Oncology Pharmacists Are Closing Lung Cancer Care Gaps at Safety-Net Hospitals

New lung cancer therapies are reshaping the oncology pharmacist’s role, from educating clinicians on novel agents to managing the toxicities of targeted treatments. In an interview with Pharmacy Times, Sita Bhatt, PharmD, a clinical coordinator specializing in hematology and oncology at Boston Medical Center, discussed key developments in thoracic oncology over the past year, including the use of the bispecific tarlatamab (Imdelltra; Amgen) in earlier lines of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) therapy and a wave of biomarker-driven therapies for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Bhatt also described how her institution’s oral oncology program gives patients at a large safety-net hospital an additional provider touch point for adverse effect management and supportive care, helping maximize time on therapy while preserving quality of life.

Pharmacy Times: Can you introduce yourself?

Sita Bhatt, PharmD: Yeah, my name is Sita. I'm one of the clinical coordinators
at Boston Medical Center, specializing in hematology and oncology.

Pharmacy Times: What was the biggest development in lung cancer treatment this year for pharmacists?

Bhatt: I'd say there's been quite a few groundbreaking developments in thoracic oncology in general in the last year.

For [SCLC], you have tarlatamab (Imdelltra; Amgen) in earlier lines, and so having a bispecific in a solid space is, you know, really revolutionary in making sure that we're educating physicians who may not be familiar with these medications, as well as our patients and kind of bridging that gap to these new therapies in this new space.

In [NSCLC], we have a wave of new biomarker-driven therapies coming out, and so we have a practice model where our pharmacists are really the ones ensuring the appropriate monitoring, adverse effect (AE) monitoring, and toxicity profiles of these medications in addition to the adherence of them with our patients. And so it's really driven an increase, I guess, in our patient
panels and our patient care.

Pharmacy Times: How do oncology pharmacists help close care gaps for patients in safety-net hospitals?

Bhatt: I'd say the biggest way that we close those care gaps is through our oral oncology program. I work at a large safety net hospital, and so a lot of these patients are underserved. Pharmacists allow for another provider touchpoint for these patients and kind of give them easier access if something doesn't feel right, if they're having an AE, if they need to talk to somebody or bounce an idea off of somebody as to whether or not what they're experiencing is normal or not. And so, we have these programs where we manage these patients on oral therapies, and we're able to help with this toxicity management, giving them any supportive care. So giving them any supportive care items that they may need to kind of help them bridge over some of these adverse effects that they may be experiencing, and ultimately maximizing their time on therapy and making sure that their quality of life doesn't suffer because of it either.