09/05/2018

Recent Oncology Related Drug News

FDA Grants Keytruda Priority Review to Treat Rare Form of Skin Cancer

(Curetoday.com) Sept 4, 2018 - The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted priority review to a new supplemental biologics license application for Keytruda (pembrolizumab) to treat adult and pediatric patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma, according to Merck, the agent’s manufacturer. Read Article

Some Pharmacy Benefit Manager Practices May Erode Patient Access to Cancer Care, ASCO Analysis Finds

(ASCO) Aug 30, 2018 - The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) warns that some of the practices used by pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) companies could hinder patient access to timely, high-quality cancer care. Read Press Release

CMS Advisers Back Patient Reporting Tools for CAR-T Drugs

(Medscape Medical News) Aug 23, 2018 - As part of this process, CMS asked its Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC) to consider seven approaches for collecting data on patients' experiences with CAR-T therapies. At a meeting on 22 August, the panel backed four of the patient-reported outcome (PRO) tools presented by CMS, while giving lower marks to another three.
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