Specialty Pharmacy

Officials with the FDA have approved olaparib (Lynparza, AstraZeneca and Merck) for the maintenance treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated (gBRCAm) metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma whose disease has not progressed on at least 16 weeks of a first-line platinum-based chemotherapy regimen.

Individuals with HIV have more QT interval variability than those without the disease, which may lead to the increased risk of sudden cardiac death.

Researchers may have found a way to stop the driving force at a molecular level behind acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Patients with epilepsy treated with perampanel during routine clinical care had favorable retention rates and sustained efficacy.

Baclofen use, particularly at higher doses, may result in an increased risk of encephalopathy among patients with chronic kidney disease.

Officials with the FDA have granted accelerated approval to fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu, Daiichi-Sankyo) for the treatment of adults with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer that have received 2 or more prior anti-HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting.

A study found that intravenous immune globulin dosing optimization through alternative dosing weights represents a significant source of waste reduction and cost reduction.

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Banu Arun, MD, explains the various reasons for the lack of genetic testing in appropriate candidates. This video was filmed December 12 at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Oncolytic Viral Therapy (OVT) is currently not recognized by treatment guidelines for advanced pancreatic cancer; however, safety and efficacy data from previous studies conducted over the previous 10 years have shown that OVT may be a promising, innovative approach for patients with pancreatic cancer.

A study found that the total prescriptions for gabapentinoid medications grew from 1.2 million to 3.5 million between 2005-2015.

Abemacilib is an oral selective inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 approved for hormone receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 metastatic breast cancer.

Enfortumab vedotin-ejfv is the first FDA-approved treatment in the United States for this patient population.

A study sought to determine how HIV avoids the antiviral protein, zinc-finger antiviral protein.

A study evaluated the real-world benefit of palbociclib plus endocrine therapy as a first-line treatment in HR-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer to correlate the efficacy of the combination with neutropenia.

Patricia Spears discusses the various approaches to discussing clinical trials, and in which situations to use them. This video was filmed December 11 at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

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Researchers have confirmed that the addition of the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib to aromatase inhibitors is associated with durable tumor responses.

Dawn Hershman, MD, MS, discusses various reasons for non-adherence to endocrine therapy in breast cancer patients. This video was filmed December 13 at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The EGFR/RAS/MEK pathway may serve as a predictive biomarker for palbociclib plus fulvestrant resistance and offer therapeutic targets to overcome resistance in patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer.

Jelly of the Month might not have impressed Clark Griswold, but we're sure there's a pharmacist on your gift list that would appreciate one of these items.

Researchers used an epidermal growth factor (EGF)-conjugated anthrax toxin that, after targeting EGFR, was internalized and triggered apoptosis in exposed bladder cancer cells.

Top news of the day from across the health care landscape.

A retrospective cohort study was the second largest evaluation to date of sodium polystyrene sulphonate use and safety in patients with chronic kidney disease.

The supplemental new drug application approval expands the patient population who stand to benefit from riluzole to include patients with ALS for whom swallowing is difficult and requires the use of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding tube.

Top news of the day from across the health care landscape.

In this study, researchers wanted to evaluate the frequency of reduced immunoglobulin concentrations and its association with immunotherapy and disease course in 2 independent cohorts with multiple sclerosis.