Specialty Pharmacy

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis taking at least 3 targeted therapies were found to have a greater risk of developing herpes zoster.

New study results show that the drugs, which block estrogen production, are more effective for premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Ned Milenkovich, PharmD, JD, licensed pharmacist and principal at Much Law, PC, discusses the announcement of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which will, in some cases, offer expensive medication at a drastically lower price without insurance.

Christopher Mast, MD, vice president of clinical informatics at Epic, explains his outlook for the future in the field of oncology in light of the ongoing delays in cancer screenings rates.

Patients receiving brentuximab vedotin plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine in the frontline setting had a 41% reduction in the risk of death.

Christopher Mast, MD, vice president of clinical informatics at Epic, explains the level to which cancer screening rates would need to rise to meet pre-pandemic rates.

Results from a clinical trial led by investigators at the National Cancer Institute show that 28 of 42 women with tumors generated a reaction.

Christopher Mast, MD, vice president of clinical informatics at Epic, discusses research that showed that cancer screening rates in 2021 rebounded from the low rates at the start of the pandemic, but not significantly.

The novel CAR T cells can deliver a toxic drug payload directly to a tumor, killing tumor cells that contain the cancer marker and nearby cancer cells that do not.

The trial studied 3 dosing regimens of asparaginase erwinia chrysanthemi (recombinant)-rywn, with cohort 1a receiving 25 mg/m2administered Monday and Wednesday and 50 mg/m2administered on Friday.

Well-defined core values can take pharmacy operations to the next level.

The prior authorization process often involves complex transactions and increases the burden not only on physicians and pharmacies, but can also impact patient access.

In a clinical trial, the median annualized bleeding rates for all bleeds was reduced from a historical median of 5 to an on-study median of 2.3, which is a 54.7% reduction.

Further, the 1-year update suggests that Cohort 6 toxicity management strategy can improve certain AEs without compromising the activity of axicabtagene ciloleucel.

Umbralisib (Ukoniq) is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma and relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma.

Abemaciclib (Verzenio) was recently approved in combination with endocrine therapy for the adjuvant treatment of adult patients with HR–positive, HER2-negative, node-positive, early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.

Interventions to improve medication adherence may have a greater impact on individual patients and the population as a whole than any novel treatment or therapy.

The tislelizumab combination met the primary endpoint of OS in patients with programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, with additional follow-up needed to assess OS benefits in the intention-to-treat population.

Kimmtrak found to be the first therapy to demonstrate a survival benefit for HLA-A*02:01–positive adult patients with unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma.

Gliomas begin in the glial cells that surround nerve cells and help them function.

Kovaltry temporarily replaces the missing clotting Factor VIII in patients with hemophilia A.

New trial results showed statistically significant improvements in overall survival and progression-free survival.

Additionally, the results also showed a 25% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death with durvalumab plus chemotherapy.

Glioblastoma can be very difficult to treat and a cure is often not possible.

With integrated specialty pharmacies enabling health systems to improve patient outcomes and lower total medical costs, every hospital will need a solution to support the growing number of patients on outpatient specialty medications.

While progress is being made to advance the Cures Act, it is essential to ensure pharmacy interoperability given pharmacy’s critical role in health care.

The sBLA is reinforced by results from a randomized phase 3 trial that investigated cemiplimab-rwlc in combination with a physician’s choice of platinum-doublet chemotherapy compared to platinum-doublet chemotherapy alone.

The researchers projected that approximately 14 participants would experience a significant worsening of their walking function, however, only 8 participants had their walking function decline.