April 2021

In June 2020, the FDA granted a fast track designation to fruquintinib for patients with mCRC previously treated with other therapies.

Health care practitioners and manufacturers must change practice patterns and management strategies.

The relatively new combination of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors with VEGF inhibitors represents a promising option for patients with various malignancies.

Prevention methods, including smoking cessation and public education, remain critical in combating the United States’ third most common cancer type.

Pharmacists must work to keep patients informed and safe so they can continue to deliver lifesaving cancer care.

Directions in Oncology Pharmacy® is getting to know oncology pharmacy professionals through a series of interviews. In this issue, we talk to David DeRemer, PharmD, BCOP, FCCP, FHOPA, president of the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) Board of Directors, whose term ends this month.

As the most accessible member of the health care team, the pharmacist can provide patients with cancer with the information and support necessary to get through what could be the most challenging time in their lives.

Clinicians should consider the impact on subsequent therapies, overall survival, and median time to definitive deterioration with CDK 4/6 inhibitors.

Oncology experts recommend patients schedule overdue screenings, as pandemic restrictions ease.

Novel therapeutics under investigation include CAR T-cell therapies, antibody-drug conjugates, and bispecific antibodies, as well as other unique drugs.

Immunotherapies will continue to change standards of care for treatment of RCC.

The hematology/oncology pharmacist is in the best position to assist patients and caregivers in understanding how to safely take cancer medications.

We’re focusing on hematologic cancer news this month, while also keeping coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at the forefront of oncology pharmacy.

The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) Oncology Pharmacy Education Network (OPEN) provides resources that are pharmacist driven and developed.

A survey shows that 13% of respondents started or increased substance use to cope with pandemic-related stress or emotions.

For patients with no previous PARP treatment and multiple prior lines of therapy, PARPs may be an appropriate choice.

FDA grants a fast track designation to GEN-1, a DNA-mediated IL-12 immunotherapy.

A review of the efficacy of HER2-positive–targeted agents for metastatic breast cancer.

Understanding breast cancer and which patients may be more vulnerable to long-term treatment effects and which patients may benefit most, can help oncologists design the best personalized neoadjuvant and adjuvant human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-targeted therapy.

In a Pharmacy Times® Peer Exchange video series, experts discussed the current landscape and management of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM), including the latest data and potential treatment strategies on the horizon.

In this high-risk population, strategies for minimizing viral exposure during a pandemic are being considered with oncology treatment options.