breast cancer patients prefer knowing costs prior to starting treatment
- CIMAvax-EGF well tolerated for NSCLC, initial findings show
Drugs & Targets
- FDA approves Vizimpro for NSCLC indication
- FDA approves Copiktra for CLL/SLL indications
- FDA grants QIDP and Fast Track Designations to Cidara
- Blincyto approved In Japan for relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL
- European Commission approves Coherus’s Udenyca
NCI Trials
NCI Trials for September
The National Cancer Institute Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program approved the following clinical research studies last month.

Breaking News - Sep 26, 2018

Oregon weighs plan to deny Medicaid payment for NGS as panel declares “no evidence of clinical utility”
The Oregon Health Authority is weighing a recommendation to deny Medicaid coverage for next-generation sequencing tests in the state.
If enacted, Oregonians who rely on Medicaid for cancer treatment will not be offered coverage for NGS testing. Mainstream oncologists and experts on disparities in cancer care say that this first-of-its-kind anti-genetic-testing policy will create an inferior standard of care for the poor in Oregon, depriving these patients of access to targeted therapies.
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
UIC’s Stewart: Oregon draft guidance is “an assault on the treatment of underrepresented populations”
The unwillingness to provide patients with targeted therapies based upon their genetic profile, I think, is unconscionable. The logic to me behind that is, “It’s okay to be elderly and sick, but it’s not okay to be poor and sick.” That’s how the draft guidance reads to me, because you won’t have access to state-of-the-art diagnostics.
Conversation with The Cancer Letter
WVU’s Goldberg: Oregon draft guidance would widen disparities for low-income cancer patients
My opinion is that patients should have equal access to technology that is becoming useful in improving outcomes, regardless of which insurer they are covered by. I can tell you that every week, we’re doing NGS tests on Medicaid patients in West Virginia as well as on patients with every other kind of insurance.

Issue 35 - Sep 21, 2018

TCL44-35 (310 downloads)

As José Baselga clears his desk, MSK forms task force on conflicts; meanwhile, new allegations emerge over center’s role in AI start-up
José Baselga, who has resigned from his positions as physician-in-chief and chief medical officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is winding down his research and clinical activities at that institution, officials said.
Senate passes conference bill, giving NIH $2 billion raise
The U.S. Senate Sept. 18 passed a conference “minibus” appropriations package that will increase the NIH budget by $2 billion to $39.1 billion—a 5.4 percent boost over the current level.
In Brief
- Soria, Mok, Jänne, and Foti win ESMO 2018 awards
- Blackwood named chief of breast surgery at Rutgers Cancer Institute
- Madhavan named chief data scientist at Georgetown
- AbbVie donates $5 million to Family Reach
- Six health systems join the Syapse Learning Health Network
- CancerCare to provide support for cancer patients affected by Hurricane Florence
Trials and Tribulations
Shrinking oncology phase I clinical trials: If the drug is a breakthrough, why would you ever want to utilize the maximally tolerated dose?
Historically, oncology drug development has evolved on what may seem to be a different planet, at least relative to mainstream clinical pharmacology.
Whereas traditional drug development utilizes standard tools of randomization, pharmacokinetic data, and blood-based biomarkers to optimize dosing, oncology has primarily utilized safety data (i.e., maximally tolerated dose) to guide dose selection.
Clinical Roundup
- Early positive results from phase II DPX-Survivac + Keytruda in DLBCL
Drugs & Targets
- European Commission approves Braftovi + Mektovi for advanced BRAF-mutant melanoma
- OBI Pharma granted Orphan Drug Designation for treatment of ALL

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Oregon flirts with—and quickly abandons—plan to deny Medicaid payment for next-generation sequencing

Conversation with The Cancer Letter

UIC’s Stewart: Oregon draft guidance is “an assault on the treatment of underrepresented populations”

Conversation with The Cancer Letter

WVU’s Goldberg: Oregon draft guidance would widen disparities for low-income cancer patients

In Baselga’s wake: Debate focuses on COIs of academics on boards of for-profit firms

In Brief

Conversation with The Cancer Letter

Anne-Marie Langevin receives Harry Hynes Award

Clinical Roundup

Drugs & Targets

NCI Trials

NCI Trials for September

Oregon weighs plan to deny Medicaid payment for NGS as panel declares “no evidence of clinical utility”

Conversation with The Cancer Letter

UIC’s Stewart: Oregon draft guidance is “an assault on the treatment of underrepresented populations”

Conversation with The Cancer Letter

WVU’s Goldberg: Oregon draft guidance would widen disparities for low-income cancer patients

As José Baselga clears his desk, MSK forms task force on conflicts; meanwhile, new allegations emerge over center’s role in AI start-up

Senate passes conference bill, giving NIH $2 billion raise

In Brief

Trials and Tribulations

Shrinking oncology phase I clinical trials: If the drug is a breakthrough, why would you ever want to utilize the maximally tolerated dose?

Clinical Roundup

Drugs & Targets