Specialty Pharmacy

How health system specialty pharmacies can leverage data to differentiate the impact of the high-touch, integrated care model and create value for all pharmacy stakeholders.

In an interview, Nishita Hira, PharmD, CSP, clinical program manager at AllianceRx Walgreens Prime, discussed the role specialty pharmacists can play during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

The new administration option for multiple sclerosis treatment could improve access during the COVID-19 pandemic, when availability has been a concern.

Research highlights the need for cardiologists and cardio-oncologists to be involved in the treatment of men with breast cancer due to common risk factors and potential cardiotoxic effects of treatment.

If approved, the biosimilar will be indicated for use in metastatic colorectal cancer, nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer, recurrent glioblastoma, metastatic renal cell carcinoma, and metastatic cervical cancer.

Preclinical models have also shown that treatment with a drug that is downstream of ACE2 can improve tumor responses in RCC and significantly prolong survival, according to the study authors.

The FDA has granted Orphan Drug Designation to Uttroside-B (Q Biomed Inc), a small molecule chemotherapeutic for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer.

The FDA has granted the cell-based, off-the-shelf immune primer ilixadencel an orphan drug designation for use as a treatment option in patients with soft tissue sarcoma.

Topics covered in-depth in the show include strategies for patient education, cancer team coordination, side effect monitoring and management of medications from both in-house and external specialty pharmacies.

The FDA has granted toripalimab a fast track designation for use in the frontline treatment of patients with mucosal melanoma.

NCCN states that all patients with active cancer, or with active, recent, or planned cancer treatment, should be considered highest priority to receive one of the COVID-19 vaccines granted emergency use authorization.

The approval is for a 240 mg injection of nivolumab every 2 weeks or 480 mg every 4 weeks in combination with 40 mg once daily of cabozantinib.

During a study investigating therapeutics that target how RNA splicing activates antiviral immune pathways in triple-negative breast cancers, researchers observed that endogenous RNA in tumor cells that had been mis-spliced is able to mimic an RNA virus.

Study finds that recurring glioblastoma tumors with very few mutations respond significantly better to immunotherapies than similar tumors with multiple mutations.

Nonadherence is linked to poor health outcomes, including a decreased quality-of-life, disease progression, and increased hospitalizations.

The study findings emphasize the need for people who missed or postponed a cancer screening test early in the pandemic to contact their health care provider to discuss the potential need to reschedule it, according to the study authors.

FDA grant priority review to a supplemental biologics license application for nivolumab (Opdivo) for use as an adjuvant treatment for patients with resected esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer.

Obstacles to cancer screenings for low-income patients can include lack of transportation and an inability to take time off of work.

Pharmacists can learn how to adequately inform patients about therapeutic options that are available as a method to improve access to care.

Narsoplimab is an investigational, fully human IgG4 monoclonal antibody was designed to bind to mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2

A minimally invasive, targeted treatment option, ImPACT is also under evaluation in patients with other localized tumors, such as urothelial cancer, esophageal cancer, lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer.

The FDA approved Enhertu in January 2020 for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer.

The right balance of stem cell dose, cell type, and timing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) could potentially lead to a spontaneous cure of HIV, according to the study authors.

Daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj, a subcutaneous formulation of daratumumab, is the first FDA-approved treatment for patients with AL amyloidosis.

A survey found that the majority of oncologists did not feel like they could perform their duties as well as they could prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Crizotinib is the first biomarker-driven therapy for relapsed or refractory anaplastic large cell lymphoma in children and young adults.

Novel program found cost effective and safe for patients with cancer managing the adverse effects of treatment.

As new testing devices, therapies, and vaccines are approved for COVID-19, patients will be dependent on their health care providers for answers and education.

Although only a proportion of DCIS cases will progress into invasive cancer, the treatments available for DCIS are similar to treatments for invasive breast cancers.

The FDA has granted an orphan drug designation to the BCMA-targeted trispecific T-cell activating recombinant protein construct as treatment for patients with multiple myeloma.