June 2018
Volume 4, Issue 7
This issue features a look at gaining oral parity for cancer medications, the unavoidable “bubbles” in which people live and work, and more.
Table of Contents
June 2018 issue
The Politics of Banning Toxic Chemicals
In the fall of 2017, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) selected Catherine Zander, PhD, as the first participant in the ASH Congressional Fellowship...
The Problems With Paperless
In our April issue, we looked at the U.S. health-care system’s transformation from a paper-based system to electronic health records (EHRs), and clinicians’ love-hate relationship with the...
Tiny Bubbles
“Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble…
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”
William Shakespeare, “Song of the Witches”...
June 2018 Issue
ASH Choosing Wisely Item Makes the ABIM Top 12, Celebrating World Sickle Cell Day,...
ASH Choosing Wisely Recommendation Makes the ABIM Top 12
The Choosing Wisely® campaign, an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, encourages clinicians...
ACS Grants $47 Million in Funding, Stand Up to Cancer Announces Innovation Awards, and...
Lawrence B. Gardner, MD, an assistant professor of medicine and pharmacology at New York University (NYU) Langone Health, died on March 27 at age...
June 2018 Issue
Pulling Back the Curtain: Katherine A. High, MD
In this edition, Katherine A. High, MD, talks about her work in gene therapy, her love of reading, and the importance of “getting things...
The Pharmacoeconomics of Oral and Self-Administered Cancer Treatments
Oral and patient-administered forms of chemotherapy have come a long way since the 1950s, when mercaptopurine and methotrexate were first approved by the U.S....
June 2018 Issue
How would you manage bleeding risk in a patient undergoing spinal surgery?
Here’s how readers responded to a You Make the Call question about bleeding prevention in a patient undergoing cervical spine surgery.
Disclaimer: ASH does not...
How would you manage bleeding risk in a patient undergoing spinal surgery?
This month Barbara A. Konkle, MD, discusses bleeding prevention in a patient undergoing spinal surgery.
And don't forget to check out next month's clinical dilemma -...
June 2018 Issue
NDA Submitted for Duvelisib for CLL and Follicular Lymphoma
A New Drug Application (NDA) was submitted for the oral phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) dual inhibitor duvelisib for the treatment of relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia...
Specialty Hospitals Benefit More From CMS Star Ratings
An analysis from Modern Healthcare found that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) star-ratings formula disproportionately benefits specialty hospitals, compared with major teaching...
FDA Expands Approval of Blinatumomab for MRD-Positive ALL
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 8-4 in favor of accelerated approval for the bispecific antibody blinatumomab for...
Researchers Call for Revised Clinical Trial Criteria
Nearly 20 percent of publicly funded U.S. cancer clinical trials cannot enroll enough participants for the study to continue, and researchers are looking to...
Study Finds Thromboembolism Is a Frequent Complication of ALL Treatment
Adolescents and adults with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) are at a “markedly” increased risk for developing thromboembolism (TE), even when treated according to the...
Evaluating Daratumumab as Frontline Treatment of Transplant-Ineligible Myeloma
Results from a prespecified interim analysis from the phase III ALCYONE study found that the addition of daratumumab to standard care (bortezomib, melphalan, prednisone...
Study Finds Pharmaceutical Funding Influences Selection of Cancer Treatment
U.S. physicians and hospitals receive approximately $7 billion annually from the pharmaceutical industry. According to a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine, this...
Children With Ambiguous Leukemia Fare Better With Lymphoid-Directed Treatment
While most patients with acute leukemia have disease with a lymphoid or myeloid linage, 2 to 5 percent have “acute leukemia of ambiguous lineage”...
Gene Therapy Alleviates Transfusion Burden in Patients With Beta-Thalassemia
Treatment with gene therapy reduced or eliminated the need for long-term red blood–cell (RBC) transfusions in some patients with severe, transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia, according to...
Can Pevonedistat Improve Azacitidine’s Activity in Older Patients With AML?
Adding pevonedistat, a first-in-class inhibitor of the NEDD8-activating enzyme (NAE), to azacitidine led to responses in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to...
