
Expert discusses the challenges faced by pharmacists in palliative and hospice care.

Nicolas Girard, MD, PhD, discusses the results of the PALOMA-2 trial, highlighting the subcutaneous (SC) delivery of amivantamab combined with lazertinib as a first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR mutations.

Lisocabtagene maraleucel is being investigated for mantle cell lymphoma, relapsed or refractory (R/R) large B-cell lymphoma, and R/R follicular lymphoma.

In addition to racial inequities in access to care, socioeconomic challenges are very common for the specialty medications necessary in MS.

Data from the PERSEUS trial supports use of daratumumab in combination with bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone followed by daratumumab and lenalidomide maintenance as a new standard of care for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

Results from the initial safety run-in of MajesTEC-7 indicate that the combination of teclistamab, daratumumab, and lenalidomide in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) shows a manageable safety profile with early signs of efficacy.

The study showed that belantamab mafodotin plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone (BPd) significantly improved progression-free survival compared to pomalidomide plus bortezomib and dexamethasone (PVd).

The PALOMA-3 trial showed subcutaneous amivantamab was better than IV for lung cancer patients.

Asciminib demonstrated stronger efficacy, safety, and tolerability, as well as less adverse events in patients compared with those who received investigator-selected standard-of-care tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Data presented at ASCO 2024 show fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) delayed cancer growth in patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+), HER2-low or -ultralow disease that progressed following endocrine therapy (ET).

The phase 3 LAURA trial data presented at ASCO 2024 showed osimertinib (Tagrisso; AstraZeneca) reduced risk of disease progression or death in patients with stage 3 EGFR-mutated (EGFRm) non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by 84%.

Results from the trial provide evidence bolstering ASCO’s clinical practice guideline supporting the integration of early palliative care into standard oncology practice.

Matthew A. Gubens, MD, MS, FASCO, highlights the importance of identifying genetic targets in metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), emphasizing the latest updates and strategies.

Understanding patients’ specific experiences and challenges is crucial to helping them improve medication adherence.

This is the largest dataset of pregnancy outcomes for an anti-CD20 therapy in MS, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of ocrelizumab’s safety.

The addition of ribociclib (Kisqali; Novartis) to endocrine therapy demonstrated a 28% risk reduction in invasive disease-free survival.

In addition to medication management, pharmacists are educating patients and helping them navigate the complex medical system.

Although this data seems to overwhelmingly suggest that cannabis use has negative impacts for individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), listening to patients’ reasoning for using it is crucial.

Quadruple therapies including immunotherapy agents show promise in treating patients with multiple myeloma.

Subcutaneous ocrelizumab can be delivered in approximately 10 minutes and deliver comparable clinical benefit and safety to the IV formulation.

Although resources were scarce for teams at smaller private practices, the pharmacists all agreed that patient care is always the priority.

There has been a general shift toward earlier treatment and less tolerance for clinically silent disease activity.

Although questions remain about ideal treatment strategies, consistent data have shown that patients should be treated early.

Gender disparities among oncology health care professionals have significant consequences for both the physicians and the patients they treat.

Speakers at the 2024 Society of Pain and Palliative Care Virtual Conference discussed advanced treatment opportunities for patients with substance use disorder (SUD) and cancer-related pain.

Aligning community pharmacy interventions with top-down findings, payers’ population health priorities, and identified unmet needs can help develop a sustainable pathway.

Future potential directions include measuring the impact of clinical pharmacist interventions on referral utility, disease-specific clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, medication adherence, and absenteeism.

Natalie Bedford, senior vice president, US Pharmaceutical Distribution Services at McKesson, discusses the unique challenges of distributing specialty drugs.

Access to certain drugs may be limited through tighter formulary controls and utilization management by Medicare Part D plans dealing with higher costs

Properly training staff and gaining stakeholder buy-in are crucial steps to successfully designing and launching a program to screen and address health-related social needs.